Metropolitan Planning Organization Area (MPA) 2020

The MPA is the Federally defined area that a Metropolitan Planning Organization must use for Transportation Planning. This is file is based on the results of the 2020 US Census. This is the current version for<br/>the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) area for the Twin Cities. The shape covers the 7 county area as well as the urbanized area that extends beyond the 7 county area.<br/><br/><br/>Under state law, the Met Council's jurisdiction covers the 7 county area - Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington counties except for the cities of Rockford, New Prague, and Northfield.<br/><br/> Under federal rules, the MPO must plan for the entire urbanized area, which is a Census defined area. After the 2010 Census, the urbanized area for the Twin Cities extended beyond the 7 county area into Wright and Sherburne counties. <br/>The MPO jurisdiction area for the Met Council needed to extend beyond the 7 counties. <br/><br/>Working with MnDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the census defined urbanized area was smoothed and this data file was the approved by the Metropolitan Council as the MPA area for the Twin Cities. <br/><br/>This data reflects the FHWA corrections recieved on 11/22/2024. The boundary in this MPA may not follow 2020 Census gegraphical units (tracts and blocks) in all areas. <br/>