The City-County Planning Division is presenting the 2020 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) for the Billings Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Planning Board review and recommendation to the Billings Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC). The UPWP is primarily for the purpose of programming the federal dollars that Billings receives from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for transportation planning and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for transit (MET) planning. These funds are passed through the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT).  All transportation planning activities are included in the UPWP so that it represents a comprehensive document for the urban transportation planning program. This UPWP proposes planning activities for Federal Fiscal Year 2020, which runs from October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2020. This UPWP corresponds directly with the Planning Division’s annual work plan. The significant changes in this year’s program include traffic counter replacement, Downtown Traffic Circulation Public Participation Exercise, a North Bypass Corridor Study, a 5th Avenue Corridor Feasibility Study and a Bike/Scooter Share Impact Study. The Transit section is Chapter II of the UPWP. The document is consistent with past programs in its content and format.

The Planning Board may:

• Accept the program (recommended) and instruct PCC Designee Planning Board President Tunnicliff to give a positive recommendation to PCC; or Make amendments to the program document and instruct President Tunnicliff to give a positive recommendation with amendments to PCC; or
• Reject the program and instruct President Tunnicliff to give a negative recommendation to PCC. Rejection of the UPWP would mean a significant reduction in funding to complete planning activities in Billings and Yellowstone County, and would affect staff, resources, future transportation planning processes and programs. The PCC meeting is scheduled for August 20th.  

Approval of the 2020 UPWP allows the City to access Federal funds for transportation planning in the community. Federal and local funds are combined to provide most of the planning work done by the Planning Division for the City and the County. If the UPWP is not approved, there would be a significant loss of resources for community planning and the community's ability to manage transportation planning projects and programs would be severely limited. The breakdown of funding sources for the FY 2020 UPWP is estimated below:

$240,000      Planning Dept. Fee Revenue (City of Billings)
$57,000        Planning Dept. Fee Revenue (Yellowstone County)
$490,000      Yellowstone County Planning Levy
$1,872,085   Federal Planning (PL) Allocation           
$2,659,085   Total Program Funding (UPWP)

The Technical Advisory Committee recommends the Yellowstone County Board of Planning approve the 2020 UPWP and instruct President Tunnicliff to carry the recommendation to the PCC meeting on August 20th.