Rural Consultation Practices
New Mexico Rural COGs Planning Every Step of the Way
Rural regions in New Mexico have historically faced significant challenges in maintaining transportation infrastructure and meeting public transportation needs.
Linda Trujillo, Program Manager for Public Transportation at New Mexico Highway and Transportation explains, “Resources do not always flow to rural areas, because the magnitude of demand just isn’t there. Having international borders, several long-term high priority metropolitan projects and hundreds of tribal and local governments, makes meeting transportation demands in rural areas challenging. Planning every step of the way is a must.”
Defining the Process
In order to overcome challenges and ensure public involvement in regional planning, as required by the 1991 federal highway law ISTEA, the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department (NMSHT) designated seven rural planning organizations (RPOs), drawing from the state’s existing network of regional councils of government (COG).
According to Dan Stover, Supervisor of the Regional Planning Section at NMSHT, “The future is now and having RPOs that are experienced in building collaboration gives transportation engineers an opportunity to address problems today, instead of waiting six years for them to come up on the state transportation improvement plan (STIP).”
Each RPO receives approximately $60,000 each year from the state to carry out rural transportation planning activities. Serving a three county region, the South Central COG is an example of a regional council of government who also serves as an RPO.
In order to manage RPO tasks, such as building regional collaboration and preparing an annual listing of priority projects, the COG formed the South Central Rural Planning Organization (RPO). The COG provides staff and operational support to the RPO.
Greg White of the South Central RPO, explains why the COG and RPO relationship works, “We already had a pool of potential local leaders to serve on the five-member RPO policy committee because the majority of the South Central COG board represents rural areas.” Elizabeth Bernal, Executive Director of the COG added, “It’s easy for us to work together and to find the applicable leaders for input. It ensures quality public involvement and regional collaboration.”
Building Regional Collaboration
One of the South Central RPO’s primary focuses is to develop a central repository of regional transportation data. White commented on current accomplishments, “The South Central RPO hosted a regional round table and symposium on geographical information systems (GIS) and its efficiency in developing a central data repository. Local partners, like New Mexico State University, are now on-board and understand that accessibility to data on the regional transportation improvement plan benefits us on all planning levels.” Using GIS equipment provided by the state highway department, the RPO will be developing an inventory of infrastructure in the near future.
The RPO is also promoting regional cooperation throught its efforts to enhance rural transit services, an area identified locally as a critical need. The South Central RPO intends to increase the number of van routes in the region by using vans already owned by the COG. According to White, the COG also plans to purchase additional vehicles in October with the state’s Job Access and Reverse Commute funds.
Besides overcoming the traditional barriers in delivering rural transit services, such as geography, the RPO is also helping local communities leverage other existing resources. Trujillo explains, “Ultimately the region’s international border and the potential for having illegal immigrant users poses a liability issue and could fracture service. Also, since job access funding is designed for welfare-to-work clients, there are issues about who or what governmental entities pay for a rider’s voucher if the rider is from a reservation. This is why collaboration facilitated by the RPO locally and by COGs already administering section 5311 rural transit programs is an important part of overcoming obstacles.”
In New Mexico, RPOs such as South Central, will continue to provide input into regional plans and proceed with other transit and improvement projects. White concluded, “As a matter of regional development, the linkages from our RPO projects, like our plan to develop a regional scenic byway loop, help create a stronger base for economic development, as well as build regional collaboration.”
For more information contact Elizabeth Bernal or Greg White of the South Central COG at (505) 744-0039.
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