The long, hard work that went into creating a single metropolitan planning organization in the Rio Grande Valley has been rewarded.
The national Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations has handed the newly-unified Valley MPO its top honor – the Outstanding Transportation Management award. After years of on-again off-again negotiations, local leaders reached an agreement in June of last year to merge the Brownsville, Harlingen-San Benito, and Hidalgo County MPO’s – creating the fifth largest MPO in the state.
The merger paid quick dividends. The Texas Transportation Commission this summer approved $1.1 billion for the Valley MPO for several key highway projects.