Santa Fe Metropolitan Planning Organization

Santa Fe Metropolitan Planning Organization

Santa Fe was designated a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) in 1982 by the federal government when the population of the metropolitan area reached 50,000.  The Santa Fe 2010 Census Urbanized Area Population was 89,284.  The MPO Planning Area covers approximately 25% of Santa Fe County's land area and includes 80% of its population (Planning Area Population = 116,386, Santa Fe County Population = 144,170) and 90% of its employment.

The purpose of the MPO is to create a forum for transportation decision-making in the metropolitan planning area.

The Santa Fe MPO is responsible for:

• Facilitating cooperation, consistency, and connectivity between all transportation planning efforts within the Santa Fe metropolitan area
• Promoting a multi-modal, regional transportation system that is safe and energy and fiscally efficient
• Maximizing community connectivity
• Serving the mobility needs of all citizens
• Existing in harmony with the environment

For more information, click here to go to the Santa Fe MPO website.

Let's Talk About Cerrillos

The Santa Fe Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is actively engaging its residents to create a community vision and goals to guide the future development of major corridors in Santa Fe by using the collective vision for the Cerrillos Road Corridor as an example of what could be possible along this road and in other locations. Cerrillos is a principal transportation route for Santa Fe, and the corridor also provides essential business, social, and housing needs. Recognizing the importance of the Cerrillos Road Corridor, this engagement activity seeks to understand if the corridor is serving community needs and how Santa Fe residents envision the corridor in the next 25, 50, or 100 years.

The MPO is asking residents to help draft a vision and goals to guide future development of the Cerrillos Road Corridor via an update to the Metropolitan Transportation Plan. This initiative focuses on these questions: “What does the corridor mean to you today, and for what purposes do you use it? What do you envision for the next 25 years, 50 years, and even 100 years for the corridor?” Engagement activities will include community events, resident interviews, and an online survey that will be held over the next 3-4 months.

The re-envisioning of the Cerrillos Road Corridor represents a significant opportunity to consider if its traditional design still meets users' needs well despite its evolving uses. The goal is to ensure that Cerrillos of the Future holistically serves the community. This process will serve as a model for planning transportation projects that honor social, economic, and housing needs and guide decisions in the future around planning and road design. Santa Fe MPO planning efforts provide the framework for transportation projects and funding in the Santa Fe region. This engagement will help prioritize future projects and ensure the community’s voice informs the MPO’s work.

A local engagement team, consisting of Santa Fe-based Little Globe and Albuquerque-based Sites Southwest, will facilitate this project. SITES SOUTHWEST is a community-oriented landscape architecture and planning firm with a rich history serving primarily public clients throughout the Southwest. SITE’s mission is to serve clients through a personalized approach, providing community-driven, resilient, and climate-oriented solutions. LITTLE GLOBE is a multi-cultural and multi-generational team working with people to tell their stories. Through partnerships, Little Globe provides tools, programs, training, and platforms to co-create and share artistic works with the broader world. The collaborative process models a community in which everyone is seen and heard.

Contact Information: Allison Long, Project Manager, Sites Southwest, along@sites-sw.com