About

What is an MPO?: Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) were created by Congress in 1962 through the Federal Aid Highway Act. This legislation focused on planning for urban areas, rather than cities.  Each MPO has an Urban Area (UA) that is based on population density and is re-evaluated after each Decennial Census.  This UA population calculation determines an MPO’s funding allocation. Each MPO is required to establish a Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA) that includes its Urban Area (UA), plus the area expected to become urbanized within 20-years.

Creation of CAMPO: The Columbus Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) was designated as the MPO for the Columbus Area by the Governor of Indiana February 27, 2004. The CAMPO MPA encompasses Bartholomew County. CAMPO’s Urbanized Area Boundary (UAB) is mostly focused around Columbus, but it also extends north to include the area around Edinburgh. Therefore, the Edinburgh area is included in the calculations of the CAMPO urban area population. However, this Edinburgh area is within the Indianapolis MPO Planning Area (IMPO MPA). By interlocal agreement, CAMPO is responsible for “long range planning [MTP] and project funding [TIP] for the Columbus UA located in Johnson and Shelby counties [Edinburgh]”.

Policy Board

CAMPO is directed by its Policy Board which includes representatives of the participating local governments within its planning area – the City of Columbus and Bartholomew County – as well as the Indiana Department of Transportation.  The Policy Board adopts the CAMPO Operational Bylaws, which govern the operations of the Board and its advisory committees. The Policy Board typically meets quarterly and additionally as needed.  The seven voting members and two ex-officio members are listed below:

City of Columbus Representatives

  • Mary Ferdon, Mayor
  • Tom Dell, City Council Member
  • Dennis Baute, Plan Commission Member (Policy Board Vice-Chairperson)

Bartholomew County Representatives

  • Tony London, County Commissioner
  • Kim Bennett, County Council Member
  • Tom Finke, Plan Commission Member (Policy Board Chairperson)

Partner Agency Representatives

Technical Committee

The Technical Committee is a working group of transportation specialists in the CAMPO planning area, including those from state and federal partner agencies. The purpose of the committee is to review plans, studies and projects that require Policy Board approval, and to provide feedback to the Policy Board. The Technical Committee includes members from the following agencies:

  • Bartholomew County Engineer
  • Columbus City Engineer
  • Columbus-Bartholomew County Planning Director
  • ColumBUS Transit Transportation Director
  • Columbus Police Chief
  • Columbus Municipal Airport Director
  • Columbus City Utilities Director
  • Columbus-Bartholomew GIS Coordinator
  • Columbus Parks & Recreation Director
  • Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation Transportation Director
  • INDOT Office of Asset Planning and Management Representative
  • INDOT Office of Transit Representative
  • INDOT Seymour District Representative
  • Federal Highway Administration Representative – Indiana Division
  • Federal Transit Administration Representative – Region 5

Citizens Advisory Committee

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) is an advisory group for MPO plans or plan updates, specifically the long-range plan, currently called the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP).  CAMPO staff may determine if any other plan update would benefit from committee review.  The committee does not take any formal action but rather provides feedback on plans brought before them. The Citizens Advisory Committee is not a standing committee, but rather is assembled on an as-needed basis and is disbanded when the applicable plan is complete.