The Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO) held their annual conference from Tuesday, October 5th through Friday, October 8th, 2021. The conference attracted over 300 attendees from 80 metropolitan areas.

The BRTB participated in many ways throughout the conference. BRTB Chair, Ramond Robinson, moderated a session on Transit Planning and Travel Behavior, where presenters discussed the Regional Transportation Commission’s (Southern Nevada) On-Board Mobility Plan process and Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s (MWCOG) strategies on how to encourage commuters to reconsider transportation options and habits.

BRTB Vice Chair, D’Andrea Walker, moderated a session on Transit, where presenters discussed the Fredericksburg Area MPO’s attempt to understand mode choice and MWCOG shared how they are advancing aspirational transit projects.

BMC Transportation Director, Todd Lang, moderated a panel on Activity Based Modeling, exploring AMPO’s ActivitySim consortium model and project progress to date, and more.

BMC Assistant Transportation Director, Regina Aris, moderated sessions on Partnerships and Core Products featuring Memphis Area MPO and the Denver Regional Council of Governments. Presenters shared best practices for Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) planning, programming, project tracking, coordination and using scenario planning for their long-range transportation plan update.

BMC’s Bala Akundi presented on implementing a Safe Systems Approach. This panel discussion explored opportunities for MPO’s to integrate a new FHWA framework, the Safe System Approach.

The BRTB was largely engaged in sessions, participating in many panel discussions while sharing strategies, experiences, learnings and challenges. Our staff and board took advantage of the opportunity to, yet again, be in a space where we could learn from peer MPOs and provide guidance on our unique methodologies that have brought us success over the last year.

Mr. Lang is in the final year of his elected position on the AMPO Board of Directors and with the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Metropolitan Planning Subcommittee.

The AMPO is a resource for MPOs throughout the country, providing a platform for training, education, case studies, networking, peer-exchange and more.

Baltimore County and the Baltimore Metropolitan Council host the 13th Annual Meet the Primes Virtual event on Wednesday, October 13th, 2021, where small and minority owned businesses (MBE/SBE) are connected with prime contract bidders.

The event provides a chance for attendees to speak directly with a representative from a prime company or government agency that has identified sub-contracting needs for their current and upcoming projects.

Over 60 exhibitors attended this event.

The virtual event also hosted breakout sessions giving exhibitors the opportunity to hold discussions away from the group meeting. This allows businesses the opportunity to pick which exhibitors they would like to hear from, similar to visiting a booth at a physical event.

This event continues to empower those in our region to build new partnerships and access the buying capacity of our governments.