Explain the alphabet soup of COG/MPO/MAG/PAG/CAAG/YMPO?
COG stands for Council of Governments. It is a non-profit organization that does the transportation planning for its member agencies within its jurisdictional boundaries. The Central Arizona Association of Governments (CAAG) is an example of a COG and serves Pima and Pinal Counties. An MPO is a Metropolitan Planning Organization and provides the functions of a COG for an urban metropolitan area. It serves as a conduit of federal dollars and is required to prepare a Long Range Plan and a Transportation Improvement Plan. The Governor makes the MPO designation. The Pima Association of Government (PAG) has MPO authority and also performs other functions as well. The Maricopa Association of Governments is also an MPO, with 30 members in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. There is a two-tier voting system. For non-disputed issues, it is one member-one vote. For certain controversial issues or disputes, the voting may be weighted by population size of the government agency. In addition to federal
