Who we are and what we do
Transportation plays a vital role in today’s economy, providing access to jobs, education, shopping, and recreation. It is an integral part of our mobile society, influencing urban development, economic vitality and quality of life.
The professional planning staff at the Metropolitan Interstate Council is comprised of planners, GIS, and communications and administrative personnel who conduct planning processes and develop technical tools to inform local policy decisions and encourage infrastructure projects that will provide a multimodal transportation system that serves all users. They regularly consult with area jurisdictions and advise the Policy Board on transportation issues throughout the Duluth-Superior area.
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962 created the federal requirement for urban transportation planning largely in response to the construction of the Interstate Highway System and the planning of routes through and around urban areas. The Act required, as a condition for receiving federal transportation funds, that projects in urbanized areas of 50,000 or more in population be based on a continuing, comprehensive, urban transportation planning process undertaken cooperatively by the states and local governments. Hence, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) quickly came into being because of the growing momentum of the highway program and the federal financing of the planning process.
In 1975 the Governors of Minnesota and Wisconsin designated the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission (ARDC) and the Northwest Regional Planning Commission (NWRPC) as the joint Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Duluth, MN–Superior, WI Metropolitan Planning Area.
The two agencies then formed the Metropolitan Interstate Committee—now the Metropolitan Interstate Council (MIC)—to carry out the continuing, comprehensive, cooperative urban transportation planning process as required by federal statute.
Transportation planning is an ongoing and collaborative process that incorporates the input of many stakeholders, including from members of the public and private businesses. We conduct plans and studies, model the transportation system to forecast travel patterns, and program transportation projects for federal funding in the MIC Planning Area.
Therefore the MIC is required by federal statute to:
The Duluth-Superior Metropolitan Interstate Council, commonly referred to as the MIC, is the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Twin Ports.
MPOs conduct transportation planning, with the overall purpose of improving the movement of people and goods to their destinations—helping to get them where they need to go, safely and efficiently.
MPOs also set priorities for how federal funds are spent on current and future transportation projects.
A key goal is to focus the area’s limited transportation funding on projects that yield the greatest benefit for all users (people who drive, bicycle, walk or roll and take the bus, as well as freight) and integrate with the existing transportation system.
The MIC is 80% federally funded by planning funds made available through the current version of the transportation funding bill, the 2015 FAST Act, and 20% by state and local matching funds.
The MIC’s planning jurisdiction—the Duluth-Superior Metropolitan Planning Area—encompasses 641 square miles within St. Louis and Douglas counties in Minnesota and Wisconsin, respectively. It extends from the Duluth-Superior Urbanized Area out to the first ring of non-urbanized townships.
Cities: Duluth, Hermantown, Proctor, Rice Lake
Townships: Canosia, Duluth, Grand Lake, Lakewood, Midway, and Solway
Cities: Superior
Towns: Lakeside, Parkland, Superior
Villages: Oliver, Superior
federally funded by planning funds made available through the current version of the transportation funding bill: The 2015 FAST Act, and 20% by state and local matching funds.
funded by state and local matching funds.
Activities of the MIC are overseen by the Policy Board, which is comprised of 18 elected officials and citizens (nine from Minnesota and nine from Wisconsin) who represent all local units of government within the planning area. Three advisory committees, the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC), the Harbor Technical Advisory Committee (HTAC) and the newest, the Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), meet regularly to provide specialized technical and stakeholder input into the planning processes.
