Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments
Northwest Regional Planning Organization (NWRPO)
"Enhancing transportation in Northwest New Mexico that will provide multimodal transportation for local governments and residents integrating economic and social opportunities." Northwest Regional Planning Organization functions:
The New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) is the designated state agency that receives and administers federal transportation funds. NMDOT has both state and federal transportation programs. In order to manage transportation programs more efficiently, the State Transportation Commission created seven regional transportation planning organizations to work closely with NMDOT. The NMDOT has contracted with the regional planning organization, Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments (NWNMCOG) to administer the SWRPO. The NWRPO covers three counties which includes 6 local governments and 4 tribal governments in the northwestern portion of the state: San Juan, McKinley, and Cibola counties, Navajo Nation, Pueblos of Acoma, Laguna, and Zuni, Cities of Gallup and Grants, and Village of Milan. NWRPO's boundaries include two NMDOT Districts, District Five and District Six. NMDOT has contracted two councils of governments (COGs) that serve these areas, the Northwest Council of Governments and Southwest Council of Governments. The NWRPO consists of a Policy & Technical Committee. Each local and tribal government from the region designates a representative to participate in the process on the Committee. Each year, the local governments designate or renew their representative to the NWRPO. The Committee meets monthly to discuss, review, and finalize transportation project recommendations. Transportation Project Funding While various transportation programs are available through federal and state funding, NWRPO focuses on federal programs included in the NMDOT's Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). The NWRPO assists local and county governments or other eligible applicants to submit applications yearly. Roadway Improvement, Enhancement, Bridge, Scenic Byways and Transit projects are rated and ranked by the designated Policy and Technical Advisory Committee local government representatives of the NWRPO. Recommendations are combined regionally, by NMDOT district and then are forwarded to NMDOT for possible inclusion in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). As with most federal programs, funding availability is limited. Once the review process has been completed (usually September), funding awards are announced. | 
Statewide RPO boundary map
RPO Handbook - The RPO Handbook describes in-depth the processes and funding categories in which the RPO engages.
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