Transportation Department
Belmont-Ohio-Marshall Transportation Study (BOMTS) is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Belmont County in Ohio, and Ohio and Marshall Counties in West Virginia. The MPO is responsible for carrying out the Comprehensive, Coordinated and Continuing (3C) transportation planning process in the three county area. Under the Federal-Aid-Highway Act of 1962 all urbanized areas of 50,000 or more population in the country were required to have the 3C planning process. Subsequent transportation acts have further defined the emphasis areas of national interest to be addressed within the 3C planning process. However, all transportation acts have required the MPOs to have an approved Long Range Transportation Plan that addresses the long term goals and objectives of the area and the Transportation Improvement Program that contains projects, consistent with the Long Range Plan, to be implemented within the next four year period.
In addressing the air pollution caused by the mobile sources such as automotives and trucks, the Clean Air Act designated all areas, in the nation, that violate the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) as nonattainment. Although there are six criteria pollutants, the BOMTS region is nonattainment for only two pollutants – Ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). The area based on observed data from the local air quality monitor has been declared maintenance for Ozone. However, the regulatory requirement to certify that all projects in the Long Range Plan and the Transportation Improvement Program do not make the air quality worse than what it is remains the same.
BOMTS staff works under the direction of a Policy Committee consisting of local elected and appointed officials and representatives from the relevant state and federal agencies.