Metropolitan Planning Organization Updates Calvert County On Work Group Efforts, Expansion Plans

PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. — The Calvert–St. Mary’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (C-SMMPO) provided an update to Calvert’s Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) at the March 10 meeting, showing an early overview of their work to research the impacts of metropolitan area expansion.

A metropolitan planning organization (MPO) is a federally mandated and funded transportation policymaking organization composed of representatives from local and state government transportation agencies. Federal law requires the formation of an MPO for any urbanized area (UZA) with a population greater than 50,000. The Calvert–St. Mary’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (C-SMMPO) was established after the 2010 Census reported the population in the Lexington Park, California, Solomons and Lusby region reached 58,000.

In early 2025, Calvert County expressed interest in expanding the C-SMMPO to its jurisdictional boundaries, because the county had “essentially run out of eligible properties that could receive funding.” Since that time, the C-SMMPO has been researching and working toward the proposed expansion. The tasks included were to develop a prospectus for the C-SMMPO, establish legal requirements, research additional effects of the proposed expansion and evaluate necessary amendments to the existing policy documents.

Past research has helped contribute to getting funding for transportation and infrastructure projects.

Going forward, the group said they also plan to determine St. Mary’s County’s position on the expansion and whether they would like to include their urbanized areas. They hope to complete work group findings and present them internally for review, and then to the BOCC of Calvert and St. Mary’s counties.

This is an ongoing project presented to the BOCC for informational purposes. The board did not take a vote on C-SMMPO or its activities during the meeting.

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