Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database for Van Buren County, Michigan 20131219. Table: mapunitSoil Data Access (SDA) Prime and other Important Farmlands

Road Ownership Layer Attributes DescriptionsFederal Aid Status:

Determines if the road is able to use the Federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) funding source. STP is allocated through an MPO, RTF, or small urban program. In Berrien, Cass and Van Buren Counties, the SWMPC manages all of these programs, except for areas within the KATS MPO.

Urban/Rural

Urbanized: A census Designated area with a population of 50,000 or more. All urbanized areas are part of an MPO.

Small Urban – A census defined area with a population between 5,000 and 49,999.

Rural: Any area outside a small urban or urbanized area. Includes cities and villages with a population less than 5,000. Areas within an MPO planning area which are still outside the designated urbanized area are eligible for both MPO and rural funding sources. STP funding in rural areas is distributed through the Rural Task Force.

Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)–

An MPO is a federally designated organization which conducts regional transportation planning for urbanized areas with a population of 50,000 or more. The MPO Planning Area covers the entire urbanized area as well as areas which are expected to become urbanized in the next 20 years. For TwinCATS and NATS the boundary includes the entire jurisdiction for jurisdictions that contain urbanized areas. All federal or state funded transportation projects in an MPO must be included in the MPO’s Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) to receive approval.

There are 3 MPOs which have planning areas within Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren Counties

TwinCATS: Twin Cities Area Transportation Study NATS: Niles Buchan Cass Area Transportation Study KATS: Kalamazoo Area Transportation Study

The Southwest Michigan Planning Commission (SWMPC) staffs the TwinCATS and NATS MPOs.

Act 51 Category

Michigan Public Act 51 governs the distribution of state collected fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees. The Act51 category, also call the ‘legal system’, are set based on which agency is in charge of road maintenance and is used in the road funding formula among other factors. Roads which are not Act51 certified are not eligible to use revenue from the state.

State Trunkline is maintained by MDOT

County Primary and County Local roads are maintained by the County Road Commission

City Major and City Minor roads are maintained by the City or Village the road is located in

National Functional Classification (NFC)

Categories the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) uses to classify roads. This determines federal aid status.