Committees

  • The KATS Policy Committee includes the elected officials from the local cities, villages, and townships within the Metropolitan Planning Area, along with appointees from the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), the Road Commission of Kalamazoo County, the Central County Transit Authority, Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority, Van Buren County Board of Commissioners, and Western Michigan University.

    Policy Committee Bylaws

    Policy Committee meetings are typically held at the City of Kalamazoo’s Metro office, located at 530 N. Rose Street Kalamazoo, Michigan, starting at 9:00 a.m. Please contact KATS at (269) 343-0766 or by e-mail at info@katsmpo.org to confirm meeting date and time prior to attending.

    Agendas are available one week prior to a meeting.

    MEETING MINUTES

    MEETING INFORMATION

    MEETING SCHEDULE

    Policy Committee Officers

    Curtis Aardema
    Central County Transportation Authority
    Policy Committee Chairperson

    Jeff Sorensen
    Supervisor, Cooper Charter Township
    Policy Committee Vice-Chairperson

    Rob Britigan
    Mayor City of Parchment
    Policy Committee Treasurer

    Participating Agencies

    Michigan Department of Transportation
    Western Michigan University
    Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners
    Van Buren County Board of Commissioners
    Road Commission of Kalamazoo County
    Van Buren County Road Commission
    KATS Citizens Advisory Committee
    Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority
    Central County Transportation Authority
    Van Buren Public Transit

    City of Kalamazoo
    City of Parchment
    City of Portage
    Village of Augusta
    Village of Lawton
    Village of Mattawan
    Village of Paw Paw
    Village of Richland
    Village of Schoolcraft
    Village of Vicksburg
    Almena Township
    Brady Township
    Charleston Township
    Comstock Township
    Cooper Township
    Kalamazoo Township
    Oshtemo Township
    Pavilion Township
    Paw Paw Township
    Prairie Ronde Township
    Richland Township
    Ross Township
    Schoolcraft Township
    Texas Township
    Wakeshma Township

  • The Technical Committee membership primarily consists of the technical staffs of the local governmental agencies. The Technical Committee serves as an advisory committee to the KATS Policy Committee. Transportation projects that are considered by the Policy Committee typically begin at the Technical Committee level.

    Technical Committee Bylaws, adopted 8/30/23

    Technical Committee meetings start at 9:30 a.m. and are held at Metro offices, 530 N. Rose Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan.

    Agendas are available one week prior to a meeting.

    MEETING MINUTES

    MEETING INFORMATION

    MEETING SCHEDULE

    Technical Committee Officers

    Anna Horner
    Public Works Director
    Oshtemo Charter Township
    Technical Committee Chair

    Christina Anderson
    Deputy CPED Director, City Planner, Staff Liaison
    City of Kalamazoo
    Technical Committee Vice-chair

    *For contributed service efforts and monthly cost summary reporting, please click the Time Reporting tab below.

  • The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) of the Kalamazoo Area Transportation Study (KATS) provides citizens and organizations within the Metropolitan Planning Area the opportunity to explore and discuss transportation issues and to provide input to KATS related to the development of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, Transportation Improvement Program, and other transportation projects and services.

    CAC Member Application
    CAC Bylaws Approved 9-30-2015

    Meetings of the Citizens Advisory Committee are open to the public. Agendas are available one week prior to a meeting.

    MEETING MINUTES
    MEETING INFORMATION

  • The Kalamazoo Transportation Study Time Activity and Cost Report for FY 2026 is now available.

    PDF Cost Form

    Excel Cost Form

    The PDF form is compatible with Adobe Reader. The form is not compatible with web or system viewers such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Please download to your computer and open in Adobe Reader for full functionality.

    Adobe Reader may be downloaded HERE.

    FY 2026 UPDATE TO TIME REPORTING

    Since KATS now receives a consolidated planning grant (FHWA and FTA combined), the FY 2026 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) also consolidated work group items.

    The new work group numbers and examples of eligible activities are listed below.

    200 SHORT RANGE PLANNING

    • Development of agency capital programs as part of identification of federal-aid projects for the Transportation Improvement Program

    • Consult with others to develop capital and operating programs

    • Financial cost and revenue projections for future federal road improvements

    • Public information and involvement activities for federal-aid projects (pre-construction)

    • Specific meetings to address the amending of the Transportation Improvement Program as necessary, separate from Technical and Policy Committee meetings

    • Development of the Fiscal Year 2026 Unified Planning Work Program (identification of future efforts to be used at match to the Kalamazoo Area Transportation Study program)

    • Address Title VI requirements on required programs and projects

    • Provide assistance to agencies involved in development of plans and programs that impact federal aid system (brownfields, land use, etc.)

    • Identification of proposed bridges for the Local Bridge and Safety Programs

    • Working with Roadsoft and PMS data to identify projects using Asset Management principles

    • Using crash and other data to identify safety projects and to monitor the effectiveness of completed projects

    • Participation in Southcentral Traffic Safety Committee meetings

    • Identify areas of congestion and develop projects to reduce that congestion

    • Congestion Mitigation Air Quality project application development and Subcommittee meetings

    • Monitor the capital equipment of the Public Transportation system to help program replacements

    • Coordination of project development with local residents, units of government, transportation agencies and businesses.

    300 DATA AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT MEASURES

    • Updating population and employment changes for the transportation demand model

    • Monitoring trends in development

    • Traffic and highway performance monitoring

    • System counts including volume, turning, classification, and others on the federal-aid system

    • Travel time studies

    • Maintaining the roadway inventory of traffic controls

    • Maintaining bridge condition inventories and using that information to develop project applications

    • Aerial imagery, Pictometry licensing, and GIS Parcel Updates

    • Participation in the development of Performance Based Planning and Programming measures and targets, data inventorying, and determination of additional data needs

    • Transit Data Collection including:

    • Monitoring of public transportation operations

    • Monitoring of public transportation performance and demand for service

    • Data collection program review of Kalamazoo Metro Transit and Metro County Connect

    • Public transportation system monitoring (Metro Fixed Route and Metro County Connect)

    • Ridership measurement and rider characteristics

    • Vehicle operation measurements

    • Vehicle service hours and miles

    • Vehicle revenue hours and miles

    • Ridership composition

    • Performance measurements

    • Data required for the PTMS supported by MDOT

    • Measurement of “No-Shows” (Metro County Connect)

    • Socio-Economic Study data collection

    • National Transit Database (NTD) Reporting Review (Metro)

    500 LONG RANGE PLANNING

    • Work on non-motorized planning efforts

    • Development and Updates of local Complete Streets policies

    • Planning activities including local master/land use plans and updates

    • Monitoring and Updates to the KATS Complete Streets Policy (as needed)

    • Development of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) programs

    • Highway system surveillance and reporting

    • Road corridor and intersection studies

    • Access management activities

    • Corridor studies

    • Intersection analysis

    • Pavement markings and signage inventories

    • Identification of key access management techniques

    • Traffic impact studies on federal-aid system

    • Transit Long Range Planning Activities including:

    • Public transportation system route performance analysis (on-time performance reports)

    • Operations analysis (transfer studies, route productivity, schedule adherence)

    • Comprehensive Routing Analysis implementation of recommendations, as needed

    • Title VI Update

    • NTD Reporting

    • Review of coordinated human resources plan for public transportation

    • A range of transit analysis studies jointly undertaken by the Metropolitan Planning Organization and the transit properties (KATS)

    • Coordination assistance with transition of transportation authorities to Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority

    • Public transportation demand studies

    • Public transportation operational and route studies

    • Data collection for transit model portion of Travel Demand Model

    • Other development and transportation studies

    500.1 COMPLETE STREETS PLANNING AND NON-MOTORIZED

    • Work to integrate safe and accessible options for multiple travel modes within the planning process

    • Work to incorporate a Complete Streets prioritization plan within the MTP that identifies a specific list of Complete Streets projects to improve the safety, mobility, or accessibility of a street

    • Review and update the Non-motorized Component of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan as needed

    • Integrate non-motorized transportation into scenario planning to address livability in the Metropolitan Planning Area

    • Review and revise the Complete Streets Policy as needed

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Organizational Chart