In Walsingham's last post he easily got confused by which board was taking which action on a local Transit/Transportation project. It's pretty simple to get all confused, because there are quite a few boards with overlapping authority that seek to influence transportation in the Region.

If you're gonna watch the game, you need a roster:

• The Midland Odessa Transportation Organization - Metropolitan Planning Organization aka MOTOR-MPO. Federal law requires that a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) be designated for each urban area with a population of 50,000 or more.


• Midland Odessa Transportation Alliance, Inc. aka MOTRAN. MOTRAN lives as a non-profit supported by our communities, Economic Development Boards and several local businesses for the purpose of keeping the La Entrada al Pacifico Trade Corridor project alive. MOTRAN makes sure La Entrada projects keep at the top of the MOTOR-MPO list, ie they Lobby.


• Ports to Plains Corridor Though not really supported by our local entities, this is what La Entrada ties into and MOTRAN and MOTOR-MPO have tried to swing the route from Big Spring to Midland several times. This entity is akin to MOTRAN


• Midland Odessa Urban Transit District aka EZ Rider. I think you know well enough about these folks.


• La Entrada al Pacifico Rural Rail District. No links for them, they don't have a website, nor a transmodial container facility agreement with UPRR.

Ostensibly, these organizations exist to channel local input and priorities into the spending of Federal and State transportation dollars or to directly lobby Federal and State legislatures to drop millions of dollars on local transportation projects. There are lots of duplicated memberships on these boards and a there are a lot of duplicate planning dollars spent on stuff for each entity.

All these boards and all their planning and studies generate a lot of business for out of state consultants. Too bad they give out advice and statistics that result in EZ Rider, a La Entrada Rail District that couldn't get a container facility contract with UPRR and a La Entrada Corridor group that got their ass handed to them by Alipine and Marfa.

Your Federal Tax, State Tax, Local Tax and ED Tax dollars at work.