Forward Pinellas

Role/jurisdiction: Pinellas MPO + countywide land-use authority (unique dual role — the MPO and the Pinellas Planning Council operate as one agency). Plans and programs federal/state transportation funding for all 25 Pinellas local governments plus PSTA, local airports, and the Port of St. Petersburg, and administers the Countywide Plan (land-use map amendments). It does not review TIAs, issue permits, set design standards, or operate roads — that work sits with Pinellas County, the cities, and FDOT District 7.

Known starting points (resolved 2026-07-08 unless tagged):

• LRTP is Advantage Pinellas 2050, approved by the Forward Pinellas Board November 2024.
• One of the few Tampa Bay agencies with its own countywide traffic count program — annual AADT count map published as a PDF (120+ recurring locations), plus a permanent trail count program.
• Safe Streets Pinellas is the countywide Vision Zero effort (action plan adopted 2021; update underway 2025–2027 under a $400k USDOT SS4A planning grant, including a public crash dashboard).
• Complete Streets grant program — competitive planning + construction money to local governments; a real funding lever for corridor projects.
• Committee circuit a consultant sees: Board, TCC, CAC, BPAC, PAC (the technical committee for its Pinellas Planning Council role), STSC, LCB.

Collect (link each as found; date it)

• LRTP: Advantage Pinellas 2050 LRTP — approved November 2024; full document, appendices, survey report, and environmental justice report on the document portal page; interactive story map. Companion: Advantage Pinellas Active Transportation Plan. (checked 2026-07-08)
• TIP: Transportation Improvement Program — adopted annually by July 1; current FY2027–2031 TIP adopted June 2026 (full document + executive summary); interactive TIP map dashboard on the program page for browsing the 5-year project list. Covers FDOT, all 25 local governments, PSTA, airports, and the port. (checked 2026-07-08)
• Committees / board process: Advisory Committees — TCC (agency planners/engineers — technical review of TIP/plans), CAC, BPAC (agencies + law enforcement + citizens), PAC (Planners Advisory Committee — technical input when the board acts as the Pinellas Planning Council), School Transportation Safety Committee, Local Coordinating Board (TD program), Pinellas Trail Security Task Force. Agendas & minutes. (checked 2026-07-08)
• Funding programs (TA / SS4A / local): Complete Streets Program — competitive awards to local governments (historically up to $100kforconceptplansand$1.5M for construction; $6.5M+awardedovertheprogra{m}^{\prime }sfirstfouryears,alongsideTransportationAlternativesandmultimodalpriority-listslots).SS4A:\ast \ast$400,000 planning grant** to update the Safe Streets Pinellas Action Plan (announcement). TA set-aside candidates flow through Forward Pinellas priority-setting with the committees/board — confirm current call-for-projects cycle before advising a client #status/verify. (checked 2026-07-08)
• TIA/TIS guidelines: not an MPO function — no TIA/TIS review or guidelines published. Development traffic review sits with Pinellas County and the municipalities; Forward Pinellas touches development only via Countywide Plan land-use amendments (below). (checked 2026-07-08)
• Parking study guidelines / parking code (with section #): none — parking codes are county/municipal. (checked 2026-07-08)
• Traffic calming program/guidelines: none — traffic calming is run by the county and cities; Safe Streets Pinellas provides the countywide safety/countermeasure context. (checked 2026-07-08)
• Complete Streets policy · Vision Zero / Safety Action Plan: Safe Streets Pinellas — Vision Zero program, action plan first adopted 2021 with a target of zero deaths/serious injuries by 2045 (The Action Plan). SS4A-funded update in progress: refreshed High Injury Network, new High-Risk Network, near-miss data collection, and a public crash dashboard; community workshops from spring 2026 (update announcement). Complete Streets implemented through the Complete Streets Program grants rather than a design standard. (checked 2026-07-08)
• Roadway design standards / standard details: none — the MPO publishes no design standards; use FDOT (state roads), Pinellas County, or city standards per maintaining agency. (checked 2026-07-08)
• Access management standards: none — FDOT D7 (state roads) or county/city codes. (checked 2026-07-08)
• Traffic count requirements (seasonal factors accepted?): N/A as a reviewer, but a first-stop count data source: Traffic Count Maps — annual countywide AADT count-location maps (PDF), years 2014–2024 posted (page last updated 2025-08-25); 120+ locations counted on a recurring cycle. Also the Trail Count Program (monthly data from 8 permanent trail counter stations) and the Congestion Management Process. State roads: FDOT Traffic Online. See County & MPO Count Programs (Tampa Bay). (checked 2026-07-08)
• Crash/safety dashboard: none live yet — a public-facing crash dashboard is a stated deliverable of the SS4A-funded Safe Streets Pinellas update; re-check after the spring 2026 workshops #status/verify. Interim: collision assessment appendix of the 2021 action plan; Signal Four Analytics (agency login) for raw crash records. (checked 2026-07-08)
• GIS / open data portal: no standalone Forward Pinellas open-data hub found — GIS products are published per-plan (e.g., Countywide Plan Map (GIS), LRTP story map, TIP dashboard; agency works in ArcGIS Online). For countywide spatial data use Pinellas County Enterprise GIS open data. (checked 2026-07-08)
• Signal timing procedures & maintaining agency: N/A — signals are operated by Pinellas County, the cities, and FDOT; the MPO has no operations role. (checked 2026-07-08)
• Development review process & submittal requirements: land-use only — amendments to the Countywide Plan map/rules go through Forward Pinellas (PAC review → board acting as the Pinellas Planning Council/Countywide Planning Authority process). Relevant when a development needs a countywide land-use category change; no traffic-study submittal requirements of its own. (checked 2026-07-08)
• Permit forms (ROW, driveway): none — no permitting authority. (checked 2026-07-08)
• Example projects (ours & public): Alternate U.S. 19 corridor studies — joint Forward Pinellas/FDOT D7 corridor planning, ~28.9 mi in two concurrent segments (Park St N–Belleair Rd; Belleair Rd–Pasco line), mobility + safety + land-use coordination; a good template for corridor-study scope in Pinellas. Complete Streets grant awardees (St. Petersburg, Largo, county corridors) are public examples of funded concept plans. Ours live in the private vault. (checked 2026-07-08)

Contacts, review-comment history, and institutional notes live in the private vault — never on the public site.

See also: MOC - Agencies · Pinellas County · County & MPO Count Programs (Tampa Bay)