The Idiocy of having Mobile and Baldwin Counties as separate metros (Birmingham: live, beach)

[InlandWave]

Okay so the Office of Management and Budget were High AF when they made the Mobile County and Baldwin County metros.


Alright first Baldwin County already checks all the boxes to join Mobile metro, including a +25% commuter rate, hell their Urban Areas physically touch between Mobile and Spanish Fort



So the Baldwin County MPO (Metropolitan Planning Area) is actually called the Eastern Shore MPO, what is consider the "metro" of Baldwin County is exclusively the Eastern Shore and only includes Fairhope, Spanish Fort, Daphne, and Loxley....



The Eastern Shore is what the metro area is for Baldwin County.... yet it is the area that has commuter rates of 35-45% into Mobile, the same amount as what goes from Shelby County to Jefferson County in Birmingham. The Beach area, which may have strong economic relationships with Mobile, it is at least somewhat autonomous. It is not a part the technical metro area. Foley, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Robertsdale, and Bay Minette are not a part of the Eastern Shore MPO (for reference, Citronelle is the only city not in the Mobile MPO).



Roughly half of the population of Baldwin County isn't in the MPO. Which means only half the residents will receive funding from the federal government for being in a metro area. Foley is a principal city of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan area (the official government name) but its does not receive a DIME in funding from the feds because its not a part of the Eastern Shore MPO. Meaning that it is a part of the metro but ehhhhhhh not really, neither does Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Robertsdale, or Bay Minette. All that funding is restricted to the areas that makes up the Eastern Shore.... Which again is the portion of Baldwin County where nearly half of the residents work in Mobile County.



Hilariously, the Eastern Shore MPO building is in Robertsdale, a city that's not a part of the MPO

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

I too have wondered about this, but I assume they have some data that correlates.

I know this, back when I was younger driving to the beach, when I got to Mobile, I mistakenly thought I was almost there. NOPE. Probably due to getting off 2-lane 45 onto the 4-lane 65.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by InlandWave

Okay so the Office of Management and Budget were High AF when they made the Mobile County and Baldwin County metros.


Alright first Baldwin County already checks all the boxes to join Mobile metro, including a +25% commuter rate, hell their Urban Areas physically touch between Mobile and Spanish Fort



So the Baldwin County MPO (Metropolitan Planning Area) is actually called the Eastern Shore MPO, what is consider the "metro" of Baldwin County is exclusively the Eastern Shore and only includes Fairhope, Spanish Fort, Daphne, and Loxley....



The Eastern Shore is what the metro area is for Baldwin County.... yet it is the area that has commuter rates of 35-45% into Mobile, the same amount as what goes from Shelby County to Jefferson County in Birmingham. The Beach area, which may have strong economic relationships with Mobile, it is at least somewhat autonomous. It is not a part the technical metro area. Foley, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Robertsdale, and Bay Minette are not a part of the Eastern Shore MPO (for reference, Citronelle is the only city not in the Mobile MPO).



Roughly half of the population of Baldwin County isn't in the MPO. Which means only half the residents will receive funding from the federal government for being in a metro area. Foley is a principal city of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan area (the official government name) but its does not receive a DIME in funding from the feds because its not a part of the Eastern Shore MPO. Meaning that it is a part of the metro but ehhhhhhh not really, neither does Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Robertsdale, or Bay Minette. All that funding is restricted to the areas that makes up the Eastern Shore.... Which again is the portion of Baldwin County where nearly half of the residents work in Mobile County.



Hilariously, the Eastern Shore MPO building is in Robertsdale, a city that's not a part of the MPO

One issue may be that Baldwin County is so large in area - almost 1600 sq miles, large enough for two good-sized counties. Part of the country is truly part of Mobile, part beach (and that's a significant part) and part quie rural. Nevertheless, I suspect Baldwin will be included in the Mobile metro when they're redefined next year.

It's similar here. Morgan County should be included, and most even think of Huntsville-Decatur as being one. Huntsville city limits even extend a small amount into Morgan County, Huntsville and Decatur city limits touch in Limestone County. So by the same token, they'll probably be combined fairly soon. I suspect a large part of the Mazda/Toyota workforce lives in Morgan County, so that could get things to the 25% point.

You have to wonder about metro definitions at times. The Jackson, MS, metro has 7 counties and well over 5,000 square miles - even larger in area than Birmingham's metro. I suppose Jackson is THE major city in Mississippi so draws employees from the far reaches, but it still seems like overkill. On the other hand, Huntsville's metro is only 1300 square miles, and is not the economic center of Alabama. I guess we'll see how things are defined about this time next year (I think that's when metros will be redefined, based on the 2020 Census).

[evlb401]

You know that Orange Beach is in the Pensacola MPO. A Metropolitan Planning Organization is different from the statistical area. If some of the downtown census tracts were combined there would be a good chance that the Eastern Shore MPO would be absorbed by the Mobile MPO.