The Erie County Regional Planning Commission (ERPC) is the handling agency for the MPO. The ERPC MPO was created as a result of a Federal statute that states every urbanized area with a population of more than 50,000 must establish a MPO; where the MPO is responsible for both short and long range transportation planning for its associated region. The 2000 Census revealed that the Sandusky Urbanized Area had a population of over 50,000 people and as a result the ERPC MPO was created in 2003. With local, state, and federal support, ERPC maintained its designation following the 2010 Census, although the urbanized area fell just below the 50,000 threshold.
Following the 2020 Census, the MPO learned the urbanized area had been expanded west to include the city of Port Clinton in Ottawa County, and created the Sandusky-Port Clinton Urbanized Area. ERPC worked with area stakeholders and across both counties to expand the MPO planning area to include the Ottawa County peninsula. With the expansion, the ERPC MPO will be responsible for implementing the federal metropolitan transportation planning process for all of Erie County, the eastern portion of Ottawa County, and the City of Vermilion within Lorain County.