A 27-month transportation bill passed in Congress last week officially has spared the Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning Organization from elimination. Area officials were confident the transportation group could survive, through some political maneuvering, but the federal Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act sealed the deal. Srikanth Yamala, the organization’s transportation planning manager, said Monday the bill “retains the designation of MPOs as urbanized areas with a population of 50,000 (or more), contrary to the Senate version.”