| Meetings & Minutes 2009 |
What is HATS?
The Harrisburg Area Transportation Study (HATS) is an organization comprised of federal, state, and local agencies, and officials from Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry Counties, the City of Harrisburg,
and Capital Area Transit. HATS is commonly referred to by its official federal designation of "MPO" or Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Established in 1965, HATS is divided into two specialized committees, which oversee the transportation-planning program for the Region. The Coordinating Committee develops transportation plans and
improvement programs. The Technical Committee oversees analyses and preparation of plans and studies, and makes recommendations to the Coordinating Committee.
The HATS Study Area encompasses 1,675 square miles and 106 municipalities that constitute the Harrisburg metropolitan region. The area includes Dauphin, Cumberland, and Perry Counties, as well as Palmyra
Borough, North & South Londonderry Townships in Lebanon County.
The HATS planning process emphasizes short and long-term problem solving and involves the public in the development of a Transportation Plan, Transportation Improvement Program, Short Range Transit Plan, and
Congestion Management System. The planning process culminates in the preparation and approval of a biennial Transportation Improvement Program, which constitutes the first four-year period of the Commonwealth's Twelve Year Program.
Other important transportation planning activities include traffic counting and inventory work for the federally initiated Highway Performance and Monitoring System; administration of the Regional Ridesharing Program, the provision
of transportation system information for interested individuals, organizations and local governments, congestion management planning, transit planning for Capital Area Transit (CAT), and review of projects and recommendations for
the Commonwealth's Twelve Year Transportation Program.
Technical planning support for the Harrisburg Area Transportation
Study is provided the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission staff. |
