The public is invited to a Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study (GPATS) public meeting this Thursday July 25 at 6 p.m. GPATS is the organization that handles regional transportation planning for the Greenville area which includes the surrounding “urbanized area” according to the U. S. Census.
Based on 2010 Census results, the Greenville urbanized area was expanded to include several new areas, including Williamston, Pelzer, and West Pelzer. These three towns officially became a part of GPATS in March 2013.
Now that Williamston/Pelzer/West Pelzer are part of the GPATS planning area, GPATS will include transportation projects from these communities in the Long Range Transportation Plan. Not all transportation projects are eligible – they must be state or federal roads and meet certain other criteria in order to qualify for funding.
The GPATS organization update long-range plans every five years, and are at the tail end of that update cycle now, according to Tiffany Wedmore, AICP Transportation Planner with GPATS.
“We had started the update about two years ago, long before the new areas were brought into GPATS,” Wedmore said. “Our goal with these meetings is to identify any additional projects from the Williamston/Pelzer/West Pelzer area that should be brought into our long-range plan. When projects are brought in, they will be evaluated and ranked using the same process that we used for projects from other areas within GPATS. “
Wedmore said GPATS is hoping to get final approval on the long-range plan in September. According to Wedmore, the meeting will have a drop-in meeting format with maps and staff available for people to discuss their transportation concerns with. They will also accept written comments from those who would like to suggest specific projects. For more information go to www.gpats.org.
