Background

Background & History

The urban transportation planning process administered by Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) was born in the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1962, which required all federally assisted projects in urban areas over 50,000 population to be the product of a continuing, comprehensive and cooperative planning process.

 

Urbanization

As a result of the 2000 U.S. Census, the Gainesville Urbanized Area (2000 census population 88,680) was designated. The urban area jurisdictions of Flowery Branch, Gainesville, Oakwood and

Hall County joined together to support the designation of the Hall County Planning Department as host of the new MPO, and that designation was approved by the Governor on February 25, 2003. An orientation and organizational meeting of the new GHMPO was held on January 9, 2004, and the MPO immediately set to work to develop its 1st set of planning documents, culminating in the adoption of our 1st Long Range Transportation Plan and Transportation Improvement Program in December 2004.

A crowd of cars on the highway with directional signs over head
The 2010 U.S. Census identified western Jackson County with the Town of Braselton as an increasingly urbanized area required to be in an MPO. Jackson County chose to join the GHMPO in 2014 enlarging the planning boundary area and encompassing a population of approximately 192,000.