User:Apavy/GSATS

The Grand Strand Area Transportation Study (GSATS) Policy Committee was formed on August 2, 1985. The formation of GSATS was in preparation of the Grand Strand area of South Carolina being designated an Urbanized Area (UZA) by the 1990 Census. The 1990 Census designated Myrtle Beach, Socastee, Surfside Beach, Garden City, Murrells Inlet and environs as the Myrtle Beach UZA. The GSATS Policy Committee was designated as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Policy Committee on May 18, 1992. The Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments (WRCOG) and the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) have been designated as the Planning Staff of the MPO. The MPO Study Area will be the land eastward of the Waccamaw River from the North Carolina Border to where it intersects with US 701, then follows the US 701 alignment to Georgetown and takes in the Cities of Georgetown and Conway.

The Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments (WRCOG) is a public agency created by the Counties of Horry, Georgetown, and Williamsburg, and the cities of Andrews, Atlantic Beach, Aynor, Briarcliffe Acres, Conway, Georgetown, Greeleyville, Hemingway, Kingstree, Lane, Loris, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Pawleys Island, Stuckey, and Surfside Beach, as enabled by state planning law. The agency was organized in 1969 and has been providing planning, management and technical assistance to its member governments and local transit service providers since its inception. WRCOG has been charged with the responsibility for staffing the area-wide transportation planning organization since its inception. It serves as the lead in the Grand Strand’s designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for transportation program/project purposes – GSATS.