About HEPMPO

About Us

The urban transportation planning process administered by Metropolitan Planning Organizations was born in the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1962, which required all federally assisted projects in urban areas with a population over 50,000 to be the product of a continuing, comprehensive and cooperative planning process, commonly referred to as the 3C planning process. The Census Bureau, after each decennial census, uses data collected to determine the boundaries of Urbanized Areas (UZA's).

Aerial view of Hagerstown, MD.

The Hagerstown/Eastern Panhandle Metropolitan Planning Organization (HEPMPO) was organized in 1996 as an expansion of the Hagerstown Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. The urbanized area was expanded to incorporate sections of both Berkeley and Jefferson County in West Virginia and the municipalities of Martinsburg, Ranson, Charles Town, Shepherdstown, Harpers Ferry and Bolivar and a small portion of Franklin County, Pennsylvania. The planning area boundary has been expanded to include all of Berkeley and Jefferson County.

View of the railtrail.

Currently, the HEPMPO is working in conjunction with the Washington County, Maryland Planning Department and the West Virginia Region IX Planning and Development Council to conduct the required planning and to work towards accomplishing the transportation goals of the region.