Dougherty Area Regional Transportation Study

A Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is a federally mandated and federally funded transportation policy making organization that is made up of representatives from local government and governmental transportation authorities. The Dougherty Area Regional Transportation Study (DARTS) was formalized in 1965 as a Continuous, Comprehensive and Cooperative Process as was initially authorized in the Highway Act of 1962.

The purpose of the Dougherty Area Regional Transportation Study (DARTS) is to ensure that federal-aid transportation projects are planned in a continuous, coordinated, and comprehensive manner. The study area of DARTS, the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), includes the existing urbanized area for the City of Albany, Dougherty County, the City of Leesburg, the southern half of Lee County, and those areas that are expected to become urbanized over the next 20 years.