RFATS is the Rock Hill – Fort Mill Area Transportation Study, an intergovernmental transportation planning organization serving eastern York County as well as the panhandle of Lancaster County, South Carolina. RFATS coordinates continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive transportation planning activities within the Rock Hill Urbanized Area , in cooperation with South Carolina Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Federal Transit Administration. Its overall goal is to plan the most efficient, responsive, and cost effective transportation system for the movement of people and goods for the benefit of all system users.
The RFATS transportation planning process began in the early 1960s. York County had a 1960 population of 78,000 and was evolving from a rural to urban county. Over half of the county population lived in the urbanized area immediately surrounding Rock Hill.
In 1964, to address the growing transportation needs of this urban area, the City of Rock Hill and the South Carolina Department of Transportation began an ongoing cooperative, comprehensive transportation study. The study was initially called the Rock Hill Area Transportation Study (RHATS), and covered the eastern, urbanized portion of York County. Its purpose was to develop a long range, twenty-year transportation plan for the area, specifying needed highway improvements through 1985.
During the early 1980s the urbanized area was enlarged to include the other nearby urbanized area in Fort Mill. The name of the Study was changed to the Rock Hill – Fort Mill Area Transportation Study (RFATS). Later, the City of Tega Cay was added. In 1990, the RFATS urbanized area had grown to a population of roughly 86,000, encompassing 65% of the county’s population. By 2000, the RFATS Urbanized Area was 119,505, a 28% increase from 1990, and encompassed 73% of the county’s total population. According to the 2010 census, the population of the RFATS Urbanized Area has grown to over 140,000 and expanded to include the panhandle of Lancaster County. Following the most recent Decennial Census in 2020, RFATS has expanded to approximately 300,000 and growing.
You must be logged in to post a comment.