Twin Cities Area Transportation Study (TwinCATS)

TwinCATS Area (Click to enlarge)

The Twin Cities Area Transportation Study (TwinCATS) is Benton Harbor-St. Joseph urbanized area, as designated by the United States Census.  The Twin Cities Area Transportation Study encompasses 12 jurisdictions located in Berrien County, these municipalites are:

• City of Benton Harbor 
• City of St. Joseph
• City of Bridgman
• Village of Shoreham
• Village of Stevensville
• Benton Township
• Lake Township
• Lincoln Township
• Royalton Township
• Sodus Township
• St. Joseph Township
• Grand Beach (satellite)
• Michiana (satellite)

Grand Beach is the newest addition to the TwinCATS metropolitan area, though it is a satellite due to not having a contiguous border with the rest of the municipalities.  This was added as a satellite of TwinCATS because the urbanized area below Grand Beach, in Indiana, is growing and the federal government designated Grand Beach as part of the MPO named Northern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC).  Because the Grand Beach portion of the NIRPC MPO crossed into Michigan, it is up to Michigan to supply the planning support for the Grand Beach area.

TwinCATS has two committees, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and the Policy Committee.  These two committees work cooperatively to make transportation related decisions for the Benton Harbor-St. Joseph urbanized area.  The Committees are made up of local representatives, transit providers, citizen reps, and elected officials from the TwinCATS member municipalities listed above.  Also on these Committees are representatives from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). 

Meetings are open to the public and are a place for you to come and voice your opinion.  For more information on how to be involved, see the calendar of events below, check out the meeting information page for more details, or send an email to rahtza@swmpc.org to be added to the TwinCATS email list.  Visit the Participation Page for more ideas on how to participate.