Rural Planning Organization

The Rural Planning Organization Section is responsible for the coordination of the long range transportation planning process in the state's 12 RPOs as set forth in TDOT's Long Range Transportation Plan.

The purpose of the RPOs is to involve local officials in multi-modal transportation planning through a structured process. Our goal is to ensure quality, competence, and fairness in the transportation decision making process.

The state's 12 RPO's are Center Hill, Dale Hollow, East Tennessee North, East Tennessee South, First Tennessee, Middle Tennessee RPO, West Tennessee RPO, Northwest Tennessee, South Central East, South Central West, Southeast Tennessee, and Southwest Tennessee.

The RPO will consider multi modal transportation needs on a local and regional basis; review long-term needs as well as short-term funding priorities; and make recommendations to TDOT.

If there is a transportation need you want to address please feel free to email your RPO coordinator.

Rural Planning Organization

Voting Members

The RPOs are comprised of an Executive Board and a Technical Committee. Executive Board membership consists of county mayors, municipal mayors, state legislators, and other stakeholders. The Technical Committee membership consists of county and city appointees who are most knowledgeable about transportation issues in their community. There are also representatives for other modes of transportation, such as aviation and bike/pedestrian, as well as a citizen representative.

To view EB Member information, click on the link to the right of this page.

Rural Planning Organization

RPO Process

The RPO process is a consistent, transparent, structured method for involving local officials and the public in TDOT's transportation planning and decision-making process.

   1. Transportation needs identified at local level.
   2. Needs referred to TDOT for study and analysis in
       cooperation with the local RPO Technical Committee members.
   3. The Technical Committee reviews proposals with regard to:
      a. Congestion relief
      b. Safety
      c. Access for economic development
   4. Recommendations made to Executive Board.
   5. Priorities expressed by consensus (or vote) of the
       Executive Board
   6. TDOT considers recommended priorities, along with public support, environmental impacts and funding considerations to propose for the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP)
   7. Proposed State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) submitted to Legislature for consideration and budgeting

To view the Projects for Recommendation map and Ballot, click on the links to the right of this page.

Rural Planning Organization

Articles

The need to understand the transportation planning process is becoming more important as communities large and small look to build more sustainable communities. But for citizens they often get lost in the jargon used by planners. For this reason it is important that the RPO Coordinator stride to educate the community about transportation and the transportation planning process. In this section you will find helpful articles on transportation and transportation planning.

To view the article on Transportation Needs, click on the link to the right of this page.