2.6.1 TxDOT Planning Documents

Once projects are identified through the planning process, they are placed in a series of regularly updated planning documents.
Figure 2-5
illustrates the progressive levels of planning detail, from long-term vision to project letting. A brief description of each of these documents is included below.
TxDOT’s Family of Planning Documents (click in image to see full-size image)
2.6.1.1 Long-Term Planning Documents
The SLRTP and MTPs identify goals, objectives, performance measures, targets and investment strategies that determine the projects and services that will be included in the statewide and local capital improvement programs to meet current and future transportation needs.
  • Statewide Long-Range Transportation Plan (SLRTP)
     – a 24-year blueprint for the transportation planning process that guides the collaborative efforts between TxDOT, local and regional decision-makers and all transportation stakeholders to reach a consensus on needed transportation projects and services. The SLRTP is updated every four years and can be found on the TxDOT.gov webpage referenced below.
  • Metropolitan Transportation Plans (MTP)
     – a blueprint to guide the spending of federal and state transportation plans for regional areas for the next 20 years. The MTP is developed by the local MPO and approved by the MPO Policy Board and is updated every four or five years and can be found on the individual MPO webpages.
2.6.1.2 Project Development Planning Documents
  • Unified Transportation Program (UTP)
     – TxDOT’s 10-year fiscally constrained plan to guide transportation development across the State, approved annually by the TTC before August 31
    st
    . It determines how many construction dollars are expected to be available over the next 10 years and how to distribute them. Projects in the UTP can be found on the TxDOT.gov webpage referenced below.
  • Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)
    – as projects move closer to construction or implementation, they will advance into a TIP. A TIP is a four-year program developed by MPOs that contains a fiscally constrained list of multimodal (e.g., highway, transit, bicycle, etc.) transportation projects in a specific rural or metropolitan area that accomplishes the planning goals and objectives and achieves targeted performance identified in the SLRTP and MTPs. The TIP for rural areas is developed by TxDOT Districts in cooperation with the RPO and incorporated into the STIP. Projects in the TIP can be found on individual MPO and RPO webpages.
  • Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP)
     –TxDOT’s four-year capital improvement program that includes the individual MPO TIPs mentioned above as well as other project identified by Districts. The STIP contains all phases of transportation projects in the final stages of development that have funds allocated to them. The STIP is updated every two years and has quarterly revisions (November, February, May and August). Projects in the STIP can be found on the TxDOT.gov webpage referenced below.
A proposed project must be listed in the STIP before any federal transportation funds (the Highway Trust Fund) can be used.
  • 2-Year Letting Schedule
     – Once a project is listed in an approved STIP, TxDOT’s 2-year letting schedule authorizes and administers its construction. Projects in the 2-year letting schedule can be found on TxDOT.gov webpage.
All project development planning documents are required to be funded and fiscally constrained.