Each year, during the project scoring process, scoring teams composed of Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) program managers and Traffic Safety Specialists (TSSs) score general traffic safety project proposals according to the criteria described in this section. Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) proposals are non-competitive and processed through the TxDOT Traffic Safety Electronic Grants Management System (eGrants). Approved proposals are then incorporated into the annual Highway Safety Plan (HSP).

The project selection teams are provided access to all general traffic safety proposals through eGrants. After evaluating the needs of various communities and statewide concerns and determining the quality of traffic safety problem identification, the proposed solution, and the proposed budget, a Traffic Safety Project Proposal Score Sheet is used to score each project against a number of selected criteria that are based on each element of the project proposal. The criteria are the same regardless of geographic coverage (local, multi-county, state, etc.).

The evaluations are conducted on the basis of the threats identified in the problem identification, the reasonableness of the problem solution, and other factors pertinent to the resolution of the identified problem. If a problem and solution are considered worthy of inclusion in the HSP, but the budget is considered inappropriate, the negotiation for project budget development will occur prior to HSP development.

A range of point values is assigned to most elements of the project proposal and a range of criteria responses is also provided to help the scorer determine the strength of the proposal. After initial scores are assigned, a multiplier is applied based on the relative importance of the criterion to the overall proposal, and a final score is awarded to each scorable criterion.