Local Transportation System Plans, or TSPs, communicate local needs and priorities to justify the value of a project for state funding. Regional Transportation Plans, or RTPs, developed by Metropolitan Planning Organizations, or MPOs, look at the connections between communities and facilities necessary for the transportation system to function at a regional level. RTPs also identify funding for regional priority projects. The two are required to be consistent with each other and with the Oregon Transportation Plan. In turn, Oregon Department of Transportation projects are developed to be consistent with both state and local plans, and sometimes, in the course of reaching agreement on a state project, a local TSP needs to be amended to allow a state project to proceed. This ongoing feedback loop creates multiple opportunities to correlate local, regional and statewide transportation needs and opportunities for a functional and efficient system overall.
Most local and regional planning is either paid for locally, or with a mix of both local and state funds. Some examples of state funds which can be used to support local and regional planning are: