Regional Transportation Plans are planning documents to provide a vision of the goals, policies, objectives and strategies in addressing local transportation needs in a particular region. Regional Transportation Planning Agencies (RTPAs), along with Caltrans and other stakeholders, are required by State legislation to update the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) every four years in rural areas.

The regional transportation process has many purposes. Evaluating transportation performances, identifying future needs, contributing to economic health, enhancing and preserving environmental qualities, and identifying safety issues are some of the RTP functions.

The RTP vision must be realistic and within fiscal constraints, and include the following components:

• An Executive Summary that provides a regional perspective, and identifies the challenges and transportation objectives to be achieved.
• A Needs Assessment that identifies current and future transportation problems. Part of this assessment should be transportation performance objectives and anticipated outcomes.
• A Policy Element that reflects the mobility goals, policies and objectives of the region.
• An Action Element that identifies programs and actions to implement the RTP.
• A Financial Element that summarizes the cost of implementing the projects in the RTP (considering a financially constrained environment).

Public involvement is a major part of the RTP process. MCOG has offered opportunities for both public and private participation during the planning and development phases. Community workshops, public access radio, our agency's web site, and other means of outreach have been used to learn of local transportation needs.