A Repeatable, Cost-Effective Path to Modern TIP Development

Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) provide cooperative, comprehensive and continuous transportation planning on behalf of their communities and update their plans on a frequent and regular basis through their published Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs). These federally mandated, fiscally constrained programs must align with long-range transportation plans while demonstrating how investments contribute to performance-based planning and programming (PBPP) targets. The TIP process can be arduous, with many dozens, if not hundreds, of hours spent collecting data, developing plans, soliciting feedback from stakeholders and amending those plans.  

Developing a TIP is an enormous and important job, the reality is that many MPOs are operating with extremely limited staff resources. The median MPO has just six staff members—five full-time and one part-time—with three-quarters of MPOs employing fewer than 12. At the same time, even though 75% of MPOs use performance measures in their long-range plans, only 30% apply them to project selection in TIPs. The result is a process that often struggles to provide transparency, collaboration, agility, and accountability at the scale stakeholders demand. 

I’ve seen firsthand how these challenges play out for organizations responsible for developing TIPs. With limited staff and fragmented tools, many relied on spreadsheets and subjective scoring to prioritize projects—leaving decision-makers frustrated and conversations difficult. When those organizations adopted a structured, transparent framework that tied project choices directly to performance goals, the process changed dramatically. Projects were prioritized more clearly, decisions became defensible, and leadership gained greater confidence in the outcomes. 

The Key Challenges Facing MPOs Today

1. Providing Transparency into Project Scoring

MPOs are constantly asked the same question: Why is Project X better than Project Y? Boards, the public, and federal reviewers expect to see clear linkages between project choices and progress toward performance targets such as safety, asset condition, emissions, and equity. 

Unfortunately, many MPOs still rely on ad hoc, opaque scoring processes. Without structured evaluation frameworks, it is difficult to demonstrate how priorities are set or why certain projects were selected over others. This lack of transparency not only undermines trust but also weakens the MPO’s ability to defend its program. 

How MPOs Benefit From Decision Lens: 

• Establish clear, performance-based scoring frameworks aligned to PBPP requirements. 

• Apply weighted criteria that reflect policy priorities such as safety, economic vitality, and equity. 

• Run scenario analyses that show which set of projects moves the region closer to its targets. 

With a repeatable framework in place, MPOs can make defensible choices that stand up to scrutiny—whether from a skeptical board member or a federal audit. 

 2. Enabling Collaborative Plan Development

TIP development is inherently collaborative. MPOs must coordinate with member jurisdictions, transit agencies, DOT partners, and the public. Managing all these inputs can be incredibly time-intensive, and without the right tools, project updates are inconsistent and error-prone, communication breaks down, and the priority framework becomes fragmented. 

How MPOs Benefit From Decision Lens: 

• Provide a single, authoritative source of truth for all project data. 

• Enable real-time collaboration and tracking across agencies, committees, and staff. 

• Reduce reliance on disconnected spreadsheets or manual reconciliation. 

The result is not just greater efficiency—it’s stronger buy-in from all stakeholders, because they can see how their input contributes to regional goals and how projects are prioritized within a transparent, consistent framework. 

 3. Responding Dynamically to Changing Budget Environments

No TIP remains static. Projects encounter cost increases, funding fluctuates, and new priorities emerge. For MPOs, these changes often trigger time-consuming recalculations, reprogramming, and amendments that strain already thin staff capacity. 

How MPOs Benefit From Decision Lens: 

• Model “what-if” funding scenarios to quickly show the impact of decreases, increases, or reallocations. 

• Rapidly incorporate cost updates, scope changes, or new projects into the prioritization framework. 

• Maintain a dependable, repeatable structure for adapting to changes without losing transparency. 

This agility is particularly important in today’s environment, where shifts in federal programs and funding priorities provide new opportunities but also add complexity to how dollars must be allocated. 

4. Developing Clear Reporting Strategies

Perhaps the most visible challenge MPOs face is reporting. Boards, oversight bodies, and the public want to know: Why did we approve this project or set of projects? Spreadsheets and static reports are often disconnected from the underlying data, making it difficult to explain decisions in ways that build confidence. 

How MPOs Benefit From Decision Lens: 

• BI and GIS-powered dashboards tailored for different stakeholder audiences. 

• Generate compliance-ready outputs that link projects directly to performance targets. 

• Provide narratives and visuals that clearly show how TIP decisions advance regional goals. 

When decision-making is tied directly to performance data and reported in intuitive, accessible formats, MPOs can better demonstrate accountability and strengthen public trust. 

Why a Repeatable, Cost-Effective Solution Matters 

The TIP process is cyclical—on a regular basis, MPOs face the same tasks of scoring projects, coordinating input, managing funding changes, and producing reports. Without a repeatable framework, each cycle risks reinventing the wheel and wasting staff time. 

Decision Lens provides: 

• Repeatability: A structured process that adapts with every cycle, amendment, and funding shift. 

• Cost-effectiveness: Software that reduces administrative burden and avoids recurring costs associated with ad hoc, manual, or one-off approaches. 

• Scalability: A secure, enterprise-ready platform that grows with agency needs and integrates with existing systems. 

By creating a sustainable process, MPOs can focus less on administration and more on strategic planning and delivering results for their communities. 

Conclusion: Building Sustainable TIP/STIP Practices 

For MPOs, the path forward is clear. Compliance is no longer enough. Stakeholders demand transparency, collaboration, agility, and accountability. 

Decision Lens offers a repeatable, cost-effective approach that helps MPOs deliver on all of these priorities. By aligning projects with performance goals, enabling real-time collaboration, adapting quickly to funding changes, and providing transparent reporting, MPOs can build TIPs that are defensible, adaptable, and trusted.