The Transportation Improvement Program, or TIP, is a prerequisite for federal assistance to implement transportation projects in a metropolitan planning area including aviation, highway, public transportation, waterway, and other surface transportation projects.  As stated in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 49 Part 1410.324, the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is responsible for advancing the TIP in a designated metropolitan planning area.  The designated MPO (BHJMPO) for the Steubenville-Weirton, OH - WV Metropolitan Area is the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission.  In metropolitan areas less than 200,000 population (such as the Steubenville-Weirton, OH - WV Metropolitan Area), the MPO is responsible for developing the TIP in close cooperation with each applicable State Highway Agency and any involved public transit operator.  By rule, the BHJMPO Policy Committee first adopts the TIP and then approved to form by a designated representative of the Ohio and West Virginia Governor’s Office. 

Continuing, the TIP must be a fiscally balanced listing of projects and lists how each project sponsor is financially capable of implementing each project over the next four years.  Additionally, the TIP indicates all available public (federal, state, and local) and private revenues and/or resources expected to finance the entire program.  This includes any or all-innovative fiscal techniques allowable to carry out the program.  However, if financial resources not initially identified in the TIP become available at a future date, the BHJMPO may adopt a revision to include additional projects or transportation improvement strategies.  If funding becomes available in the current fiscal year for a project listed in the program’s subsequent year (e.g. listed in FY 2011 and monies become available in FY 2010), that project can be advanced (that is, moved forward into the current fiscal year fund cycle) without a formal amendment.  In such an instance, though, the BHJMPO must concur in writing and the requesting agency needs to demonstrate fiscal responsibility.

Finally, federal legislation defines the TIP as a short-range four-year priority listing of local, state, and federal projects and strategies consistent with the goals and objectives established in the metropolitan area’s Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP).  The LRTP considers, at a minimum, the twenty-year intermodal transportation needs for both highways and non-highways facilities.  The highway element incorporates the preservation, safety, and aesthetic enhancements, of bridges freeways and streets, while the non-highway component includes public transit services, general aviation improvements, off-road bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and rideshare/vanpool programs.