The page presents a survey section titled DOT Governance and Rural Planning Structures that contains questions used to assess how transportation planning responsibilities are organized in non metropolitan areas. The questions ask whether the state has areas not covered by a metropolitan planning organization, whether the stateʼs governance structure for rural planning purposes is centralized or decentralized, which offices have planning responsibilities relative to coordination with regional transportation planning organizations and other such entities, and whether urban areas exist with populations smaller than fifty thousand that carry out planning and programming through a regional transportation planning organization or similar entity. The page also includes a question asking whether there is cooperation and coordination between the stateʼs DOT and any of the following in non-metropolitan areas: rural or regional planning entities such as councils of governments, regional planning commissions, rural economic development agencies, or rural transit providers; regional transportation planning organizations, or metropolitan planning organizations that extend their planning to non metropolitan areas. Checkboxes and response options indicate how participants reported governance structures, coordination practices, and organizational roles.

The page presents a continuation of a survey section focused on DOT governance and rural planning structures, providing detailed questions, most of which are based on earlier responses. The questions ask respondents to identify which specific types of organizations are involved in coordinated rural transportation planning with their stateʼs DOT. The first question asks whether the stateʼs RTPOs are formally designated under a federal rule; another question asks whether the stateʼs RTPOs are designated under state statute to carry out non metropolitan area transportation planning activities with the state DOT. Further questions ask whether specific types of organizations are formally designated in state statute to carry out non metropolitan area transportation planning activities with the stateʼs DOT, including councils of governments, regional planning commissions, rural transit providers, and rural economic development agencies. Another question asks for the respondent to write in names of other non metropolitan planning organizations that cooperate with the stateʼs DOT that were not previously provided as options. The page also asks whether the state has RTPO equivalent organizations that cover more than one state, and if so, asks which states covered. Checkboxes, radio buttons, and fields for short answer indicate how respondents selected applicable organization types and coordination practices, allowing the survey to capture how rural transportation planning responsibilities are structured and coordinated across different entities.

The first part of the page presents the last question from the previous section. The question from the previous section asks a respondent whose state participates in a non metropolitan planning organization that spans more than one state whether their state DOT is the primary DOT for that cooperative planning process. The rest of the page presents a survey section that summarizes the roles and responsibilities of rural planning organizations and their coordination with state departments of transportation. The questions ask which transportation planning products rural planning organizations develop, such as regional or long range transportation plans, transportation improvement programs, public involvement plans, technical reports and studies, bicycle and pedestrian plans, safety plans, freight plans, intermodal plans, corridor plans, air quality or environmental resource plans, community development or subarea plans, and other specified documents. The page also asks whether these organizations develop transportation performance measures and whether those measures align with state and federal performance measurement requirements. A final section summarizes cooperation with local officials by asking which mechanisms the state DOT uses to work with RTPOs, RPEs, or non metropolitan entities, including memorandums of understanding, joint task forces or working groups, shared funding or grant programs, data sharing platforms or systems, coordination through regional or statewide associations, statewide plans or planning activities, informal discussions or ad hoc consultations, in person meetings, virtual meetings, email communications, phone calls, public workshops or forums, and surveys or questionnaires. The content captures how planning responsibilities are carried out and how coordination occurs between state and rural planning entities.

The page presents a survey section with questions about the ways state departments of transportation cooperate with RTPOs, RPEs, and non metropolitan local officials. The questions ask about whether consistent practices are used across the state, whether the respondentʼs agencyʼs cooperative practices are the same for RTPOs, RPEs, or non-metropolitan local officials as they are for MPOs, and whether policies or programs unique to the respondentʼs state facilitate non metropolitan transportation planning or RTPO or RPE involvement. An additional question focuses on capacity building, asking what types of technical assistance the state provides, such as financial support, staffing support, training, software or tools, or access to data and datasets that assist transportation planning efforts. Overall, the page summarizes how coordination, policy support, and technical assistance are structured to support rural and non metropolitan transportation planning activities.

The page presents a survey section showing questions about the ways state departments of transportation support training and professional development for RTPOs, RPEs, and non metropolitan local officials. The questions ask whether the state provides or develops training opportunities such as in person training programs or conferences, online training, guidance documents, and other specified resources. The page also lists detailed topic areas for training, including geographic information systems, public participation, Title six or environmental justice, complete streets and access management, long range transportation planning, transportation modeling, funding and finance, data usage, transportation programming, scenario planning, air quality, policy and regulations, environmental planning under the National Environmental Policy Act, economic development planning, multimodal planning, land use planning, performance measurement, congestion management, transportation technology, MPO administrative functions, Transportation Systems Management and Operation, and other transportation planning topics. A final question summarizes how the state coordinates training with RTPOs, RPEs, or non metropolitan officials, including steering committees, statewide polling, statewide or regional association meetings, individual RTPO or RPE meetings, email communications, shared platforms such as listservs or SharePoint, and other approaches.

The page presents a survey section that shows questions about state department of transportation roles related to transit and multimodal planning in non metropolitan areas and identifies key challenges and barriers. The questions ask whether the state has any responsibilities for rural transit planning and whether rural transit planning is integrated with state, RTPO, or RPE transportation planning processes. Respondents are also asked how rural transit planning is integrated with the state DOT processes, including through coordinated meetings, joint project development, shared funding sources, joint training opportunities, or other methods. The page also asks how multimodal transportation options such as transit, bicycle, and pedestrian options are incorporated into non metropolitan transportation planning and project development, including through long range plans, project development, specific programs, or other methods. A final section summarizes challenges and barriers to cooperation, communication, planning, or funding in non metropolitan areas, including staffing limitations, funding constraints, coordination difficulties, regulatory requirements, administrative processes, miscommunication, and limited time or resources.

The page presents the final section of the transportation planning survey that summarizes remaining challenges, collects respondent contact information, and closes the questionnaire. The content includes checkbox options for additional challenges such as reluctance or unwillingness to cooperate or communicate and difficulties providing technical assistance to RTPOs, RPEs, or non metropolitan entities, along with options for other or not applicable responses. The page then provides fields for entering agency name, contact name, email address, telephone number, and telephone extension. A question asks whether the respondent is willing to participate in a follow up case example interview if selected. The page concludes with instructions explaining that the respondent has reached the end of the questionnaire, how to review or edit responses using the back button, how to submit responses, and a thank you message for completing the survey.