Decisions regarding which projects to include in the transportation improvement program, and in which years, are ultimately political decisions made by elected or appointed officials. These decisions can be affected by an objective assessment of how each project fulfills certain needs and priorities unique to each MPO or SDOT. The TELUS projectscoring module offers the user five options in performing an assessment:

-- Use the TELUS default scoring system:
  - Based on the seven planning objectives of TEA-21;
  - Includes an eighth category for local/regional scoring factors;
  - Allows weighting the eight categories and 57 factors to fit the unique needs and priorities of the MPO or SDOT.

-- Modify the TELUS default system by adding, deleting, or modifying categories, factors, and weights.

-- Replicate the MPO’s/SDOT’s current system in TELUS.

-- Create an entirely new system from scratch.

-- Create multiple scoring systems (e.g., one for CMAQ projects, another for STP projects, etc.)