Authorizes the department of transportation, in carrying out its transportation planning responsibilities and conducting special studies, to use least cost planning as a method of analyzing transportation system performance and identifying an optimal mix of strategies for managing and improving a transportation system that supports communities, the economy, and the environment.

Requires regional transportation planning organizations to collaborate with the department of transportation in the development of a least cost planning and programming framework that: (1) Supports the state transportation system policy goals and uses analytical methods to examine transportation system performance; and

(2) Identifies an optimal mix of practical investment and policy strategies for managing and improving a transportation system that supports communities, the economy, and the environment.