The Transportation Management Protocol (TMP) specifies an NTCIP Application Layer service. TMP defines a set of rules and procedures for exchanging transportation management information between transportation management applications and transportation equipment such that they interoperate with each other. The transportation management information that is exchanged using TMP is defined elsewhere according to the rules defined in NTCIP 8004 v02. Messages conforming to TMP may be exchanged using any appropriate transport mechanism. TMP was carefully designed to provide 100% interoperability with the Internet-standard Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)@ but extends SNMP structure to meet the needs of the transportation environment. Analysis of the transportation environment has revealed the need for protocol simplicity@ flexibility@ and minimal data packet size; however@ in many cases@ these three requirements are at odds. After a careful review of existing protocols@ it was decided to pursue the development of TMP@ which combines the capabilities of three component protocols. Each component protocol has been designed to maximize two of the three requirements at the expense of the third requirement.