Eastern Carolina Council is the lead planning agency for two Rural Transportation Planning Organizations (RPOs): The Eastern Carolina RPO and the Down East RPO.

Rural Planning Organizations (RPOs) were developed in response to Senate Bill 1195 which amended General Statute 136, Article 17 which directed the NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to develop a plan to establish RPOs. NCDOT completed its report in early 2001, and 20 RPOs were established between 2001 and 2003. As defined inNC General Statute 136-66.210, an RPO is “a voluntary organization of local officials formed through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work cooperatively with the Department to plan rural transportation systems and to advise the Department on rural transportation policy”.  The boundaries of an RPO may coincide with, but not overlap the boundaries of a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) or another RPO.

NC General Statute 136-212 identifies four primary duties for RPOs:

- Developing, in cooperation with the Department (NCDOT), long-range, local and regional multimodal transportation plans;
- Providing a forum for public participation in the transportation planning process;
- Developing and prioritizing suggestions for transportation projects the organization believes should be included in the State’s Transportation Improvement Program (STIP); and
- Providing transportation-related information to local governments and other interested organizations and persons.