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Roads passing through built-up areas give rise to myriad conflicts between road users on one hand and the resident population on the other. Accordingly we need to find a method to allow us to consider which of the most problematic throughtraffic routes need to be replaced by bypasses, and among these, which should be built with highest priority. This paper sets out the methodology developed and used by the Castilla-León Directorate General for Roads and Infrastructure so as to ascertain what the needs really are and to articulate a proposed scheduling of such work. It is a simple, easily computerised system which, according to the most characteristic data in each section (traffic, number of inhabitants, accident rate, etc.) assesses each through-traffic route so as to determine if its replacement with an alternative route (bypass) is strictly necessary and what degree of priority should be assigned to the replacement, on the basis of an objective scoring from 1 to 100. Economic criteria are left out of these considerations, as needs are not linked to costs or cost-effectiveness. That is an issue for separate and in all events subsequent discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]