The proposed rule, “National Performance Management Measures; Assessing Performance of the National Highway System, Freight Movement on the Interstate System, and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program,” is a requirement under MAP-21. It would call for increased “transparency and accountability” for setting and reaching performance targets.
These include requiring states to evaluate and report “more effectively and consistently” on travel time reliability, delay hours, peak-hour congestion, freight movement and on-road mobile source emissions.
“These measures will enhance a data-driven approach that will lead to better informed decisions on how and where to focus our efforts to reduce congestion,” says FHWA Administrator Gregory Nadeau. “Ultimately, the goal is to improve the system, enhance our nation’s productivity, and support the economy.”
Under the proposed rule, states would use FHWA’s National Performance Management Research Data Set to collect actual travel times from vehicles and monitor system performance. FHWA would require all state DOTs and metropolitan planning organizations to use travel time data sets to create “performance targets” and to create progress reports.
FHWA says the regulation would “bring about greater accountability nationwide in addition to more consistency in data collection and analysis and more comprehensive practices.
Overall, the proposed rule will provide FHWA with better information to more fully understand how different investment strategies have led to improved system performance.”
