Relevant Resources and Publications

Online Resources for Getting Started

Performance Measurement Exchange
Federal Highway Administration
Performance Measurement Committee (A5022/ABC30)
Transportation Research Board
Performance Measurement Library
Washington State Department of Transportation
Performance Measures Course
Provided by the University of Maryland's Consortium for ITS Training and Education (CITE)
Performance Measurement for Government
Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)

Organizations Endorsing Operations Performance Measurement

Subcommittee on Transportation Systems Operations and Management
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
National Operations Center for Excellence (NOCoE)

Publications - Operations Performance Measurement

2015 Urban Congestion Trends – Communicating Improved Operations with Big Data (HTML, PDF 3.3MB) - The report provides a snapshot of urban congestion trends, including travel time reliability, in 52 urban areas in the U.S. The report highlights the National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) and how agencies are using the data. The report also highlights successful implementations of operational strategies including work zone project coordination, advanced construction travel information system, and variable speed Active Traffic Management.
2014 Urban Congestion Trends – Improved Data for Operations Decision Making (HTML, PDF 3.7MB) - The report provides a snapshot of urban congestion trends, including travel time reliability, in 52 urban areas in the U.S. The report includes all Interstate and other limited access highways in these urban areas (Functional Classes 1 and 2). The report also highlights operational solutions that provide benefits to system operators and the traveling public, including the use of the National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) by a State DOT to produce measures.
2013 Urban Congestion Trends – Measuring Reliability and Congestion with Vehicle Probe Data (HTML, PDF 349KB)
2012 Urban Congestion Trends – Operations: The Key to Reliable Travel (HTML, PDF 2.9MB) - The report provides a snapshot of urban congestion trends, including travel time reliability, in 19 urban areas in the U.S. The report also highlights operational solutions that provide benefits to system operators and the traveling public.
2011 Urban Congestion Trends – Improving Travel Reliability with Operations (HTML, PDF 9MB) - The brochure features a number of operations project evaluations demonstrating how system reliability can be enhanced through a variety of operational strategies as well as an example of how system reliability can be reported. The report also includes three national snapshot performance measures derived from travel time data from 19 urban areas in the U.S. during 2011. The measures include congested hours, travel time index, and the planning time index.
2010 Urban Congestion Trends – Enhancing System Reliability with Operations (HTML, PDF 2.9MB) - The brochure features a number of operations project evaluations demonstrating how system reliability can be enhanced through a variety of operational strategies. The report also includes three national snapshot performance measures derived from travel time data from 20 urban areas in the U.S. The measures include congested hours, travel time index, and the planning time index.
2009 Urban Congestion Trends – How Operations is Solving Congestion Problems (HTML, PDF 3.7MB) - The brochure features examples from across the country that show how transportation agencies are operating the highway system more efficiently and helping to reduce congestion. The report also features congestion trends over the past three years from the 23 urban areas that participate in the quarterly Urban Congestion Report developed by the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Operations. The trends are reported via congestion and reliability performance measures that illustrate the importance of monitoring and reporting the performance of the highway system.
NCHRP Research Results Digest 312: Guide to Effective Freeway Performance Measurement (PDF 204KB), February 2007
NCHRP Web-Only Document 97: Guide to Effective Freeway Performance Measurement: Final Report and Guidebook (PDF 6.3MB)
NCHRP Synthesis 311: Performance Measures of Operational Effectiveness for Highway Segments and Systems (PDF 3.0MB), 2003

Publications - All Performance Measurement (Agency, Planning, Operations, etc.)

Performance Measures to Improve Transportation Systems: Summary of the Second National Conference (PDF 4.0MB), TRB, 2005
Summary of Roundtable on System Performance Measurement in Statewide and Metropolitan Transportation Planning, FHWA, October 7-9, 2003.
Performance Measures to Improve Transportation Systems and Agency Operations: Report of a Conference (PDF 2.8MB), TRB, 2001
Measuring Performance Among State DOTs, NCHRP Series of Reports
The following reports are available from the Transportation Research Board Bookstore:
- NHCRP Report 446, A Guidebook for Performance-Based Transportation Planning, 2000
- NCHRP Report 431, Valuation of Travel-Time Savings and Predictability in Congested Conditions for Highway User-Cost Estimation, 1999
- NCHRP Research Results Digest 226, Multimodal Transportation: Development of a Performance-Based Planning Process, July 1998
- NCHRP Synthesis 238, Performance Measurement in State Departments of Transportation, 1997
- NCHRP Report 398 (Volume I: Final Report and Volume II: User's Guide), Quantifying Congestion, 1997
- TCRP Report 47, A Handbook for Measuring Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality, 1999
The Mobility Monitoring Program produced a summary technical report (PDF, 886) that describes data processing and performance measure calculation procedures. This report may be helpful for those who are interested in the details of using archived traffic operations data for operations performance measures. A brief Lessons Learned report has also been produced to summarize key findings from the Program.
U.S. and International Approaches to Performance Measurement for Transportation Systems (PDF, 1.86MB) TRB 2009

Performance Measurement Fundamentals and Best Practices

PDF files can be viewed with the Acrobat® Reader®.

Search Performance Measurement: Home Contact Us Projects Urban Congestion Reports Urban Congestion Trends and Related Reports Travel Time Reliability Measures Resources Performance Measures Fundamentals Example Programs Research Resources and Publications	Relevant Resources and Publications Online Resources for Getting Started Performance Measurement Exchange Federal Highway Administration Performance Measurement Committee (A5022/ABC30) Transportation Research Board Performance Measurement Library Washington State Department of Transportation Performance Measures Course Provided by the University of Maryland's Consortium for ITS Training and Education (CITE) Performance Measurement for Government Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Organizations Endorsing Operations Performance Measurement Subcommittee on Transportation Systems Operations and Management American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) National Operations Center for Excellence (NOCoE) Publications - Operations Performance Measurement 2015 Urban Congestion Trends – Communicating Improved Operations with Big Data (HTML, PDF 3.3MB) - The report provides a snapshot of urban congestion trends, including travel time reliability, in 52 urban areas in the U.S. The report highlights the National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) and how agencies are using the data. The report also highlights successful implementations of operational strategies including work zone project coordination, advanced construction travel information system, and variable speed Active Traffic Management. 2014 Urban Congestion Trends – Improved Data for Operations Decision Making (HTML, PDF 3.7MB) - The report provides a snapshot of urban congestion trends, including travel time reliability, in 52 urban areas in the U.S. The report includes all Interstate and other limited access highways in these urban areas (Functional Classes 1 and 2). The report also highlights operational solutions that provide benefits to system operators and the traveling public, including the use of the National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) by a State DOT to produce measures. 2013 Urban Congestion Trends – Measuring Reliability and Congestion with Vehicle Probe Data (HTML, PDF 349KB) 2012 Urban Congestion Trends – Operations: The Key to Reliable Travel (HTML, PDF 2.9MB) - The report provides a snapshot of urban congestion trends, including travel time reliability, in 19 urban areas in the U.S. The report also highlights operational solutions that provide benefits to system operators and the traveling public. 2011 Urban Congestion Trends – Improving Travel Reliability with Operations (HTML, PDF 9MB) - The brochure features a number of operations project evaluations demonstrating how system reliability can be enhanced through a variety of operational strategies as well as an example of how system reliability can be reported. The report also includes three national snapshot performance measures derived from travel time data from 19 urban areas in the U.S. during 2011. The measures include congested hours, travel time index, and the planning time index. 2010 Urban Congestion Trends – Enhancing System Reliability with Operations (HTML, PDF 2.9MB) - The brochure features a number of operations project evaluations demonstrating how system reliability can be enhanced through a variety of operational strategies. The report also includes three national snapshot performance measures derived from travel time data from 20 urban areas in the U.S. The measures include congested hours, travel time index, and the planning time index. 2009 Urban Congestion Trends – How Operations is Solving Congestion Problems (HTML, PDF 3.7MB) - The brochure features examples from across the country that show how transportation agencies are operating the highway system more efficiently and helping to reduce congestion. The report also features congestion trends over the past three years from the 23 urban areas that participate in the quarterly Urban Congestion Report developed by the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Operations. The trends are reported via congestion and reliability performance measures that illustrate the importance of monitoring and reporting the performance of the highway system. NCHRP Research Results Digest 312: Guide to Effective Freeway Performance Measurement (PDF 204KB), February 2007 NCHRP Web-Only Document 97: Guide to Effective Freeway Performance Measurement: Final Report and Guidebook (PDF 6.3MB) NCHRP Synthesis 311: Performance Measures of Operational Effectiveness for Highway Segments and Systems (PDF 3.0MB), 2003 Publications - All Performance Measurement (Agency, Planning, Operations, etc.) Performance Measures to Improve Transportation Systems: Summary of the Second National Conference (PDF 4.0MB), TRB, 2005 Summary of Roundtable on System Performance Measurement in Statewide and Metropolitan Transportation Planning, FHWA, October 7-9, 2003. Performance Measures to Improve Transportation Systems and Agency Operations: Report of a Conference (PDF 2.8MB), TRB, 2001 Measuring Performance Among State DOTs, NCHRP Series of Reports The following reports are available from the Transportation Research Board Bookstore: NHCRP Report 446, A Guidebook for Performance-Based Transportation Planning, 2000 NCHRP Report 431, Valuation of Travel-Time Savings and Predictability in Congested Conditions for Highway User-Cost Estimation, 1999 NCHRP Research Results Digest 226, Multimodal Transportation: Development of a Performance-Based Planning Process, July 1998 NCHRP Synthesis 238, Performance Measurement in State Departments of Transportation, 1997 NCHRP Report 398 (Volume I: Final Report and Volume II: User's Guide), Quantifying Congestion, 1997 TCRP Report 47, A Handbook for Measuring Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality, 1999 The Mobility Monitoring Program produced a summary technical report (PDF, 886) that describes data processing and performance measure calculation procedures. This report may be helpful for those who are interested in the details of using archived traffic operations data for operations performance measures. A brief Lessons Learned report has also been produced to summarize key findings from the Program. U.S. and International Approaches to Performance Measurement for Transportation Systems (PDF, 1.86MB) TRB 2009 Performance Measurement Fundamentals and Best Practices Balancing Measures: Best Practices in Performance Management, August 1999 Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 Serving the American Public: Best Practices in Performance Measurement PDF files can be viewed with the Acrobat® Reader®.
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