System Performance, Freight and CMAQ
The Federal Highway Administration published the System Performance/Freight/CMAQ Performance Measures Final Rule on Jan. 18, 2017, with an effective date of May 20, 2017. It assesses the performance of the Interstate and non-Interstate National Highway System for the purpose of carrying out the National Highway Performance Program; assesses freight movement on the Interstate System; and assesses traffic congestion and on-road mobile source emissions for the purpose of carrying out the Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Improvement Program.
Travel Time Reliability
CDOT and DRCOG are charged with reporting the measurement of travel time reliability on the interstate and/or non-Interstate National Highway System. CDOT is required to set two-year and four-year targets, while DRCOG is required to set four-year targets. The DRCOG Board elected to continue to support CDOT’s performance targets related to travel time reliability.
Travel Time Reliability |
Four-Year Targets |
| Percent of the person-miles traveled on the interstate that are reliable | 79% |
| Percent of the person-miles traveled on the non-Interstate National Highway System that are reliable | 94% |
Freight Reliability
A separate measurement is required for travel time reliability for freight on the interstate system, the Truck Travel Time Reliability Index. It is broken down into five periods: morning peak, midday, and afternoon peak Monday – Friday, weekends, and overnight for each day. The TTTR ratio is generated by dividing the 95th percentile time by the 50th percentile for each segment. The TTTR Index will be generated by multiplying each segment’s largest ratio of the five periods by its length, then dividing the sum of all length-weighted segments by the total length of Interstate.
CDOT is required to set two-year and four-year targets for Freight Reliability, while DRCOG only needed to set four-year targets. The DRCOG Board elected to support CDOT’s performance targets related to freight reliability.
Freight Reliability |
Four-Year Targets |
| Truck Travel Time Reliability Index (TTTR) | 1.46 |
Traffic Congestion Reduction
This subpart is applicable to all urbanized areas that include the National Highway System mileage and have a population over 200,000 that are, in all or part, designated as nonattainment or maintenance areas for ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), or particulate matter (PM10 or PM2.5) per National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
As the Denver-Aurora, CO Urbanized Area, encompassed within the the planning area of DRCOG, meets the threshold set, this subpart applied to the Denver-Aurora, CO Urbanized Area. The Boulder, CO UZA, the Longmont, CO UZA and the Lafayette-Louisville-Erie,CO UZA do not meet the threshold set for this subpart. These targets have to be set jointly between DRCOG and CDOT. Completed jointly with CDOT, the DRCOG Board and CDOT Transportation Commission established the following performance targets for the second performance period.
Traffic Congestion Reduction |
Baseline | Two-Year Targets | Four-Year Targets |
| Percent of non-single occupancy vehicle travel | 27.3% | 26.7% | 27.7% |
| Annual hours of peak-hour excessive delay per capita | 11.7 | 15.8 | 17.4 |
On-Road Mobile Source Emissions Reduction
This performance measure is only applicable to state DOTs and MPOs that include any part of a nonattainment or maintenance area for ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), or particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) per the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. This measure is limited to these areas to further the CMAQ’s program purpose of funding programs and projects that seek to satisfy the NAAQS. If an MPO has a population of greater than 1 million, and is designated as a nonattainment and maintenance area, then both two- and four-year targets are required. If the population is less than 1 million, then only a four-year target is required.
As the DRCOG planning area has a population greater than 1 million and at the time the applicability determination was designated as nonattainment/maintenance for ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM10), two- and four-year performance targets for each of those criteria pollutants had to be established.
The DRCOG Board established cumulative two and four-year total emissions reduction for funded projects in the DRCOG region.
Total Emissions Reduction |
Baseline | Two-Year Targets | Four-Year Targets |
| Total Emissions Reductions (VOC) kg/day | 388.191 | 209.97 | 423.397 |
| Total Emissions Reductions (PM10) kg/day | 41.385 | 23.900 | 47.800 |
| Total Emissions Reductions (CO) kg/day | 6,006.652 | 2,583.027 | 5,213.589 |
| Total Emissions Reductions (NOx) kg/day | 707.876 | 397.012 | 800.557 |
