Photo courtesy of CDOT.
Transportation Performance Management Framework
The region's implementation of the federal performance-based planning and programming requirements is completed within the Federal Highway Administration's Transportation Performance Management framework and the Federal Transit Administration's performance management framework.
The framework provides key system information to determine the region's progress toward achieving goals and objectives and prioritizes investment and policy decisions. Transportation performance management also provides transportation agencies with a better ability to identify and mitigate issues within their respective transportation networks and improve communication between partner agencies through data and objective information.
The Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration established a set of rulemakings for the implementation of performance-based planning and programming.
Each rulemaking relates to a particular area of transportation and lays out the goals, measures and data to be used in setting targets. The performance-based planning and programming process requires state departments of transportation, transit providers and metropolitan planning organizations to link investment priorities to the achievement of performance targets.
Learn more about:
- Safety performance.
- Infrastructure condition.
- System performance, freight and congestion mitigation and air quality.
- Transit asset management.
- Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan.
DRCOG's role
Target-setting
DRCOG staff coordinate with regional, state and federal partners to maintain compliance with federal laws and regulations related to performance management. The integration of performance management regulations was outlined in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act and continued with subsequent surface transportation legislation is an evolving effort, as various state, regional and local transportation agencies set and evaluate targets.
DRCOG staff continue to coordinate with the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Regional Transportation District and other relevant stakeholders to integrate their performance measure goals, objectives and plans into its planning process by linking investment priorities to the applicable performance measure targets to the maximum extent practicable. Furthermore, DRCOG staff will continue to direct investments in the 2050 Metro Vision Regional Transportation Plan and Transportation Improvement Program toward projects that have the potential to support the targets and measures described.
Reporting
In addition to adopting and incorporating performance measures and targets into the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan and Transportation Improvement Program, DRCOG staff must also develop regular reports to document progress in achieving the targets, including a System Performance Report to be included in the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan at the time of adoption and a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Performance Plan to be included in the state’s Baseline Performance Report, Mid-Performance Period Progress Report, and Full-Performance Period Progress Report.
System Performance Report
DRCOG staff will include the System Performance Report in the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan at the time of its adoption. Under federal requirements, the report must include an evaluation of system performance with respect to the performance targets; and the progress description should include the performance data and associated performance target information that is available at the time of the plan adoption.
Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Performance Plan
The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality performance measures (traffic congestion and total emissions reductions) require development of a performance plan to be updated biennially. It includes a baseline level for traffic congestion and emissions, a description of the progress made in achieving performance measure targets and a description of projects funded through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program and their potential impact on achieving the targets.
Measuring success
Performance dashboards and reports
The Federal Highway Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation has developed State Performance Dashboard and Reports and Urbanized Area Congestion Reports which publish baseline values and performance targets for each state department of transportation and urbanized area.
The dashboard provides an easy-to-use interface for visitors to learn about each performance measure area and the process each state department of transportation undertook in setting and establishing applicable baselines and targets. The platform and enables users to quickly compare performance on multiple transportation performance measures.
The Federal Transit Administration has developed Transit Agency Dashboard and reports that identify metrics and targets for a selection of transit agencies in the U.S. The data is collected in the National Transit Database Asset forms, where visitors can search the data products for a full compilation of asset data among other financial and service information.
CDOT developed National Performance Measures dashboards to illustrate the performance of metrics required under the current federal surface transportation legislation. The data is divided into four main goal areas and shows current and historical data and the progress toward meeting the targets.