Operations Performance Measurement
What's New
Urban Congestion Report for January-March 2012 Is Available
FHWA's Office of Operations recently completed work on a review of Private Sector Data for Performance Management, looking specifically at how that data could be used to measure congestion, mobility and reliability. The report includes a private sector data marketplace review, a look at important data issues for measuring congestion/reliability, how to validate such measures, and other related issues. You can read the full report here.
Featured Item
The 2010 Urban Congestion Trends report is now available. Subtitled "Enhancing System Reliability with Operations," the report 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. The report can be accessed here.
Performance measurement is the use of evidence to determine progress toward specific defined organizational objectives. This includes both quantitative evidence (such as the measurement of customer travel times) and qualitative evidence (such as the measurement of customer satisfaction and customer perceptions).
Operations performance measurement, therefore, measures progress toward meeting the objectives of transportation system management and operations. Although the specific objectives of management and operations activities vary among organizations, most relate to the overall goals of transportation mobility, productivity, and safety.
The FHWA Office of Operations is leading numerous activities to advance the implementation and practice of operations performance measurement at the Federal, State, and local level:
- Urban Congestion Reports
A quarterly snapshot of traffic congestion and reliability trends at the national and city level, developed using archived traffic operations data. - Urban Congestion Trends and Related Reports
Technical reports that communicate recent trends in congestion as well as strategies to manage congestion and improve mobility. - Travel Time Reliability Measures
Guidance documents on the need for, calculation of, and implementation of travel time reliability measures.
The following pages provide links to information and resources to assist in implementing operations performance measurement:
- Performance Measurement Fundamentals
- Examples of Performance Measurement Programs
- Operations Performance Measurement Research
- Relevant Resources and Publications
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