Operations Performance Measurement Program
photos of traffic merging on a multi-level freeway interchange, traffic near a construction zone, variable message sign, train at a crossing, traffic on a river bridge, and a rural highway
21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies

Operations Performance Measures

FHWA Program Links

This web page includes links to operations performance measures defined through program areas in the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Office of Operations. 

Active Traffic Management (ATM)

Key Resource(s): Active Traffic Management (ATM) Implementation and Operations Guide, Chapter 2.3: Setting Objectives and Performance Measures for ATM

Arterial Performance Measures

Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures (ATSPMs), included in the Every Day Counts (EDC) Round 4 technology initiative, is defined as a suite of performance measures, data collection and data analysis tools to support objectives and performance-based approaches to traffic signal operations, maintenance, management, and design to improve the safety, mobility, and efficiency of signalized intersections for all users.
Website: Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures

Key Resource:
Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures: This report highlights the technical outreach undertaken by FHWA to assist States in meeting their EDC Round 4 implementation objectives with respect to ATSPMs. The outreach activities described in this report include use cases, workshops, webinars, and case studies.

Freight Performance Measurement

Website: Freight Performance Measurement
Key Resources:
Freight Mobility Trends and Highway Bottlenecks: FHWA’s Office of Operations has created a Freight Mobility Trends Analysis Tool to present national freight statistics and identify freight highway bottlenecks on the Interstate System, National Highway System (NHS), National Highway Freight Network (NHFN), and Strategic Highway Network (STRAHNET).
Freight Performance Measure Primer
Truck Freight Bottleneck Reporting Guidebook
Freight Performance Measure Approaches for Bottlenecks, Arterials, and Linking Volumes to Congestion Report
2019 Top 100 Bottlenecks

Road Weather Management Performance Measurement

Key Resource:
Leveraging Road Weather Data for Performance Management Dashboards and Reports: This fact sheet provides an overview of how agencies may leverage road weather data to develop and improve performance measures for enhanced storm management and performance management dashboards.

TPM Third Performance Management Rulemaking (PM3) Measures

Website: FHWA TPM
Key Resources:
Video (YouTube) Video Companion Resource (.pdf)
The “Travel Time Reliability and Freight Reliability” video covers what the PM3 travel time reliability measures are, what the travel time reliability performance measures assess, and provides insight into how the measures were established.
FHWA Computation Procedure for Travel Time Based and Percent Non-Single Occupancy Vehicle (non-SOV) Travel Performance Measures May 2018
National Performance Measures for Congestion, Reliability, and Freight, and CMAQ Traffic Congestion General Guidance and Step-by-Step Metric Calculation Procedures
TPM State Dashboards
TPM Urbanized Area Congestion Reports

Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Performance Measures          

Website: TIM Performance Measures
FHWA promotes the adoption of four national TIM performance measures:

  • Roadway clearance time (RCT) is the time between the first recordable awareness of the incident to time all lanes open for traffic flow.
  • Incident clearance time (ICT) is the time between the first recordable awareness of the incident to the time at which the last responder has left the scene.
  • Secondary Crash is a crash that occurs at the scene of an original crash or in the queue, including the opposite direction.
  • Responder Struck By records any instance that a responder is struck by a vehicle while working the scene of an incident.
Key Resource:
TIM Knowledgebase

Work Zone (WZ) Management Performance Measurement

Web Site: Work Zone Management Performance Measurement
Key Resource(s):
WZ Performance Measurement Development
The Work Zone Management program has a publications web page that includes specific work zone performance measure-related publications.

Other FHWA Resources

Planning for Operations: Advancing Metropolitan Planning for Operations: The Building Blocks of a Model Transportation Plan Incorporating Operations - A Desk Reference. Although older (2010), Desk Reference still has some pertinent sample operations objectives and performance measures.

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