Advancing Metropolitan Planning for Operations: An Objectives-Driven, Performance-Based Approach – A Guidebook

Federal Highway Administration
Office of Operations

February 2010

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Table of Contents

[ Quality Assurance Statement ]

[ Technical Report Documentation Page ]

[ Transmission Letter ]

[ Acronyms ]

	EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Chapter 1	Introduction
	1.1 Motivation for Advancing Operations in Metropolitan Transportation Planning
	1.2 What is Planning for Operations?
	1.3 Federal Requirements
	1.4 Creating an Objectives-Driven, Performance-Based Approach to Planning for Operations
	1.5 Guidebook Organization
Chapter 2	An Objectives-Driven, Performance-Based Approach to Planning for Operations
	2.1 Rationale for a New Approach
	2.2 The Approach
	2.3 Relationship to the Congestion Management Process
Chapter 3	Developing Operations Goals and Objectives
	3.1 Develop Operations Goals
	3.2 Develop Operations Objectives
	3.3 Operations Objectives Are Scalable
Chapter 4	Developing Performance Measures, Assessing Needs, and Selecting Strategies
	4.1 Operations Objectives Lead to Performance Measures
	4.2 Develop Performance Measures
	4.3 Use Performance Measures to Determine Operational Needs
	4.4 Identify and Evaluate Strategies
Chapter 5	Resulting Plans, Programs, and Projects
	5.1 The Resulting Metropolitan Transportation Plan and TIP
	5.2 Benefits of the Resulting Plan and TIP
Chapter 6	Ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation
	6.1 The Role of Monitoring and Evaluation in the Approach
	6.2 Aspects of Monitoring and Evaluation
	6.3 Collecting Data for Evaluation Studies
Chapter 7	Moving Forward through Regional Coordination and Collaboration
	7.1 The Role of Regional Coordination and Collaboration in the Approach
	7.2 Who is Involved?
	7.3 How to Engage Participants
	7.4 Tools to Advance the Approach
	7.5 Engage Elected Officials and the Public
Chapter 8	Getting Started
	8.1 Steps to Getting Started: Planning for Operations Using the Approach
	8.2 Self-Assessment.
Appendix A	SAFETEA-LU Requirements
	1.0 Management & Operations in the Planning Process
	2.0 Transportation Systems Management and Operations
	3.0 Congestion Management Process
Appendix B	Components of the CMP
	1.0 Developing a CMP: The "8 Steps"
	2.0 Beyond the "8 Steps"
	3.0 Other Considerations
Appendix C	Applications of the Approach
	1.0 Linking Planning and NEPA
	2.0 Freight Planning
	3.0 Safety Planning
	4.0 Land Use Integration
Appendix D	Operations Objectives and Performance Measures in Private and Public Organizations

List of Figures

Figure 1	An Objectives-Driven, Performance-Based Approach to Planning for Operations
Figure 2	Sources of Congestion
Figure 3	M&O and CMP in the Context of Metropolitan Transportation Planning Requirements
Figure 4	An Objectives-Driven, Performance-Based Approach to Planning for Operations
Figure 5	A Metropolitan Transportation Plan Resulting from the Approach Includes Goals, Operations Objectives, Performance Measures, and M&O Strategies
Figure 6	The 8-Step Framework for the CMP

List of Tables

Table 1	Guidebook Organization by Section and Description
Table 2	Operations Objectives Motivated by Significant Issues in the Region
Table 3	Example of Operations Objectives Applied in the Planning Process
Table 4	Data Collection Methods for Evaluating Transportation Strategies
Table 5	Assessment Tool to Measure Integration of an Objectives-Driven, Performance-Based Approach

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Federal Highway Administration
Federal Transit Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
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www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov

FHWA-HOP-10-026