Freight Performance Measure Primer
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has been adhering to the Government
Performance and Results Act of 1993 since its adaptation. The Act requires the development of
strategic plans, annual performance plans, and annual performance reports. The Moving Ahead
for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) and the Fixing America's Surface Transportation
(FAST) Acts require the USDOT to establish performance measures in several areas, including
the assessment of freight movement on the interstate system.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Freight Management and Operations is
responsible for administering freight performance measurement requirements as outlined in the
MAP-21 and FAST Acts. The FHWA assists in the development of freight performance measures
through the advancement and dissemination of freight data and tools to support analysis, plans,
and project development. FHWA developed this Freight Performance Measure Primer as a tool
for State departments of transportation (DOTs) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs)
to develop meaningful, effective, and consistent performance measurement practices.
Measuring the performance of the freight system can be effective in determining if goals and
objectives are being met by State DOTs and MPOs. Performance measure data can be
used in communicating programs or policies, evaluating success and tracking progress, and
establishing a decision-making tool to identify plans, programs, policies and investments that
support freight movement. There are several existing data sources and approaches that States
and MPOs can use to get the baseline conditions and performance measures. The FHWA
data sources include truck probe data, National Performance Management Research Data Set
(NPMRDS), Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) data, the Commodity Flow Survey, the Highway
Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) data, and truck parking data. Freight data are available
for other modes, including maritime data, pipeline data, railroad data, aviation data, border
crossing data, and general economic activity.
There are other common performance measures used by jurisdictions and other entities. These
measures include truck travel times, travel time reliability, safety, infrastructure conditions, and
congestion. Other tools include freight demand measures (such as freight volume and truck
parking) and freight efficiency measures (such as travel time index, mean travel time index,
delay, speed, reliability cost, and freight bottlenecks). Similar performance measures are used for
freight rail, such as railroad speeds and reliability.
State DOTs and MPOs should work together to fulfill the Federal requirements from MAP-
21 and the FAST Acts. These agencies have varying degrees of expertise in analyzing freight
data and freight performance management and there are variations among agencies that track
performance, such as data consistency and differences in policies. Federal, State, and MPO
practitioners face several challenges in developing freight performance measures. These
challenges include: developing freight planning goals, understanding the role of States and
MPOs in freight planning and funding, accessing multi-modal data, addressing inconsistency in
data quality and quantity, and maintaining reliable freight transportation models.
The goal of this primer is to assist States and MPOs by providing information on the most
commonly used measurement data and approaches. It will allow practitioners to grow the state
of the practice of freight performance measurement. The primer includes information on data
collection, data analysis, target setting, identification of challenges, and possible solutions.
The recommendations and best practices were developed through interviews conducted with
numerous freight stakeholders, research on a diverse set of jurisdictions, and extensive research
of current users of freight performance measurement.
The public sector has an interest in identifying measures, including safety, environmental,
economic, system efficiency, and security, as well as measuring how regulations and standards
are being met. The private sector is concerned with economic measures, particularly those
resulting from policy decisions. Several best practices in the private and public sectors exist,
including statewide freight plans, coordination among government transportation agencies and
private partners, and the Freight Fluidity System that spans the freight modes.
States and MPOs can take the initial step in their freight planning efforts by convening a Freight
Advisory Committee (FAC), consisting of public and private stakeholders. These committees can
play a role in determining the level of analysis required, thereby selecting the most appropriate
freight performance measures. They can also play a role in obtaining the data.
The following table summarizes the potential performance measures that States and MPOs could
include in their freight planning effort. The measures are listed by mode for five categories:
- Safety.
- Maintenance and Preservation.
- Mobility, Reliability, and Congestion.
- Accessibility and Connectivity.
- Environment.
Table 1. Recommended performance measures.
| Category |
Measure |
| SAFETY |
| Highway |
Motor carrier crash rate |
| Motor carrier truck at-fault rate |
| Number of heavy truck-related fatalities |
| Capacity of weigh stations – number of trucks processed per hour |
| National highway system pavement conditions |
| National highway bridge conditions |
| National highway system intermodal connector condition |
| Railway |
Total cost of freight loss and damage from accidents/Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) |
| Total loss and damage from accidents per route-mile |
| Total loss and damage from accidents per ton moved |
| Number of at-grade railroad crossings along freight significant corridors such
as freeways and interregional corridors |
| Number of rail fatalities |
| Train derailments per ton moved |
| Water |
Value of cargo lost or damaged per ton or value of cargo moved |
| Containers damaged or lost per containers handled/total containers |
| Air |
Total loss and damage from accidents divided by value of freight |
| Percent of study airports meeting Traffic Safety Administration (TSA)
guidelines for general aviation security |
| Incidents per 1,000 operations at freight-significant airports |
| MAINTENANCE AND PRESERVATION |
| Highway |
Percent of pavement in good condition on freight significant highways |
| Number of weight restricted bridges divided by total number of bridges |
| Percent of bridges that meet good and poor structural condition thresholds |
| Service life remaining on highway pavement |
| Benefit of truck weight enforcement on pavement service life |
| Railway |
Miles of track in expected or Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Class I
divided by total miles of Class I track |
| Number of double-stack tunnel restrictions divided by number of tunnels |
| Water |
Percent of tons on river moving though locks with constraints |
| Unscheduled lock closure time (hours) |
| Channel depths at the port divided by depths at competitive ports |
| Air |
Percent of pavement in fair or poor condition at freight-significant airports |
| MOBILITY, RELIABILITY, AND CONGESTION |
| Highway |
Percent of interstate providing reliable travel times |
| Percent of interstate where peak hour travel times meet expectations |
| Percent of non-interstate National Highway System (NHS) providing reliable travel times |
| Percent of non-interstate NHS where peak hour travel times meet expectations |
| Annual hours of excessive delay per capita |
| Urban: Average hours of delay per day for freight vehicles on freight-significant links |
| Urban: Travel Time Index (TTI) on freight-significant links (ratio of the peak travel time to free-flow travel time) |
| Percent of interstate mileage providing for reliable truck travel times |
| Percent of interstate mileage that is uncongested |
| Clearance time for incidents, crashes, or hazardous materials |
| Number of intersections and ramps with inadequate turning radii for large trailers on freight significant corridors |
| Urban: Buffer Index on freight-significant links (ratio of the 95th percentile travel time to average travel time or free flow travel time) |
| Rural: Average hours of delay per day for freight vehicles on freight-significant links |
| Number of truck rest areas and their capacities |
| Rural: Average travel time on freight-significant links |
| Railway |
Tons or ton-miles of freight over relevant period |
| Average terminal dwell time train-hours of delay |
| Percent of rail track-miles with 286,000-pound rail-car capacity rating |
| Railroad corridor level of service |
| Water |
Tons of traffic arriving at a port |
| Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) passing through port (port throughput) |
| Gate reliability or truck turn time |
| Ship unload rate (time per container) |
| Ship load rate (time per container) |
| Average delay per barge tow on river |
| Air |
Flight frequency by airlines with cargo capacity (number per day) |
| Average time between flights by airlines with cargo capacity (minutes) |
| Percent of on-time departures at freight significant airports |
| Percent of on-time arrivals at freight significant airports |
| ACCESSIBILITY AND CONNECTIVITY |
| Highway |
Triple trailer VMT as a percent of total freight VMT |
| Percent of major generators with appropriate roadway access to interregional corridors and major highways |
| Percent of shippers with access to triple network |
| Railway |
Class I: Ratio of unit train carloads (or tons) divided by total carloads (or tons) |
| Percent of shippers within 50 miles of intermodal trailer-on-freight-car (TOFC) facility |
| Percent of major freight generators with appropriate rail access |
| Number or capacity of intermodal facilities |
| Water |
Shippers within 50 miles of river port (for barge accessibility) |
| Availability of container-handling capability and/or bulk transfer capability |
| Air |
Flight frequency by airlines with cargo capacity (number per day) |
| Average time between flights by airlines with cargo capacity (minutes) |
| Average travel time delay for trucks on airport access roads |
| Number of docks or acres of cargo-handling facilities |
| ENVIRONMENTAL |
| All |
Total tons of emissions reduced from Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality
Improvement Program (CMAQ) projects for applicable criteria pollutants and precursors |
| All |
Pounds of greenhouse gas emissions |
| All |
Increase in energy consumed or costs related to energy consumption |
| All |
Increase in air pollution impacts/costs |
The information in this primer is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 provides a background
on freight performance and outlines the need to measure aspects of freight performance;
Chapter 2 describes the performance measures, their linkage to the economic factors, and the
level of analysis appropriate for each performance measure; Chapter 3 describes what data are
available for different modes through which freight moves; Chapter 4 describes common freight
performance measures; Chapter 5 identifies challenges with freight performance analysis; and,
Chapter 6 identifies the best practices in measuring performance of the freight network across
the country in both private and public sectors including Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Washington,
and the I-95 Corridor Coalition.
