Does the travel-time index really reflect performance?

Last week’s release of the Texas A&M Urban Mobility Report, with its charts and lists, prompted the usual flurry of media coverage. However, the travel-time index, a staple of the UMR, may not adequately reflect the performance of a transportation system. If the index becomes an official performance measure under MAP-21, optimizing system performance could become harder for DOTs.

Does the travel-time index really reflect performance?

Last week’s release of the Texas A&M Urban Mobility Report, with its charts and lists, prompted the usual flurry of media coverage. However, the travel-time index, a staple of the UMR, may not adequately reflect the performance of a transportation system. If the index becomes an official performance measure under MAP-21, optimizing system performance could become harder for DOTs.

Are We There Yet? Creating Complete Communities for 21st Century America (Reconnecting America, 2012)

This report that tracks progress in America’s regions toward a vision of complete communities. The report highlights the benefits that complete communities offer all Americans, tells stories about the work being done across the country to create complete communities, and measures progress in every region with a population above 55,000. Transportation plays a key role in this report, including gauging access for low-income and disadvantages communities, whether cities have invested in fixed guideways, and the development implications of in transit, bicycling and walking infrastructure.