In his 1993 essay, originally published in Resurgence & Ecologist, the author tries to explain why the more people try to save time, the less time they seem to have. This is true of transportation as well, and he uses travel time as an example of this phenomenon. Regardless of what mode people chose, they tend to average the same amount of time traveling. He also points out that there is a fundamental difference between speed and access. This is an interesting read when considering performance metrics for transportation systems.
performance measures
Bicycle Friendly State Report Card 2013 (League of American Bicyclists, 2013)
Each year the League of American Bicyclists ranks each state in five areas. The 2013 rankings can be found here with a link to more detailed report cards for each state.
Aligning Strategies to Maximize Impact: Case Studies on Transportation and Economic Development (National Association of Development Organizations, 2012)
Ten case studies from 11 states document how the fields of transportation and economic development can complement each other and create an environment for increased collaboration and aligning of resources.
Delivering on the Promise: Improving the Performance of Massachusetts Transportation Agencies (SSTI and Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation, 2013)
SSTI performed a program review of MassDOT’s three-year-old reorganization and consolidation to document efficiencies and better outcomes achieved, as well as continuing challenges and opportunities for improvement.
ASCE report card coming this month
The American Society of Civil Engineers’ quadrennial U.S. Infrastructure Report Card will be released March 19, and it will be of interest to state DOTs in several ways.
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.
Expanded Transportation Performance Measures to Supplement Level of Service (LOS) for Growth Management and Transportation Impact Analysis (University of Florida Transportation Research Center, 2012)
New performance measures are needed to support a more multimodal system of transportation in various Florida jurisdictions. This report outlines an effort to develop these measures.
Reform STIP documents for greater transparency
A new report from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign evaluates the STIPs of all 50 states. Although analyses of individual state STIPs are useful in understanding state priorities and near-term transportation spending, information gleaned from STIPs alone is insufficient as a basis for comparison between states. While all STIPs must be updated at least every four years and are required to cover a period of at least four years, federal standards for STIP development and content leave states with considerable leeway. To provide a better platform for state-to-state comparisons and national trends, the report provides four key recommendations for states interested in increasing the utility of their STIPs.
Economic Effects of Public Investment in Transportation and Directions for the Future (CNT and SSTI, 2012)
This report examines current economic analysis practices in state Departments of Transportation through examples in nine state transportation agencies and an extensive literature review. For additional understanding of the methods in practice, we also incorporated information …
New performance dashboards released in Massachusetts and Michigan
Two new performance measure systems went live in January in Massachusetts and Michigan (both SSTI states.) The systems aim to summarize state DOT-level measures, though one was developed independently of the state DOT and the other …