# Presentation: 931974

## Freight Performance Measures

*Crystal Jones*
*FHWA*
*Office of Freight Management and Operations*

## INITIATIVE GOALS

- Short Term
- Develop baseline measures to support monitoring the agency’s progress in “Global Connectivity”
- Mid Term
- To develop a rich data source that can be used by stakeholders in the transportation community and by academia
-  Long Term
- Target investment in National Highway System based on sound data that identifies where the greatest needs exist

## Why Performance Measures? 

- Performance measurement is mandated by the 	Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993.
- Performance measures provide mechanism for understanding system performance
- Performance measurement improves the management and delivery of products and services
- Performance measurement demonstrates the accountability of Federal stewardship of taxpayer resources.
- Performance measurement helps justify programs and their costs --Given limited budgets, etc., another tool for informing investment decisions at a national, state or local level

**Notes:**
In carrying out the provisions of section 1105(a)(29), the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall require each agency to prepare an annual performance plan covering each program activity set forth in the budget of such agency. Such plan shall- 
"(1) establish performance goals to define the level of performance to be achieved by a program activity; 
"(2) express such goals in an objective, quantifiable, and measurable form unless authorized to be in an alternative form under subsection (b); 
"(3) briefly describe the operational processes, skills and technology, and the human, capital, information, or other resources required to meet the performance goals; 
"(4) establish performance indicators to be used in measuring or assessing the relevant outputs, service levels, and outcomes of each program activity; 
"(5) provide a basis for comparing actual program results with the established performance goals; and 
"(6) describe the means to be used to verify and validate measured values. 

## What are the benefits of performance measurement?”

**Set goals and standards**** **
**Detect and correct problems**** **
**Manage, describe, and improve processes**** **
**Gain insight into, and make judgments about, the effectiveness and efficiency of programs, and processes**** **
**Provide measurable results to demonstrate progress towards goals and objectives**

**Notes:**
In carrying out the provisions of section 1105(a)(29), the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall require each agency to prepare an annual performance plan covering each program activity set forth in the budget of such agency. Such plan shall- 
"(1) establish performance goals to define the level of performance to be achieved by a program activity; 
"(2) express such goals in an objective, quantifiable, and measurable form unless authorized to be in an alternative form under subsection (b); 
"(3) briefly describe the operational processes, skills and technology, and the human, capital, information, or other resources required to meet the performance goals; 
"(4) establish performance indicators to be used in measuring or assessing the relevant outputs, service levels, and outcomes of each program activity; 
"(5) provide a basis for comparing actual program results with the established performance goals; and 
"(6) describe the means to be used to verify and validate measured values. 

## FHWA’s FREIGHT PERFORMANCE MEASURE (FPM) INITIATIVE

**Strategic Goal: Global Connectivity**
*" **Sustain the economic efficiency of goods movement on the surface transportation system **“*
- Develop baseline indices and performance measures for truck travel on the interstate system (freight significant corridors) and *border crossing time and delay for commercial vehicles*

## Global Connectivity

**Desired Outcomes**
- Reduced barriers to trade in transportation goods and services
-  More efficient movement of cargo throughout the supply chain
**Goals**
- To reduce travel time and improve reliability of travel time in key highway freight corridors.
- To reduce delay of commercial vehicles processed at US land border crossings
**Measures (Tentative)****	**
- Travel Rate and Buffer Time on Freight Significant Corridors
- Border Crossing Measures (TBD)

## Travel Time Variability – 

*Travel Time Variability – *

- Incidents
- Work Zones
- Weather
- Fluctuations in Demand
- Special Events
- Traffic Control Devices.
- Inadequate Base Capacity

- Research on the trucking industry shows that shippers and carriers value transit time at $25 to $200 per hour, depending on the product being carried.   Unexpected delays can increase that value by 50 to 250 percent.

**Notes:**
If it adds 15 seconds for each person checked, the 40th person to pass through the bridge that morning faces an additional 10-minute wait, Dr. Perryman said. But the 400th person to pass through faces an additional 100-minute wait.

## Key Border Challenges – 

*Key Border Challenges – *

- Congestion
- Long Wait Times
- Unpredictability of Crossing Times
- Queues
- Security and Efficiency
- Safety
- Imbalance Between Crossings

**Notes:**
If it adds 15 seconds for each person checked, the 40th person to pass through the bridge that morning faces an additional 10-minute wait, Dr. Perryman said. But the 400th person to pass through faces an additional 100-minute wait.

## Cooperative FPM Research Team

- Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Freight Management and Operations
- American Transportation Research Institute (formerly ATA Foundation)
- Technology Vendors
- University of Minnesota ITS Institute

## Identification of Freight-Significant Corridors

-  Multi-System Process Used to Identify Primary Freight Corridors:
- Freight Analysis Framework
- Industry Surveys & Website Solicitations
- Technology Vendor Databases
-  Information Cross-Factored to Generate 50-Corridor Corridor Compendium
- Initial focus on 5 corridors
- I5, I10, I70, I65, I45

## Selecting an Optimal Tracking System

- Technologies Considered:
- Satellite-Based Systems
- Terrestrial Wireless Systems
- Hybrid Systems
- On-Board Systems
- Fixed-Site Systems

## Data Collection and Analysis (ALPHA)

- Carrier ID Cleansing System developed for private sector Data Privacy issues
- Truck Tool software developed to “relate” position data to US DOT maps
- Alpha test successfully tracked speeds by corridor locations (manual calculations)
- Focused on segments of interstate highways

## Data Collection and Analysis (BETA)

- Truck Tool reconfigured and automated
- Developed “virtual mile markers” software to accommodate missing points on maps
- Truck travel data “automatically” converted into travel times and speeds by location
- Micro-deviations in speeds can be used to identify bottlenecks and system impediments
- Can typically differentiate temporal bottlenecks from infrastructure bottlenecks
- Focused on entire interstate highways

## Accomplishments to Date....

**Travel Time on Significant Corridors**
- Data Collection and Analysis for Freight Significant Corridors
- I10, I70, I65, I45 and I5
- Location data from Satellite used to calculate travel rates and derive measures of travel time reliability
- 7 months of data  (1 Full Year of Data by Jan 06)
- _[February FPM Report1.doc](file:///February%20FPM%20Report1.doc)_
- _[..\Local Settings\Temp\Temporary Directory 4 for 1-3.zip\3.](file:///../Local%20Settings/Temp/Temporary%20Directory%204%20for%201-3.zip/3.jpg)__[jpg](file:///../Local%20Settings/Temp/Temporary%20Directory%204%20for%201-3.zip/3.jpg)_

## Accomplishments to Date....

**Border Crossing Measures**
- Conducted initial meetings with various stakeholders (Ambassador , Pacific Highway, and Peace Bridge)
- Collaboration with Transport Canada on their Border Wait-time Study
- Selected 5 US/Cda Crossings
- Blaine (Pacific Highway): Blaine, WA
- Pembina: Pembina, ND
- Ambassador Bridge: Detroit, MI
- Peace Bridge: Buffalo, NY
- Champlain: Champlain, NY
- Data Collection started Jul 1st 2005

## NEXT STEPS and TAKE AWAYS

- Expand data collection and analysis to additional freight-significant corridors
- Explore other technologies that can support automated measurement
- Conduct initial analysis of data from border data collection effort
- Use the data to conduct two case studies on effects of Severe Weather and Work/Construction Zones on travel times
- Select Two States to work with research team to examine usefulness and application of the data
- Considering two outreach sessions to provide information on the initiative and provide a technical overview of how the raw data is used to derive travel time measures
- Finalize data sharing agreement

## Conclusions...

***FPM INITIATIVE WILL PROVIDE...***
- baseline freight performance measures that accurately reflect what we are accomplishing, in quantitative terms, right now, at the present time
- Intercity measures that when integrated with the urban mobility measures will provide a more holistic picture of transportation system performance
***INPUT FROM STAKEHOLDERS WILL PROVIDE****...*
- measurable, time-based targets that explicitly stipulates, also in quantitative terms, what measure of performance we expect

## More Information

- http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/documents/travel_time_flyer.pdf

## FHWA Office of Freight Management and Operations

***FHWA Office of Freight Management and Operations***

- “
**http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight**
**Crystal Jones**
**202-366-2976**
**Crystal.Jones@fhwa.dot.gov**