# Presentation: 920429

## Looking Forward to a High Performance Highway System

- Associate Administrator for Operations
- Federal Highway Administration
- US Department of Transportation

*Looking Forward to a High Performance Highway System*

* ***ITS America’s Annual Meeting & Exposition**
**Palm Springs Convention Center**
**Palm Springs, California**

***Educational Session #13 ***
***June 4, 2007***

## Outline

- Challenge
- Drivers of Change
- The Path Forward

## Commuting costs:  Each motorist stuck in traffic wastes on average  47 hours and 30 gallons of fuel every year – at a cost of $800 per person annually.
Quality of life:  Reduced air quality, less time with family and friends.
Productivity:  Delays to trucks and unreliability of delivery times increase costs for businesses and reduce economic competitiveness.

- Congestion on I-95 in Northern Virginia

**Crisis of Congestion**

**Commuting costs:  **Each motorist stuck in traffic wastes on average  47 hours and 30 gallons of fuel every year – at a cost of $800 per person annually.
**Quality of life:  **Reduced air quality, less time with family and friends.
**Productivity:**  Delays to trucks and unreliability of delivery times increase costs for businesses and reduce economic competitiveness.

## Congestion has increased dramatically over the past 20 years in the 85 largest U.S. cities.  During this time the number of hours lost each year by an average driver to congestion increased from 17 to almost 50.*

In the 13 largest cities, drivers now spend the equivalent of almost 8 work days each year stuck in traffic.*

- In the 13 largest cities, drivers now spend the equivalent of almost 8 work days each year stuck in traffic.*

**Annual Hours Lost to Congestion Per Peak Hour Driver**
**Very Large Metro Areas, 1983 v. 2003***

- * Texas Transportation Institute, 2005 Urban Mobility Report

** ****Wasted Hours Across America**

## National Highway System Estimated Peak Period Congestion: 2002

## National Highway System Estimated Peak Period Congestion: 2035

## Drivers for Change toward a Higher   Performance Highway System

-  Real-time System _Information_
-  _Performance_-based Decisionmaking
-  Widespread Application of Congestion
-    _Pricing_

## Real-Time System Information

**The Customer’s Perspective**
-  Ubiquitous information on travel conditions
-  All modes
-  All major facilities
-  All unexpected events
-  Wide Range of delivery mechanisms
-  Phone
-  Web
-  In-vehicle
-  Supports individual choice
-  Mode
-  Route
-  Time

- _The Vision_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Real-Time System Information

**The Agency’s Perspective**
-  Supports active management.
-  Provides system view.
-  Moves from reactive to proactive.
-  Creates focus on performance.

- _The Vision_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Real-Time System Information

**Today**
-  Limited coverage.
-  Limited distribution channels.
-  Limited management tools.
-  Emerging data marketplace.

- _The Path_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Real-Time System Information

**Near-Term**
-  Customer expectations for information will
-     continue to increase.
-  Data marketplace will continue to grow.
-  Federal rulemaking will provide push for
-     national consistency.
-  Decision-support tools will continue to
-     emerge.

- _The Path_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Real-Time System Information

**Longer-Term**
-  Widespread collection of data via probes.
-  Full situational awareness and predictive
-     information available to traveler.
-  Sophisticated decision support tools used
-      by system managers.

- _The Path_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Performance-Based Decisionmaking 

**The Customer’s Perspective**
-  High-Performance Highway System
-  Less delay.
-  More reliability.
-  More choice.
-  Accountability by Government

- _The Vision_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Performance-Based Decisionmaking 

**The Agency’s Perspective**
- Value of management and operations investment is clearly evident.
- Management and operations strategies become first option rather than last resort.
- More efficient and effective uses of resources--staff and equipment.
- Shared performance measures provide opportunity for cross-agency and cross-jurisdictional communication and coordination.

- _The Vision_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Performance-Based Decisionmaking 

**Today**
- Inconsistent data sources and quality.
- Little agreement on appropriate measures.
- More focus on infrastructure than customer.
- National discussion to promote use of performance measures (NTOC/NCHRP).
- Significant SHRP II effort underway to improve data collection mechanisms and use in planning process.

- _The Path_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Performance-Based Decisionmaking 

**Near-Term**
- Improved data sources, quality, and applications will bring performance-based management into the realm of the possible.
- New Congestion Management Process will drive objectives driven performance-based planning for operations.
- Increased public demand for accountability will result in increased interest in performance-based decisionmaking/resource allocation.
- SAFETEA-LU reauthorization will introduce performance focus for Federal funding.

- _The Path_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Performance-Based Decisionmaking 

**Longer-Term**
- Operations effectively integrated into the planning/resource allocation process.
- Simulation and visualization applied to agency resource allocation process.
- Routine and effective regional collaboration and coordination in major metro areas

- _The Path_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Congestion Pricing 

**The Customer’s Perspective**
- A choice of better highway service.
- Essential for just-in-time delivery.
- Important option for personal travel.
- A more reliable, dependable trip (on priced and un-priced facilities).
- Better transit service.

- _The Vision_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Performance-Based Decisionmaking 

**The Agency’s Perspective**
-  Effective tool to manage demand.
-  Signals where investment is needed.
-  Added source of revenue.
-  Increased potential for public-private
-     partnerships.

- _The Vision_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Congestion Pricing 

**Today**
- Beginning of a national discussion.
- Education of decisionmakers and the public.
- Facility specific examples (e.g., HOV to HOT lanes).
- Exploring technical issues (particularly related to making the case).

- _The Path_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Congestion Pricing 

**Near-Term**
- Demonstration of the possible through urban partnerships (Congestion Initiative).
- More HOV to HOT lane conversions (for congestion reduction and to demonstrate variable pricing).
- Continue to develop next generation of urban partners.
- Specific cases of pricing existing “free” lanes.
- More State legislatures granting authority to toll.

- _The Path_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Congestion Pricing 

**Longer-Term**
- Cordon pricing in very large cities.
- HOT/managed large networks in many large cities.
- Parking pricing widely used to influence mode choice.
- Truck only toll lanes along major freight corridors.
**Very long-term**
- Network wide pricing.

- _The Path_

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies. 

## Conclusion 

**We have all the elements necessary for aggressive system operations:**
- Compelling reason.
- Clear strategies.
- Demonstrated benefits.
- Technological underpinning.
**Getting there has and will be elusive because of:**
- Institutional inertia.
- Insufficient champions among elected/appointed officials.
- Insufficient organizational capacity—structure and personnel.
- Lack of “WOW.”
**It will happen eventually because forces are moving slowly in that direction—question is how can we make it happen faster, and more comprehensively.**

**Notes:**
In addition  to NY, WA and CA are exploring broad congestion pricing strategies.