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November

 2010

Background

The Portland, Oregon metropolitan region is home to just 

under 1.4 million residents and encompasses 25 cities and 

3 counties in 463 square miles of land. It is a metropolitan 

area whose leaders strive to meet the needs of a growing 

population by following an agreed upon regional growth 

management strategy that was defined more than a decade 

ago with adoption of the 2040 Growth Concept. As the 

region’s blueprint for the future, the 2040 Growth Concept 

sets a course for the region to grow as a constellation of 

compact, vibrant communities that use land efficiently, 

maintain connections to the natural environment, and 

promote strong local and regional economies. The area 

serves as an important gateway for freight moving between 

North America and other Pacific Rim countries. 

The Portland region has a strong history of regional 

collaboration among transportation operators dating back 

to the early 1990s. Around 2004, Metro became fully 

involved in planning for operations, adopting the regional 

operations collaborative group, TransPort, as an official 

subcommittee. Metro developed an operations program and 

co-led a regional concept for transportation operations on 

traffic incident management with the City of Portland. 

The Portland, Oregon region completed its new metropolitan transportation plan, 2035 Regional Transportation Plan, in June of 2010 under 

the direction of Metro, the metropolitan planning organization for the region. With this plan comes a new approach for metropolitan 

planning in this region that is focused on desired outcomes and measurable performance. In response to growing economic and climate 

change concerns, the region’s elected leaders chose an outcomes-based framework with policy-level performance targets to guide 

investments and demonstrate measurable results. Metro has developed a broad set of measures to evaluate the planned investment strategy 

in addressing the plan goals. In addition, Metro established a performance monitoring program designed to assess system performance 

periodically as a means of informing implementation decisions. During the development of its regional transportation plan (RTP), Metro 

also worked with operations and travel demand management stakeholders to create a Regional Transportation System Management and 

Operations (TSMO) Plan that lays out how management and operations can be used to support the desired performance outcomes.

Outcomes-Based, Performance-Driven Planning 

at Metro Portland
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A Metro Council Member, former Chair of the Joint Policy 

Advisory Committee on Transportation, and Bi-State 

Coordination Committee Member was a vocal champion 

for using an outcomes-based, performance-driven approach 

to guiding transportation policy and investment decisions 

in the region. This person became an advocate for 

incorporating principles of good governance such as equity 

and accountability in the RTP.

In 2008, the Metro Council, with guidance from the Metro 

Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC), passed a resolution 

stating that the intent of Metro and its regional partners 

was to “use a performance-based approach to guide policy 

and investment decisions in the region.”1

 Additionally, the 

resolution directed the organization to work with regional 

partners to develop performance indicators, targets, actions, 

and a decisionmaking process for the RTP to bring about 

the desired outcomes for the region. According to Metro, by 

embracing measurable outcomes, leaders shifted from talking 

about abstract concepts like “compact urban form” to focusing 

on things that really matter in everyday lives.

The Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation 

approved and the Metro Council adopted the 2035 RTP 

on June 10, 2010. The RTP, using an outcomes-based, 

performance-driven framework, proposes investing more 

than $20 billion in local, regional, State, and Federal funds 

over the next 25 years.

Motivation for Shifting 

to an Outcomes-Based, 

Performance-Driven Approach

At the outset of the RTP update in 2006, Metro recognized 

that it needed to shift its planning approach in response 

to current economic, political, and environmental 

circumstances. Transportation funding was becoming 

ever scarcer, and with the economic downturn, the public 

was particularly sensitive to government spending. Metro 

and its partnering agencies knew that it needed to be 

accountable for every dollar spent and have data to justify 

funding decisions to both the public and elected leaders. 

Metro had a strong desire to understand the value that 

the region was getting for its transportation dollars, and 

the extent to which those investments supported vibrant, 

safe and prosperous communities throughout the region. 

At the same time, the region was looking to advance 

implementation of the 2040 Growth Concept vision. There 

was a push to move away from large capital investments 

in road infrastructure to preserve the community 

characteristics valued by the people living in the Portland 

region. 

1 Metro Resolution No. 08-3940. Available at: http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id/29847.

“Central to this plan is an overall emphasis on desired 

outcomes and measurable performance.” – Metro, Portland, 

2035 Regional Transportation Plan, June 2010, Executive Summary. 
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Environment

Equit

Benefits y

and 

Impacts

Economy

Economy

•	 Congestion – By 2035, reducevehicle hours of delay(VHD)

per person by 10 percent compared to 2005.

•	 Freight reliability – By 2035, reducevehicle hours of delay

per trucktrip by 10 percent compared to 2005.

Environment

•	 Activetransportation – By 2035, triple walking, biking and

transitmodesharecompared to 2005.

•	 Clean air – By 2035,ensurezero percent population exposureto at-risklevels ofair pollution.

EQUITY

•	 Access to daily needs – By 2035, increase by 50 percent

the number ofessential destinationsaccessible within 30

minutes by bicycling and public transit for low-income,

minority, seniorand disabled populations compared to

2005.

In response to the identified outcomes, the RTP defines an 

overarching vision, broad goals, objectives, and performance 

targets. The performance targets are directly tied to the 

framework of economy, environment, and equity and provide 

quantifiable indicators for tracking the region’s progress 

toward the desired outcomes. A sample of the performance 

targets are shown in Figure 2.

Establishing an Outcomes-Based 

Framework and Policy-Level 

Performance Targets

The 2035 Regional Transportation Plan lays out an 

outcomes-based framework that is founded on six desired 

outcomes expressed by the citizens of the region regarding 

the qualities they would like to experience in their region. 

The outcomes are:

• Vibrant Communities

• Economic Prosperity

• Safe and Reliable Transportation

• Leadership on Climate Change

• Clean Air and Water

• Equity

In an effort to reach these outcomes, the region developed a 

framework for informing planning and investment decisions 

(Figure 1). This framework calls for balanced consideration 

of environmental, equity, and economic factors.

Figure 1. Outcomes-Based Framework.

Source: Metro, 2035 Regional Transportation Plan.

Figure 2. Policy-Level Performance Targets.

Source: Metro, 2035 Regional Transportation Plan.

The performance targets are specific and time-bound. They 

were developed collaboratively by the MPO board members 

though a policy-oriented discussion rather than one that was 

technical in nature. The targets represent a starting point for 

the region in using a performance-based approach and are 

expected to be refined and improved over time, particularly 

as the region and State of Oregon advance policy on climate 

change. The targets provide an investment strategy and 

guide for selecting a mix of investments in the transportation 

improvement program (TIP). The ability of the region to 

meet its performance targets depends not just on the RTP 

but also on land use and other regional policy decisions. 

The intent is to measure the region’s progress toward the 

performance targets during the next plan update.
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System Evaluation Measures

	 1. Decreasevehiclemiles traveled (totaland per capita)

	 2. Decreasetotal delayand cost of delay on theregional freight networkinmid-dayand PM peak

	 3. Decreasemotorvehicleand transit travel time between key origin-destinations formid-dayand 2-HR PM peak

	 4. Decreasecongestion – Location of throughways,arterials,and regional freight networkfacilities thatexceed RTPmotorvehicle-based level of servicethresholds in

mid-dayand 2-HR PM

	 5. Increasemodeshareand non-drivealonetrips system-wide, bymobilitycorridorand for central cityand individual regional centers (Number of daily walking, 

bicycling, shared ride, and transit trips and % by mode)

	 6. Increasetransit productivity(transit boarding rides per revenue hour) for High Capacity Transit (HCT)and bus

	 7. Increase numberand percent of homes within1/2-mile of regional trail system

	 8. Increase numberand percent of homesand environmental justicecommunities (census data) within1/2-mile of HCT or1/4-milefrequent bus service

	 9. Decreasetons of transportation-related air pollutants (e.g., CO, ozone,and PM-10)

	 10. Decreasetons of transportation-related greenhouse gasemissions (e.g., C02

)

	 11. Decrease percent of projects that intersect high value habitatareas

Performance Evaluation 

of the Planned System 

Metro and its planning partners expanded the evaluation 

component of its planning process to better understand 

the anticipated impacts of the plan’s investments on the 

desired outcomes. The desired outcomes of the 2035 RTP 

span aspects of the environment, economy, and equity. 

In previous versions of Metro’s RTP, the evaluation of the 

proposed investments was more narrowly focused on level 

of service standards, which would not adequately address 

the question of meeting the 2035 RTP outcomes. 

Metro planners, with participation from partner agencies, 

developed a set of investment packages and used the 

regional travel demand forecast model and MetroScope, 

the regional land use model, to estimate how well each 

investment package would improve the region’s performance 

on measures that the community cares about. 

The set of system evaluation measures that were selected by 

a regional working group to evaluate the plan’s performance 

are listed in Table 1. The working group aimed to select 

performance measures that would provide the best information 

across mobility, accessibility, equity, and the environment for 

making investment decisions. The group chose to not specify 

desired targets for these measures, but to instead just indicate 

the desired direction the region wanted to pursue such as 

decreased delay on the regional freight network. 

Table 1. Metro 2035 Regional Transportation Plan System Evaluation Performance Measures.

Source: Metro, 2035 Regional Transportation Plan.
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Applying Management and 

Operations to Support the 

Approach

In conjunction with the development of the 2035 RTP, 

Metro led management and operations professionals and 

stakeholders in the creation of a Regional Transportation 

System Management and Operations (or TSMO) Plan to 

provide a road map and investment strategy for transportation 

solutions aimed at improving the performance of existing 

infrastructure. The development of this plan was motivated 

at least in part by the need to plan how best to use funding 

that the MPO board had identified for TSMO. The plan 

is funded through the Congestion Mitigation & Air 

Quality (CMAQ) program and the Surface Transportation 

Program (STP) at the level of $1.5 million per year. The 

TSMO stakeholders are also pursuing other funding avenues 

and were able to take advantage of stimulus funding for 

improving traffic signals. 

The purpose of the plan is three-fold: identify available 

opportunities for improving regional operations, determine 

which transportation issues can best be addressed by TSMO, 

and define regional priorities for TSMO investment. The 

TSMO Plan is considered to be part of the 2035 RTP along 

with a regional freight plan. 

Monitoring of Performance 

Between Plan Updates

With the development of the 2035 RTP, Metro also 

initiated a monitoring program to periodically assess the 

state of the performance of the transportation system and 

use that information to inform incremental land use and 

transportation project implementation decisions. This serves 

as a key element of the region’s congestion management 

process. Through the program, Metro will report on the 

performance of the area’s 24 mobility corridors every 2 years 

prior to the allocation of regional funds and RTP updates. 

During the 2035 RTP development, the region identified 

14 measures that it would like to track over time. As the 

program advances, the 14 measures will likely be adjusted 

for improved utility and to take advantage of increased data 

availability. As a baseline, Metro has developed a “Mobility 

Corridor Atlas” that includes performance data for several 

regional measures such as travel time, safety, and bike and 

pedestrian network completion. The Atlas also provides 

information about the land uses located within each of the 

corridors. In support of this effort, Metro has developed a 

strong partnership with Portland State University, which 

is working on new methods for collecting, analyzing, and 

archiving transportation system performance data. 

What is TSMO? The Portland Regional TSMO Plan defines transportation system management and operations (TSMO) 

as “a set of integrated transportation solutions intended to improve the performance of existing transportation 

infrastructure. Through a combination of transportation system management (TSM) and transportation demand 

management (TDM) systems, services and projects, TSMO addresses transportation goals such as mobility, reliability, 

safety and accessibility, which have traditionally been achieved via larger scale, expensive infrastructure investments.”

- Metro, Regional TSMO Plan, June 2010, Page 1. 
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The TSMO Plan focuses on a 10-year investment strategy 

guided by a TSMO policy framework comprising a regional 

vision, planning goals and objectives, and guiding principles 

to support implementation. The TSMO policy framework 

was developed to support the performance targets established 

in the RTP. The TSMO stakeholders identified four core 

functional areas that they thought were the most critical to 

advance over the next 10 years. The areas are:

• Multimodal traffic management

• Traveler information

• Incident management

• Transportation demand management

For each category, the TSMO Plan developers identified 

regional investments as well as corridor-specific 

investments. The investments form an action plan or road 

map for carrying out TSMO activities in the region. The 

action plan identifies specific projects and the associated 

objective, priority-level, timeframe, costs, and potential lead 

agency for each project. The TSMO Plan focuses on using 

collaboration to move toward a more efficient and equitable 

transportation system for the traveling public.

The MPO worked with three advisory committees over 15 

months to develop the TSMO Plan. Two of the committees 

that developed the TSMO Plan were TransPort, the regional 

operations subcommittee of operations professionals from 

agencies in the region, and the Regional Travel Options 

Subcommittee comprising public agency representatives 

and private stakeholders interested in travel demand 

management. The third committee, the TSMO Policy Work 

Group, was formed to provide policy guidance to the plan 

with members of the Transportation Policy Alternatives 

Committee (TPAC), key private sector stakeholders, and 

other transportation professionals. 

Metro held workshops with the three groups and project 

decisions were made through consensus rather than a 

technical scoring process. A Metro planner reported that 

identifying and prioritizing projects for this plan was not a 

difficult process. There is a clear sense that the collaborative 

participants are invested in advancing TSMO in the region 

and have taken ownership of the TSMO Plan.

The TSMO Plan is a vehicle for enhancing and expanding 

data collection for monitoring system performance. The 

plan identifies high-priority, near-term projects to support 

data collection and analysis. For instance, one project 

advances arterial performance measurement with the use 

of media access card (MAC) address-reading technology 

and provides this data in real-time or near real-time to the 

traveling public. Another project improves data collection 

from automated vehicle locators used by a Portland area 

transit agency, TriMet. Additionally, on-going funding 

is designated for improving and sustaining the Portland 

Oregon Regional Transportation Data Archive Listing 

(PORTAL) managed by Portland State University. 
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FHWA-HOP-10-055

Lessons Learned

Metro faced a few challenges associated with the decision 

to make the transition to a outcomes-based, performancedriven planning concept. Metro found that obtaining buy-in 

from the local jurisdictional planning partners required 

overcoming misperceptions. Some partners feared that 

the performance measures could be used against them. To 

alleviate these concerns, Metro emphasized the message that 

there are no penalties if the targets are not met, and that the 

intent of the performance measures is to identify gaps in 

transportation system performance so that funding will be 

used where it is needed most and can be most effective. In 

addition, Metro worked with local agencies to develop the 

performance targets, so the agencies were able to have input 

on what the targets were and how they would be measured.

The MPO found that it needed to manage expectations of 

the elected leaders championing the approach regarding 

the region’s performance measurement capabilities. The 

outcomes-based, performance-driven approach requires data 

collection and system performance measurement and the 

staff had to stress performance measurement limitations in 

the region and how they were addressing those limitations. 

For example, through the TSMO Plan the region is investing 

in expanding data collection and analysis capabilities. 

Benefits of the Approach

Although the 2035 RTP has only recently been adopted, 

Metro and its region have already realized some of the benefits 

associated with using an outcomes-based, performance-driven 

approach. Metro was in a better position to make an informed 

selection of investments that best supported the community’s 

desired outcomes because of the use of broad evaluation 

measures. Metro has also been able to better communicate 

the needs and priorities used to develop the plan to the 

community and increased visibility into its transportation 

analysis and decisionmaking processes. In the near future, 

Metro is interested in improving upon its data and analysis 

tools to refine its performance targets and incorporate more 

quality of life measures in partnership with Portland State 

University and others. 

Resources

Telephone interview with Deena Platman, Principal 

Transportation Planner - Regional Mobility Program, 

Metro Regional Government, August 30, 2010.

Metro Regional Government, 2035 Regional 

Transportation Plan, June 2010. Available at: 

http://library.oregonmetro.gov/files//2035_rtp_final_

document_as_submitted_to_dlcd_usdot_web.pdf.

Metro Regional Government, Regional Transportation System 

Management and Operations Plan, June 2010. Available at: 

http://library.oregonmetro.gov/files//regional_tsmo_

refinement_plan_june2010_final.pdf.

Platman, Deena, “Portland Metropolitan Region’s Efforts to 

Develop a Performance-Based Regional Transportation Plan.” 

Presentation at the National Transportation Operations 

Coalition’s Talking Operations Webinar, February 23, 2010. 

Available at: http://www.ntoctalks.com/web_casts_archive.php.