TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS

TSMO strategies offer effective ways to improve transportation

system performance more quickly and at much lower cost than

major investments in new capacity. TSMO strategies can improve

traffic flow and safety through enhanced business processes,

collaboration among multiple agencies and jurisdictions, and

deployment of enabling technologies—and all without adding

new infrastructure or capacity. TSMO also complements projects

that help to extend the performance life of new facilities and 

supports the agency’s overall mission to manage and operate the 

transportation system.

Realizing these improvements requires measuring performance

on a regular basis, tracking performance changes over time, and

managing the transportation system to achieve desired outcomes.

TSMO strategies enable agencies to monitor performance in real

time and actively manage the system by adjusting signal timing,

updating traveler information, opening shoulders for travel, and 

using other operational tactics to improve system performance. 

With relatively high benefit-cost ratios, TSMO strategies are costeffective solutions that stretch transportation dollars for a higher

return on investment.

The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21)

Act, and the subsequent Fixing America’s Surface Transportation

(FAST) Act, refocused the national Surface Transportation Program

on performance-based improvements. National performance

measures address areas such as safety and congestion and

encourage efficient investment of Federal transportation dollars.2

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) defines

transportation performance management (TPM) as“a strategic

approach that uses system information to make investment and

policy decisions to achieve National performance goals.”1 Due to

its data-driven approach, TPM enables transportation managers

to set targets, report on progress toward those targets, and make

informed investment decisions. This is the same objectives-driven,

performance-based approach for improving the operational

performance of the transportation system through TSMO.

1 Federal Highway Administration, "What is TPM?" Web page. Available at https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/

tpm/ about/tpm.cfm.

2 23 U.S.C. 150. 

WHAT IS TSMO?

Transportation systems management 

and operations (TSMO) is the 

use of strategies, technologies, 

mobility services, and programs to 

optimize the safety, mobility, and 

reliability of the existing and planned 

transportation system. A significant 

cause of congestion and unreliable 

travel is non-recurring events, such as 

crashes and transportation network 

disruptions, bad weather, and special 

events. TSMO enables agencies to 

target the underlying operational 

causes of congestion and unreliable 

travel through targeted solutions that 

typically cost much less and are quicker 

to implement than adding capacity. 

TSMO expands the range of mobility 

choices available to system users, 

including shared mobility and nonmotorized options. 

This Fact Sheet is part of a series that 

explains how TSMO relates to other 

State and local transportation agency 

functions and offices. Other Fact Sheets 

focus on how TSMO relates to: asset 

management, maintenance, design, 

safety, environment, planning, human 

resources, and construction.

PERFORMANCE 

MANAGEMENT

Enhancing Transportation:

Connecting TSMO anD 

PERFORMAN CE MANAGE MENT

Photo Source: Getty Images
3 Traffic Operations Assessment Systems Tool, Ohio Department of Transportation, 2018. Available at: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Operations/Traffic-Management/Documents/TOAST%20One-Pager.pdf. 

4 Federal Highway Administration, Applying Archived Operations Data in Transportation Planning: A Primer, December 2016. Available at: https://ops.fhwa.dot.

gov/publications/fhwahop16082/index.htm. 

5 City of Lincoln, Nebraska, About Green Light Lincoln, Web page. Available at: http://lincoln.ne.gov/city/pworks/engine/traffic/green-light-lincoln/.

6 Michigan Department of Transportation, Statewide Transportation Operations Center (STOC), Webpage. Available at: https://www.michigan.gov/

mdot/0,4616,7-151-52247_70181-479024--F,00.html. 

7 Federal Highway Administration, Performance-Based Practical Design Website. Available at: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/design/pbpd/case_studies.cfm.

ENHANCING TRANSPORTATION: CONNECTING TMSO AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Many performance management efforts at departments of transportation (DOTs) and Metropolitan Planning

Organizations(MPOs) benefit from the use of TSMO because it offers lower cost strategies to improve the 

efficient, reliable operation of the transportation system in the near term. TSMO strategies help regions and 

Statesreach performance targets, most notably travel time reliability and congestion targets. For example, 

traffic incident management targets one of the root causes of unreliable travel. 

Data and tools used to support TSMO can also be applied to performance management. Travel data 

collected from probes and traffic management centers can identify unreliable highway segments that 

can be targeted for improvement. Analysis tools and models developed for operations can be part of 

a performance management process to estimate the effects of investments on mobility. Additionally, 

operations data is important to setting realistic and meaningful targets for travel time reliability and delay 

performance measures. 

How HaS tHiS woRkeD in PRaCtiCe?

 The Ohio DOT has created TOAST—the Traffic Operations Assessment Systems Tool—to identify

operationally sensitive roads where TSMO strategies may have a significant impact.3

 Transportation planners at the New Jersey DOT identify the top congested locations and sources

of congestion using archived operations data: volume, probe speed, event, and weather data. They

then calculate user delay costs for bottlenecks and use performance visualizations to communicate to

decisionmakers and the public about where improvements are most needed.4

 The City of Lincoln, Nebraska is conducting an intensive traffic signal system initiative called Green

Light Lincoln to improve on several performance measures including the number and severity of

crashes, travel time delay, and emissions. The estimated benefit-cost ratio for the first phase of the

program is 19 to 1.5

 The Michigan DOT’s Statewide Transportation Operations Center produces a monthly and annual

performance measures report that tracks several indicators including events on the roadway, average

freeway courtesy patrol assist times, and incident durations.6

 FHWA’s Low-Cost Solutions to Traffic Bottlenecks focuses on performance-based practical design, one

aspect of performance management.7

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Joseph Gregory, Federal Highway Administration

(202) 366-0610 | Joseph.Gregory@dot.gov

FHWA-HOP-18-095

December 2018