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                Media ContactsMenu OFFICE OF RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND TECHNOLOGY AT THE TURNER-FAIRBANK HIGHWAY RESEARCH CENTER Home
                        Research
                        Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center
                        Research and Technology Portfolio


            
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                R&T Portfolio: Performance-Based Planning
    

    
    
    
      Improving the Nation’s transportation system begins with effective planning. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is researching methodologies to improve the planning process by introducing objective performance measures for evaluating policy and investment decisions. Performance-based planning and programming will provide a data-driven approach to decisionmaking that allows agencies to allocate resources efficiently and maximize return on investment (ROI). FHWA is working with States and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to develop and implement performance-based planning and programming processes.

Program Objectives:

Provide a strategic, data-driven approach to decisionmaking that enables transportation agencies to efficiently allocate resources, maximize ROI, and achieve desired performance goals.
	Support and provide resources for States and MPOs implementing performance-based planning and programming processes.
	Assess the effectiveness of the implementation of performance-based planning and programming.

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        **Performance Data and Analysis**
        To implement performance-based planning, FHWA is developing and applying innovative data visualization and analysis methods. Collecting, visualizing, and analyzing a wide range of information about the performance of the transportation system allows planners to make informed decisions about which projects to prioritize.

Spotlight Project: Applications of Enterprise GIS for Transportation (AEGIST) Guidebook

The Guidebook is the latest in a series of publications designed to help the FHWA and State departments of transportation (DOTs) migrate to the enterprise level for creating, maintaining, and governing data related to roadways and their characteristics, elements, and events. The Guidebook's main objective is to document guidance on how spatial and linear referenced data should be managed by States. Developed by FHWA, starting in 2018 and released late in 2019, under Phase I of a pooled fund study, the Guidebook's goals are to facilitate deployment of enterprise data governance, develop a national specification for roadway data structure, advance State capabilities for safety analysis, and provide general instruction on data organization. The AEGIST project will help break down traditional management silos and answer enterprise questions such as: how can autonomous vehicles be accommodated, how can agencies compile and use federally required Model Inventory of Roadway Elements data on highway safety, to what extent are mobile devices with real-time traffic feeds altering traffic patterns, is there a better way to respond to traffic congestion than by increasing roadway capacity on key routes, and how can agencies respond to increasing citizen data requests. Phase II of the pooled fund study began in 2019 and spans 5 years until 2024.

For more information, see the AEGIST Guidebook.
  


      **Decisionmaking**
        The Performance-Based Planning research program works with States and MPOs to develop and apply innovative decisionmaking tools and processes. Improvements to decisionmaking include gaining insight about the impact of disruptive forces in transportation, enhancing the public involvement process, and adopting innovative tools to meet planning needs.

Spotlight Project: Virtual Public Involvement

Nearly all State DOTs and most MPOs and local agencies use websites to communicate information about their activities. With the increased use of social media tools and mobile applications, the public can access user-friendly features such as online videos, podcasts, crowdsourced maps, and other interactive forums to receive information and provide input. Timely and strong public engagement has the potential to accelerate project delivery by helping identify and address public concerns early in the planning process, thereby reducing delays from previously unknown interests late in the project delivery process. These new opportunities for information sharing and public involvement in the transportation planning, programming, and project development process include, but are not limited to, telephone town halls, online meetings, pop-up outreach, social meetings/meeting-in-a box kits, story maps, quick videos, crowdsourcing, survey tools, real-time polling tools, social media following, visualization, and working with bloggers. Using virtual public involvement (VPI) tools benefits include: efficiency and low cost, accelerated project delivery, communication and collaboration, expanded engagement.

For more information, see Virtual Public Involvement.Contact Us

**Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty**
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20003
United States

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          Last updated: Monday, March 7, 2022 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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