Conference Proceedings 26 - Transportation Research Board

164 PERFORMANCE MEASURES TO IMPROVE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS AND AGENCY OPERATIONS• Bridge management,• Congestion management,• Safety management, and• 6-year highway improvement program.Using current condition assessments, geometric characteristics,and traffic counts, future conditions onthe state trunk highway system are forecast and comparedwith thresholds of acceptable performance.When physical or functional conditions become unacceptable,a range of improvements addressing therange of needs is identified using information fromthe individual management systems.With the development of the long-range state highwayplan, the costs of the alternative improvementsare identified, priorities are set, financial constraintsare applied, and resulting system performance is estimated.Differing priorities and financial constraintsare tested, leading to a long-range plan having bothreasonable financial requirements and reasonablehighway system performance. Priorities are also setto guide decision making in the event of fundingshortfalls.Information on the needs addressed in the longrangehighway plan is used to help guide the allocationof highway resources to the various programsmanaged by the department. Data on highway systemneeds, alternative improvements, and prioritiesare made available for highway district use as thosein the district identify, scope, and prioritize actualprojects to include in the 6-year highway improvementprogram. Data are also used by central officestaff assigned to develop the program and who focuson the significant capacity improvements needed inthe state.When the 6-year improvement program is identified,the projects in the program are used to updatepredicted system conditions in the year in which eachproject is scheduled. In this way the department cancompare current highway system performance withforecast performance both with and without the 6-year program. The performance achieved is comparedwith the long-range system plan to identifygaps. Significant short-run gaps and knowledge of theprojects needed to close them provide informationand justification for use in the development of biennialbudget proposals.ResultsTo date, the use of this process has brought the followingresults:• A long-range state highway plan calling for$20.4 billion in expenditures over 20 years; a 33 percentincrease over current funding levels. If implemented,the plan would result in significant improvementsin statewide pavement and bridge conditionsas well as a large reduction in miles of congestedhighway. Some congestion needs were not addresseddue to the significant costs involved.• A $30 million per year biennial budget increaseto address statewide pavement needs.• A $31 million reallocation of highway improvementfunding among districts. The funding allocationis reassessed every 2 years.• Preparation of environmental studies on 11 ofthe top 20 highway-congestion needs on the statetrunk highway system, before seeking budget authorityfor their construction.• A GIS database used by the districts to identifyimprovement needs and support project scoping.• Data for prioritizing projects recommended forthe Interstate highway system. Project requests exceedavailable funding by more than 20 percent.• A 6-year improvement program that updatesstatewide pavement and bridge conditions while allowingfor a small increase in miles of congestion.Funding for the program has not increased to thelevels called for by the long-range plan, and the program’srelatively higher emphasis on pavement andbridge conditions is consistent with the priorities inthe long-range plan.CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OFTRANSPORTATION (CALTRANS)ContactTremain Downey, Caltrans, 1120 North Street, P.O.Box 942874, Sacramento, CA 94274-0001916-654-3995, 916-654-6583 (fax)tremain.downey@dot.ca.goPoster Session SummaryThe following are the Caltrans performance measureinitiatives:• Project goals:–To develop indicators and measures to assessthe performance of California’s multimodaltransportation system for supporting informedtransportation decisions by transportation offi-