Conference Proceedings 26 - Transportation Research Board

APPENDIX CResearch Statements Developed DuringPeer ExchangeAt the conclusion of the Statewide TransportationData and Information Systems (A1D09) PeerExchange on Performance Measures, five draft researchstatements were prepared. The following is abrief synopsis of the research statements.1. Freight Performance Measures. Transportationsystems must address the needs of shippers, carriers,logistics firms, and others who move goods on thenation’s transportation network. Specific issues includetravel time to markets, congestion costs, publictransportation investments, and cost and benefits tothe freight sector of major state transportation projects.Development of freight performance measuresand new technical tools to assist states, metropolitanareas, and others in the analysis of goods movementprograms and projects would have a high payoff.2. Intelligent Transportation System Archived Dataand Requirements from a Planning Perspective. Intelligenttransportation system (ITS) centers across thenation are becoming a rich new source of empiricaldata concerning traffic flows on highway systems. Asthey build data archives, the challenge will be to identifywith great specificity the requirements that othershave for these data. Examples of such requirementsinclude travel times, link speeds, delay, reliability, andcongestion. Research is needed to define a set of commonrequirements for transportation data from ITSdata archives. This effort would provide a templatefor developers of ITS data archives and avoid costlyduplicative work by system developers.3. Market Research for State Departments ofTransportation. Although state departments of transportation(DOTs) have considerable experience inmeasuring their transportation services and quantifyingtheir resources, they have limited experience inmeasuring themselves against their customers’ expectationsand satisfaction. Learning what the customerswant, learning their levels of satisfaction, and gettingcustomer feedback are subject areas with which publicagencies have little experience. A synthesis effortis needed to assess the role and state-of-the-practiceof market research within state DOTs. The synthesisshould document current experiences and serve as aprimer on the use of market research in the publicsector.4. Integration and Quality Assurance in TransportationData. The transportation community constantlydemands more data. Those data need to beaccurate, be able to meet customer needs, and begeared to measuring performance and providing accountabilityof transportation programs. Also, thedata must be obtained under tight budget constraints.A growing number of transportation agencies are exploringthe acquisition and integration of data acrossfederal, state, and local levels of government andwith the private sector. This possibility raises issuesregarding standards, quality assurance, privatization,and intergovernmental relationships. The researchconducted would identify best practices at all levelsof government with respect to transportation data integration,data quality assurance, and other data relationshipissues.5. Performance Measures and Their Applicationsand Impacts on Transportation Decision Making. Inrecent years, there has been a growing interest in the214