Lance A Neumann

PERFORMANCE-BASED PLANNING AND ASSET MANAGEMENT

Traditional transportation planning identifies and prioritizes investment needs in system facilities and operations over a 20-year period. A performance-based approach to planning focuses on the projected outcomes of potential investments and the degree to which these impacts support stated policies. Interest in performance-based planning has grown in response to changing demands on agencies’ transportation programs resulting from international trade and economic competition, deregulation and modal competition, environmental regulation, and the pluralistic nature of many transportation decision-making processes. Performance-based planning is systematic and analytic, building upon the following components: expressions of policy in terms of quantifiable objectives; explicit measures of system performance; analytic methods to predict the impacts of different types of investments on system performance; decision-support tools to assist in evaluating a range of investments throughout a transportation network; models for periodic system monitoring to track performance measures; and feedback mechanisms to assess performance trends and identify needed adjustments in investment priorities.

PERFORMANCE PROGRAMMING: GUIDING RESOURCE ALLOCATION TO ACHIEVE POLICY OBJECTIVES

The Montana Department of Transportation’s (MDT) performance programming process (P3) is defined as “a method to develop an optimal investment plan and measure progress in moving toward strategic transportation system goals.” Transportation goals are based on the policy directions defined in the statewide long–range transportation plan. The distribution of funding is established through a series of trade-off analyses based on analyzing how the program can best meet overall performance goals. P3 allows system performance to be tracked over time and for various policy options to be systematically analyzed. In addition, P3 commits projects to the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, whose contribution to system performance was estimated through an analytical process. A case study of the MDT process is provided. The Montana context that led to the development of P3 and the key steps of P3 are described, and the impact of the process on MDT decision making is explained. A discussion of implementation issues and next steps in MDT’s incremental implementation of this process is provided.

Washington State's Highway Capital Construction Programming Process

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has traditionally been a leader in developing and applying a structured highway capital construction programming process. However, in 1990 it became clear that a new, emerging set of policy issues would confront WSDOT and the transportation commission, and changes to the capital programming process would be needed. Key objectives to be met included (a) a strong, clear connection between the programming process and the emerging policy concerns; (b) a strengthened ability to highlight and evaluate key trade-offs in funding projects; and (c) incorporation of greater flexibility and accountability in recommending projects. A study sponsored by the state’s Legislative Transportation Committee in 1991 reviewed the existing process from both a technical and a policy perspective and recommended changes. A revised capital programming process was recommended to achieve the following: (a) a more clearly defined capital program structure; (b) clearer relationship of the programming process to policy goals and objectives; (c) a more flexible process for allocating resources to competing requirements for funds, as well as greater coordination with other agencies and stakeholders; (d) application of rational methods in ranking projects by priority, including the use of benefit-cost measures as appropriate; (e) consideration of the full range of transportation solutions to a problem; and (f) more complete and timely communication of policy objectives, resulting programs and projects, and performance measures. Enabling legislation was enacted in 1993, and WSDOT and the transportation commission have since implemented this new process.

Adaptive time-staged strategies for transportation investment

Typically, investments in transportation have involved large-scale, durable facilities with significant long-term consequences on both the environment and even the very lifestyle of a region. Traditional solutions to transportation problems have ignored the fact that significant changes have occurred over the last few years, however, in the demand for transportation, in the transportation technologies available, and most importantly in the way people value transportation service. The value of many current approaches to investment planning has been severely limited because they ignore these changes and the other uncertainties inherent in the planning environment. This paper presents an application of the general sequential decision model and an adaptive strategic approach to transport planning which lends itself to handling both uncertainties in future demands, technologies and values and to a more incremental staged sequential solution to the transport investment problem. A Bayesian learning model is developed which considers both the flexibility of the staged strategic approach as well as the flexibility and adaptability of technologies.