[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 85 (Friday, May 2, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24154-24157]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-11452]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration
[FHWA Docket No. 97-2382]


Development of Performance Measures for the FHWA'S Strategic Plan

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), (DOT).

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In conformity with the Department of Transportation's (DOT) 
agency-wide strategic planning process, the FHWA is continuing to 
develop its strategic plan to guide its programs and initiatives to 
meet its part of the Department's strategic goals and objectives. The 
FHWA strategic plan will establish the framework, goals, and measures 
of progress in meeting its goals in fiscal year (FY) 1998 through FY 
2003. The FHWA has developed vision, mission, and strategic goal 
statements and is now seeking input and advice from its partners and 
customers on how to best measure its progress toward those goals. The 
FHWA strategic plan will be finalized after the next reauthorization 
bill for the FHWA's programs is enacted. The FHWA strategic planning 
process will also support meeting the Department's requirements under 
the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. Comments are 
requested to help guide the FHWA's development of performance 
objectives and indicators to measure the progress toward meeting the 
goals of the strategic plan.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before July 1, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Submit written, signed comments to the docket number that 
appears in the heading of this document to the Docket Clerk, U.S. DOT 
Dockets, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-
0001. All comments received will be available for examination at the 
above address between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays. Those persons or organizations who desire 
notification of receipt of comments must include a self-addressed, 
stamped envelope or postcard.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Susan B. Petty, HPP-20, Office of 
Policy Development, (202)366-0690, Federal Highway Administration, 400 
Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 7:45 
a.m. to 4:15 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays.

Background

    The FHWA provides national leadership, expertise, resources, and 
information to ensure effective and efficient investment and management 
of highway transportation systems. The agency's main goals are to 
promote mobility, productivity, safety, human and natural environment, 
and national security. The FHWA also promotes innovations in financing, 
contracting, partnerships, and technologies to meet these goals. The 
FHWA strategic planning process will set-out the long-term 
programmatic, policy, and management goals of the FHWA including its 
planned accomplishments and its schedule for implementation of these 
goals. Further, consultation with the FHWA's customers and partners 
through the strategic planning process will help to ensure that the 
agency is meeting the needs and expectations of the public.
    The FHWA has direct responsibility for a significant number of 
highway transportation programs such as Federal lands highways, 
commercial vehicle safety and enforcement, research, technology 
development, national standards, and technical assistance. In addition, 
it also has a significant role in influencing the strategic development 
of State and local transportation systems as effective and efficient 
elements of the national transportation system through programs, 
policies, and funding. Because of the FHWA's stewardship role of the 
national highway transportation system, its strategic goals and 
performance objectives and indicators reflect initiatives that are in

[[Page 24155]]

its span of influence but beyond its direct control. The FHWA strategic 
planning process reflects this broad scope of influence and the 
performance objectives and indicators developed through this process 
will indicate the performance of the highway transportation system 
nationwide. It is important to note that the performance objectives and 
indicators for the FHWA are developed to measure the performance of the 
entire highway transportation system nationwide. These objectives and 
indicators are not intended or appropriate to apply to individual 
States or jurisdictions.
    The strategic plan is an integral part of the ongoing initiatives 
in the FHWA to improve the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of its 
programs. A strategic approach to managing its program and resources is 
not new to the FHWA--the FHWA's current strategic planning process 
builds on ongoing initiatives in quality, customer and partner 
feedback, and program evaluation. The FHWA ``Quality Journey'' provides 
the overarching principles and framework for the FHWA to create and 
support continuous quality improvements throughout its activities and 
strategic planning.

Outreach for FHWA Strategic Planning

    As part of its overall strategic planning effort, the FHWA is 
engaging its customers and partners in the development and definition 
of objectives and indicators of performance. The FHWA gathered very 
useful information during the extensive outreach conducted last year in 
preparation for the reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface 
Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), Pub.L. 102-240, 105 
Stat. 1914. This outreach included 13 regional forums and over 100 
focus groups in approximately 40 States throughout the country. The 
information from these meetings provided valuable input for the FHWA's 
current strategic planning initiative. As the FHWA moves to the next 
step to develop performance objectives and indicators for its strategic 
plan, it is pursuing a number of methods to consult with its customers 
and partners. These include adding information on the FHWA home page on 
the Internet (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov), as well as requesting public 
comments through this Federal Register notice. In addition, the FHWA 
has written to more than 100 customer and partner groups to determine 
the level of participation that they would like to have in this 
process. While many will provide written comments, it is anticipated 
that the FHWA will also hold a number of focus group meetings on the 
various strategic goals. The FHWA plans to hold these focus group 
meetings between late April and June of this year.

The FHWA'S Vision, Mission, and Strategic Goals

    In 1996, the FHWA took the initial steps for this strategic plan 
and approved its current Vision and Mission statements, Strategic Goals 
and Preamble. All of these were based on the 1994 DOT strategic plan, 
the reauthorization outreach process, and the previous strategic 
planning efforts. The following are the first elements of the FY 1998 
to FY 2003 strategic plan for the FHWA:

Preamble

    As a visionary and vigilant Federal Agency committed to fair and 
equitable treatment, the Federal Highway Administration will focus our 
investment of human, financial, and technological resources to make 
this Vision a reality and to undertake this Mission to meet the 
transportation challenges of today and tomorrow.

Vision

    Create the best transportation system in the world for the American 
people through proactive leadership, innovation and excellence in 
service.

Mission

    We provide proactive leadership, expertise, resources and 
information to continually improve the quality of our Nation's highway 
system and its intermodal connections. We undertake this mission in 
cooperation with all our partners to enhance the country's economic 
vitality, quality of life and the environment.

Strategic Goals

    1. Mobility: Continually improve the public's access to activities, 
goods and services through preservation, improvement and expansion of 
the highway transportation system and enhancement of its operations, 
efficiency, and intermodal connections.
    2. Productivity: Continuously improve the economic efficiency of 
the Nation's transportation system to enhance America's position in the 
global economy.
    3. Safety: Continually decrease the number and severity of highway 
accidents.
    4. Human and natural environment: Protect and enhance the natural 
environment and communities affected by highway transportation.
    5. National security: Improve the Nation's ability to respond to 
emergencies and natural disasters and enhance national defense 
mobility.

Performance Objectives and Indicators

    As the next step in its strategic planning process, the FHWA is 
requesting input for the development of performance objectives and 
indicators to measure its progress toward meeting its goals. The 
strategic plan will cover the period from FY 1998 through FY 2003 and 
these performance objectives and indicators will quantify the FHWA's 
accomplishments toward its goals for that period. The performance 
objectives and indicators in the strategic plan will focus on measuring 
the results or outcomes of initiatives and programs over this 6-year 
period. A ``performance objective'' is a measurable target level of 
results that is proposed to be accomplished toward a strategic goal. 
This could include, for example, increasing highway pavements and 
bridges that are in good condition, reducing highway crashes, or 
reducing the costs and time of highway freight movements. ``Performance 
indicators'' are the specific data that are used to measure the 
accomplishment. This could include, for example, the percentage of 
National Highway System (NHS) highways that are above a benchmark for 
serviceability ratings, a change in the rate of fatal accidents, or 
reducing the ton-mile cost of freight transportation.
    To facilitate public comments on possible objectives and indicators 
to gauge progress toward the FHWA's strategic goals, the following 
questions are posed. The FHWA is not seeking answers to these specific 
questions, but offers them only as a starting point to assist 
commenters in preparing recommendations. Commenters are encouraged to 
expand on these questions in their deliberations. The basic question in 
each category, ``What will change as these goals begin to be met?'', 
will provide information for the FHWA's performance objectives. The 
follow-up question in each category, ``How can these changes best be 
measured?'', will help to develop specific, quantifiable performance 
indicators.
    The FHWA anticipates that most of these goals could be measured by 
existing data or by combinations or indexes of existing data. However, 
the FHWA understands that some new data sources, such as, customer 
surveys may need to be developed. The FHWA is also requesting 
recommendations from commenters on appropriate sources of data that can 
be used for the performance indicators.

[[Page 24156]]

    Another challenge in this process is to limit the number of 
measures in the agency's strategic plan to those that are the most 
important indicators of results. The experience of other agencies and 
organizations in setting performance objectives and indicators has 
demonstrated that using too many objectives and indicators may be 
confusing for program managers and partners and may diffuse the 
agency's focus on its strategic goals. Therefore, the FHWA is also 
requesting that commenters prioritize the performance objectives and 
indicators that they propose to assist the FHWA in selecting only the 
most critical indicators of performance.
    An optional format is attached to this notice that may be helpful 
for commenters to use to provide recommendations. This format could be 
used for responses and suggestions on any of the strategic goals. The 
format provides a brief outline form for commenters to offer 
performance objectives and indicators, a ranking of priorities, and any 
possible sources of data for the performance indicators.
    The following, lists the five strategic goals and a series of 
questions that may be of assistance to the commenters:
    1. Mobility: Continually improve the public's access to activities, 
goods and services through preservation, improvement and expansion of 
the highway transportation system and enhancement of its operations, 
efficiency, and intermodal connections.
    a. How does highway mobility benefit or affect individuals and 
community quality of life? How could this be quantified and measured? 
Should measures include commuting times, personal travel costs, public 
perception, or increased access to home, work, rural areas, and 
recreation?
    b. What are the expectations of the general public for ease of 
access and mobility? How can these expectations be measured? Are 
highways and other transportation facilities expanded or built where 
and when they are needed? Are alternatives to highway transportation 
and intermodal facilities effectively developed to provide more 
transportation services to the public? Do national surveys provide a 
good indication of progress in this area?
    c. It has been suggested that increasing the percentage of vehicle 
miles traveled on NHS highways that operate at ``full performance'' 
would increase mobility. How should full performance be measured, 
(i.e., traveling at a posted or design speed, good pavement conditions, 
reduced congestion, or others)? Should measures of full performance be 
linked to the public's exposure to adverse highway conditions such as 
vehicle miles traveled or the number of vehicles using highways and 
bridges that are below some benchmark?
    d. Highway construction should result in highways that last longer, 
ride better, and cost less over the life of the highway. What specific 
measures would best capture these results?
    e. How does the current condition of the highways impact mobility? 
Do factors, such as, measures of pavement and bridge conditions, 
construction delays, or lanes not in service relate to these impacts?
    f. How will the application of new technologies affect highway 
mobility? How should the impacts or results of deploying new 
technologies be measured?
    g. How does the operation of the highways affect mobility? Would 
measures of reducing delays from accidents and construction delays be 
an appropriate measure? How should the impacts on mobility of improved 
highway safety or directional signs and signals be measured?
    h. What will be the impacts on mobility of deploying advanced 
technologies from Intelligent Transportation Systems, such as traveler 
information systems, incident management, and electronic toll 
collection? How can these results be measured?
    2. Productivity: Continuously improve the economic efficiency of 
the Nation's transportation system to enhance America's position in the 
global economy.
    a. What economic data and indicators would be directly affected by 
improvements in highway transportation?
    b. Most products are moved on the highway at some point in the 
production process between gathering the raw materials and the final 
distribution to the consumer. What measurable factors would show 
improvements in this freight movement? Would an appropriate measure of 
improved highway freight movements include some measurement of cost 
such as reducing transportation costs?
    c. How can technologies, such as, mapping, tracking, computerized 
signal control, and other Intelligent Transportation Systems improve 
productivity? How can the results of these improvements be measured?
    d. What transportation factors are considered by the public, 
business community, freight movers, intermodal facility operators in 
making economic decisions? Would these factors be appropriate measures 
for this goal?
    e. What factors indicate the efficiency of passenger and freight 
transportation across international highway borders? What are the best 
measures of how efficiently these crossings are operating?
    f. How will the application of new technologies affect 
productivity? How should the impacts of new technologies be measured?
    3. Safety: Continually decrease the number and severity of highway 
accidents.
    a. Is the public satisfied with the level of safety on the 
highways? How does the public assess highway safety (e.g., crashes, 
deaths, personal perceptions, etc.)?
    b. What are the best measures of improvements in safety? Should 
safety be measured by the number or rate of highway fatalities? How 
should crash severity be measured? Should it include all highway 
accidents, injury-only accidents, or solely the number of fatalities?
    c. Would a comparison of fatal accidents to all accidents (or to 
injury-only accidents) indicate a change in the severity of accidents?
    d. Highway safety issues of particular responsibility or concern 
for the FHWA include truck and bus safety, preventing run-off-the-road 
crashes, creating clear zones or forgiving highways, safety at railroad 
grade crossings, or construction work zones, as well as safety on 
certain high priority roadways, such as the National Highway System. 
How should improvements in these areas be measured? What would be 
appropriate measures to track progress in these safety areas?
    e. How can the application of new technologies enhance highway 
safety? How should this be measured?
    4. Human and natural environment: Protect and enhance the natural 
environment and communities affected by highway transportation.
    a. What highway and transportation elements improve the community? 
What is the role of transportation in supporting welfare-to-work 
initiatives? Would decreases in commuting time or improving on-time 
travel or access to services be appropriate and measurable? How can the 
impacts and benefits to communities of highway transportation be 
measured?
    b. How does highway access to National parks and Federal lands 
impact the human and natural environment? How can these benefits and 
impacts be measured? Would increased access to pedestrian facilities 
and bikeways or the number of miles of landscaped highways or the 
number of beautification programs be significant factors?

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    c. What are the changes in the environment when highways enhance 
the natural environment? How can these changes be measured? Would 
increasing the number or percentage of highway projects that 
accommodate or enhance environmental concerns be an adequate measure? 
Would decreasing the number or percentage of Americans living in air 
quality, non-attainment areas be an adequate measure? Should the number 
of acres of wetlands or the number of historic sites restored or 
avoided be a measure?
    d. Do national and localized surveys of environmental partners and 
the general public on satisfaction with highways' impact on the 
environment provide useful information to measure accomplishments?
    5. National security: Improve the Nation's ability to respond to 
emergencies and enhance national defense.
    a. Following a natural disaster, quickly restoring the 
transportation system to minimal service, and then full service, is a 
key factor in rebuilding a community. Would appropriate measures of 
this goal be: (1) How long it takes to provide access to disaster areas 
for emergency relief?; (2) How long does it take to provide emergency 
funding following a disaster?; and (3) How long does it take to 
complete repairs of highways and bridges and restore full service 
following a disaster?
    b. The FHWA provides direct service to the Department of Defense 
(DOD) to ensure highway access for national defense. In addition to 
working directly with DOD to establish its needs and measures, the FHWA 
would like comments from other partners and customers on this issue. 
For example, would increasing the percentage of highways designated for 
defense purposes that meet the requirements of DOD be an adequate 
measure? Would the number of highway movements by DOD that are on-time 
or the percentage of miles traveled by DOD that are on-time be good 
measures?
    The following optional format is provided for commenters:

The FHWA'S Strategic Planning Process: Optional Format for Comments on 
Performance Objectives and Indicators

    This is an optional form offered to facilitate comments. Commenters 
are invited to provide recommendations on one or all of the five 
strategic goals (mobility, productivity, safety, human and natural 
environment, and national security). For each strategic goal on which 
comments are provided, please recommend performance objectives and 
performance indicators for that strategic goal. In addition, please 
prioritize the factors that are proposed and include any data sources 
that would be most appropriate.

Name:------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:------------------------------------------------------------------

Organization: (optional)-----------------------------------------------

Address:---------------------------------------------------------------

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Strategic Goal:--------------------------------------------------------
(Mobility, Productivity, Safety, Human and Natural Resources, or 
National Security)

Performance Objectives:

Priority

(What should be accomplished to reach this goal?)
(1=highest/3=lowest)______

1.---------------------------------------------------------------------

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PERFORMANCE INDICATOR:

(How can these changes best be measured?)

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Possible source of data:

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Additional performance objectives and indicators for each strategic 
goal may be presented in the same format.

    Authority: 23 U.S.C. 315; 49 U.S.C. 322; 49 CFR 1.48.

    Issued on: April 25, 1997.
Jane Garvey,
Acting Federal Highway Administrator.
[FR Doc. 97-11452 Filed 5-1-97; 8:45 am]
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