[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 68 (Monday, April 10, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18134-18136]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-5139]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

[Docket No. FHWA-2006-23638]


Highway Performance Monitoring System--Reassessment

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The FHWA is initiating a reassessment of the Highway 
Performance Monitoring System (HPMS), which is a national highway 
transportation system database maintained and used by the FHWA. This 
notice requests public comment on issues to be reviewed as part of the 
reassessment. The FHWA working papers developed during the conduct of 
this reassessment will be placed in the docket for review and comment.

DATES: This docket will remain open until the reassessment is complete. 
The anticipated completion date is September 30, 2007. However, in 
order for comments to be considered in the early stages of the 
reassessment, comments should be submitted on or before June 9, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Mail or hand deliver comments to the U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Dockets Management Facility, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh 
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001, or submit electronically at 
http://dms.dot.gov/submit, or fax comments to (202) 493-2251. All 
comments should include the docket number that appears in the heading 
of this document. All comments received will be available for 
examination and copying at the above address from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 
e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Those desiring 
notification of receipt of comments must include a self-addressed, 
stamped postcard or you may print the acknowledgement page that appears 
after submitting comments electronically. Anyone is able to search the 
electronic form of all comments received into any of our dockets by the 
name of the individual submitting the comments (or signing the comment, 
if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). 
You may review DOT's complete privacy Act Statement in the Federal 
Register published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70, Pages 
19477-78) or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David Winter, Highway System 
Performance Division, Office of Highway Information, (202) 366-0175, 
[email protected]; or Janet Myers, Office of the Chief Counsel, 
(202) 366-2019, [email protected]; Federal Highway 
Administration, Department of Transportation, 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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

    You may submit or retrieve comments online through the Document 
Management System (DMS) at: http://dms.dot.gov/submit. The DMS is 
available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. Electronic submission 
and retrieval help and guidelines are available under the help section 
of the Web site.
    An electronic copy of this notice may be downloaded from the Office 
of the Federal Register's home page at http://www.archives.gov and the 
Government Printing Office's Web site at http://www.access.gpo.gov.
    Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in a Federal Register published on April 
11, 2000 (70 FR 19477), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.

Background

    The HPMS was developed in 1978 as a national highway transportation 
system database. The HPMS replaced numerous annual State data reports 
and biennial special studies conducted by each State for the FHWA. The 
FHWA used data from those reports and biennial special studies, and 
subsequently from HPMS, in reports to Congress pursuant to title 23, 
U.S.C., section 307 (current statutory provisions relating to the 
FHWA's biennial Conditions and Performance Reports are contained in 23, 
U.S.C., section 502(h)). The data gathered in HPMS also are used for a 
variety of FHWA functions, including apportionment of Federal-aid 
Highway Funds to individual States and assessment of changes in highway 
system performance.
    A major purpose of the HPMS always has been to provide data that 
reflect the extent, condition, performance, use, and operating 
characteristics of the Nation's highways. In order to meet this primary 
objective, the HPMS has gone through an evolutionary process that has 
recognized the changing needs for accurate and timely data. For the 
most part, changes to the HPMS over its nearly 30-year life reflect 
adjustments that respond to legislative and other changes in the the 
Federal-aid highway program.
    The HPMS was originally implemented as a national sample-based 
monitoring system. The sample data was supplemented with area-wide 
mileage, travel, and other data as a means to provide control total 
information and for other analytical purposes. In 1980, the HPMS was 
merged with the Mileage Facilities Reporting System (MFRS), which was a 
basic inventory system that included facility mileage, travel, and 
accident statistics. After the HPMS and MFRS

[[Page 18135]]

systems were merged, a single system evolved to include the universe 
data attributes of the MFRS and the sample and area-wide data 
attributes of the original HPMS.
    In 1988, the HPMS was enhanced with the addition of detailed 
pavement data, including International Roughness Index (IRI) 
measurements of pavement roughness. The HPMS was revised again in 1993 
to address changes in the FHWA analysis and simulation models, 
including the shift to a geographic information system (GIS) 
environment; the effects of the 1990 Census; the Intermodal Surface 
Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) (Pub. L. 102-240, 105 
Stat. 1914); the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-549, 104 
Stat. 2399); and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements 
concerning vehicle miles of travel (VMT) tracking data in air quality 
non-attainment areas (See Section 187, VMT Forecasting and Tracking 
Guidance, 57 FR 9549 (March 19, 1992)). The 1993 revision of the HPMS 
added nearly a dozen universal data items to be collected for the 
National Highway System (NHS) and other principal arterial highways. 
The amount of sample traffic data for urbanized air quality non-
attainment areas was increased, as were the percent truck data 
requirements. Several pavement data items were deleted in their 
entirety, as were sample data items for rural minor collectors.
    In 1999, the FHWA reassessed the HPMS. The final report from that 
reassessment is available online at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/hpms/hpmspubs.htm. As a result of the 1999 reassessment, the FHWA 
made substantial changes to the number and detail of the data items in 
HPMS. The FHWA eliminated 15 data items and changed 21 others, thereby 
eliminating 90 reported detail lines and adding one new item. Most 
notably, to eliminate duplication with the National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 
database, the reporting of fatal and injury crash data provided by the 
States on a summary basis by functional system was discontinued. 
Through the 1999 reassessment, the HPMS was positioned to maximize the 
use of new technologies for collecting and reporting data.
    In its current configuration, the HPMS includes limited data on all 
public roads, more detailed data for a sample of the arterial and 
collector functional road systems, and area-wide summary information 
for urbanized, small urban, and rural areas.

Reassessment Purpose

    The purpose of the reassessment is to review the HPMS in light of 
contemporary issues and anticipated future needs. The reassessment will 
determine what changes, if any, are necessary at this time. The recent 
reauthorization of the Federal-aid highway program, as contained in the 
Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act: A 
Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) (Pub. L. 109-59, 119 Stat. 1144), 
provides an appropriate opportunity and framework for the FHWA to 
undertake a reassessment of the HPMS. Other reasons to reexamine the 
HPMS are further advancements in technology, requirements of the 
Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) (Pub. L. 103-62, 
107 Stat. 285), changes to State data requirements, increased use of 
performance measures, and changes in the various uses of HPMS data by 
government, academia, and the private sector.

Reassessment Plan

    The FHWA will undertake an open approach to complete the 
reassessment. Major emphasis will be directed towards determining the 
data needs of FHWA's partners, stakeholders, and customers, the various 
uses of the existing HPMS, and the ability of data providers to support 
these data needs. The parameters of the reassessment will include 
critical issues related to the future form and direction of the HPMS. 
Issues on which the FHWA will solicit comment will include, but not be 
limited to, the following:
    (a) The purpose, scope and objectives of the existing HPMS;
    (b) Uses of HPMS data;
    (c) Better integration of the HPMS and the existing State and local 
data processes; and
    (d) More effective collection of HPMS data.

The FHWA invites comments on these, or other appropriate issues for 
consideration in the reassessment.
    As a part of the reassessment, the FHWA will conduct a series of 
workshops, geographically coordinated throughout the country, at which 
interested parties will have the opportunity to provide input and 
explore potential alternatives for a future HPMS. The FHWA will post 
specific workshop dates and locations online at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/hpms/index.htm. Soon after the workshops 
take place, the FHWA will place the workshop minutes and other 
supporting documents in the docket noted above for review and comment.
    To achieve the maximum opportunity for participation in this 
reassessment of the HPMS by those customers, stakeholders, partners, 
and other interests that are impacted by the HPMS, significant effort 
will be made to facilitate public outreach and involvement. In addition 
to the workshops described above, mechanisms that are being provided 
for this effort include, but are not limited to, the following 
elements:
    (a) Participation of the general public and interest groups through 
a review and comment process on working documents, as well as interim 
and final products, submitted pursuant to this notice and docket;
    (b) Participation of the general public and interest groups through 
attendance at national/regional meeting(s);
    (c) Participation of the transportation community at large through 
the Transportation Research Board (TRB), which is a division of the 
National Research Council of the National Academies and is responsible 
for promoting innovation and progress in transportation through 
research;
    (d) Participation of States through the American Association of 
State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), which is a 
nonprofit nonpartisan association representing highway and 
transportation departments in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, 
and Puerto Rico;
    (e) Participation of the metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) 
through the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO);
    (f) Participation of organizations which represent non-government 
users of the HPMS data; and,
    (g) Participation of technical experts from the following entities: 
States; FHWA; other Federal agencies such as Research & Innovative 
Technology Administration (RITA) and National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration (NHTSA); AASHTO staff; AASHTO Standing Committee on 
Planning (SCOP); Metropolitan Planning Organizations; and academia. 
These technical experts will have the opportunity to attend meetings in 
order to identify present and future data needs for HPMS users and to 
provide input on balancing needs with resource requirements. The 
meetings are designed to gather facts, information and individual 
advice or recommendations. Comments on the elements of the outreach 
program for the reassessment are invited.
    The FHWA will prepare recommendations for the HPMS, taking

[[Page 18136]]

into consideration comments made directly through the docket, raised at 
the various workshops, and collected through other outreach efforts. 
The FHWA expects to complete its recommendations by February 28, 2007, 
and publish them in the Federal Register for public review and comment.
    The FHWA is initiating this reassessment with the intention of 
maximizing public input and providing as much flexibility as possible 
in meeting future HPMS data needs. However, there are a number of 
principal objectives that will guide the outcome of the reassessment 
effort. First, the future HPMS will need to support any changes to the 
FHWA's stewardship and oversight responsibilities that result from 
SAFETEA-LU. In addition, the future HPMS will need to continue to 
support various Congressional requirements, including the Conditions 
and Performance Reports and those imposed by the GPRA. Finally, the 
outcome of the reassessment process must recognize the national 
interest in the NHS and the need to continue to assess highway 
conditions and performance at the national level.

    Authority: 23 U.S.C. 502; 23 CFR 1.5.

    Issued on: April 3, 2006.
J. Richard Capka,
Acting Federal Highway Administrator.
[FR Doc. E6-5139 Filed 4-7-06; 8:45 am]
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