Transportation Performance Measures in Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand

FHWA-PL-05-001

A trend toward greater public accountability in decisionmaking over the past decade has led many U.S. agencies to adopt performance measurement programs. The Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored a scanning study of how agencies in Australia, Canada, Japan, and New Zealand use performance measures in transportation planning and decisionmaking.

The U.S. delegation found that transportation agencies in the countries visited use performance measures for setting priorities and making investment and management decisions to a greater extent than is typical in the United States. The team observed the most impressive application of performance management in road safety, where it was used to identify strategies to reduce fatalities. Agencies also used performance measurement to provide greater accountability and visibility to the public and elected decisionmakers.

The scanning team's recommendations for U.S. application include encouraging States to implement best practices on safety performance measurement. The team also recommends developing a data exchange and warehousing consortium for benchmarking performance among participating States, and conducting further research on performance measurement-related topics.

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