Performance measure 3
System Performance, Freight & CMAQ

Performance measure by program area

PM 3: Highway System Performance (Congestion)

Updated January 2023
Performance measures by program area 4-year targets
for 20211
4-year actuals
for 20211
Desired
trend
2-year targets
(2023)2
4-year targets
(2025)2
Percentage of person-miles traveled on the interstate system that are reliable 68.0% 82.4% πŸ ‰ 77.2% 72.5
Percentage of person-miles traveled on the non-interstate NHS system that are reliable 61.0% 87.8 πŸ ‰ 88.1% 88.4%

Source: WSDOT Transportation, Safety & Systems Analysis Division, WSDOT Rail, Freight, and Ports Division, WSDOT Environmental Services Office.
Notes: Targets with desired trends going up should be above the level stated, and down should be below the level stated. Federal rule allows state and MPOs to adjust four-year targets during the mid-performance (2-year) progress report. There are no monetary penalties involved with PM3. 1 The first reporting period is from 2018-2021 (Oct. 1, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2021 for CMAQ) with data and actuals submitted Dec. 16, 2022. 2 The current two-year target period for PM3 is for calendar years 2022-2023 with data and actuals submitted on October 1, 2024. The current four-year target period for PM3 is for calendar years 2022-2025 (Oct. 1, 2021 through Sept. 30, 2025 for CMAQ) with data and actuals submitted on October 1, 2026. These reports align with the federal fiscal year, which runs October 1 through September 30.

Washington meets targets for reliable travel times on interstate, non-interstate roads

Washington met its 4-year targets for Highway System Performance during the 2018-2021 reporting period. WSDOT reported 82.4% of person-miles traveled on the interstate system were reliable during this period, achieving the target of 68% or higher.

WSDOT also reported 87.8% of person-miles traveled on the non-interstate NHS System were reliable, achieving the target of being higher than 61.0%.

Level of Travel Time Reliability (LOTTR) is defined as the ratio of longer travel times (80th percentile) to a "normal" travel time (50th percentile), using data from FHWA's National Performance Management Research Data Set or equivalent. Data are collected in 15-minute segments during four time periods:

  • Morning peak (6-10 a.m. Monday-Friday)
  • Midday (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday)
  • Afternoon peak (4-8 p.m. Monday-Friday)
  • Weekends (6 a.m. to 8 p.m.)

The measures are the percent of person-miles traveled on the NHS that are reliable (with 1.5 TTR or less being reliable and more than 1.5 TTR being considered unreliable).

Setting Washington's 4-year targets

WSDOT, in collaboration with Metropolitan Planning Organizations, finalized its four-year Transportation Performance Management targets for highway system performance, freight and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) on December 16, 2022. WSDOT's methodology for setting its new PM3 performance targets to be reported on October 1, 2024 and October 1, 2026 included:

  • Congestion β€” Evaluated pre-COVID trend (2017-2019 data) and COVID trend (2020-2021 data); and used the average growth rate between those two to set new 2-year and 4-year targets.

Transportation Performance Management reports

WSDOT is working to increase the transparency and accountability about how the agency spends federal taxpayer dollars on transportation infrastructure and services in Washington state to comply with the federal Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) law of 2012, now known as Transportation Performance Management (TPM).

To this end, WSDOT is collaborating with Metropolitan Planning Organizations to achieve targets set by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). FHWA evaluates state transportation systems' performance compared to national goals and enforces minimum requirements, ensuring it distributes federal funds to transportation projects that help the agency achieve these goals.



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