The Highway Performance Monitoring System

What is HPMS? National highway transportation system database Data on highway conditions, performance, and usage Analytical products such as VMT estimation Primary source of information for distributing Federal-aid funds

What is HPMS? Contains data on our Nation ’ s highways Extent - mileage Condition - IRI, PSR Performance - traffic/pavement Use - VMT Operating Characteristics - V/C

Scope of The HPMS A nationwide inventory system that includes data for all of the Nation's public road mileage Annually certified by each State’s Governor Includes facilities both on and off State-owned highway systems Each State is required to furnish annually all data requirements specified in the HPMS Field Manual.

… any road or street owned and maintained by a public authority … open to public travel … available, except during scheduled periods, extreme weather or emergency conditions, passable by four-wheel standard passenger cars, and open to the general public for use without restrictive gates, prohibitive signs … Public Road

Who Uses Data from HPMS? U.S. Department of Transportation (including) – Federal Highway Administration – Federal Transit Administration – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Other Federal Agencies – Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – Department of Defense (STRAHNET) U.S. Congress

What do they use it for? Apportioning Federal Aid highway funds Performance measures pavement condition, congestion Air quality analyses Determine fatality and injury rates “Status of the Nation’s Highways, Bridges, and Transit: Conditions & Performance” – Biennial Report to Congress

Federal Aid Highway Funding Interstate Maintenance Program 25% National Highway System 30% Surface Transportation Program 35% Highway Safety Programs>5%

Federal Aid Distribution FundFactorsWeight InterstateInterstate System Lane Miles33 1/3 % Vehicle Miles Traveled on the Interstate System33 1/3 % NHSLane Miles of non-Interstate Principal Arterials25 % VMT on non-Interstate Principal Arterials35 % Lane Miles of Principal Arterials / State Population10 % STPLane Miles of Federal-Aid Highways25 % Vehicle Miles Traveled on Federal-Aid Highways40 % SafetyState Population75 % Public Road Miles25 %

The HPMS “Submittal” Due June 1: Public Road Mileage Certification Certified by the Governor of the State Due June 15: Summary Data & Estimates Full Extent Data Sample Panel Data GIS Route System

Statewide Summary Data Information on travel, system length, pavement data, vehicle classification by functional system and area type, in addition to land area and population by area type. NAAQS designations.

Statewide Summary Data Manual entry of travel (VMT), population, land area for non-Federal Aid roads by Rural, Small Urban and each Large Urban Paved/Unpaved mileage manually entered for non-Federal Aid Roads by Rural, Small Urban, and sum of Large Urban areas Percentage of vehicles by 13 classifications manually entered for Federal Aid roads

Estimates Data  Last overlay thickness  Thickness of rigid pavement  Thickness of flexible pavement  Base type  Base thickness  Binder Type  Dowel bar presence  Typical joint spacing

Full Extent Data Data items reported on all Federal Aid eligible roadways Total mileage reported must match the Certified Public Road Mileage

Full Extent Data Route – Number Signing & Qualifier Functional Class, Urban Area County Number of Lanes Ownership Access Control, HOV, Toll AADT, Truck AADT IRI – NHS annually, Princ Art - biennially

Sample Panel Data Peak lanes, turn lanes Peak trucks, K-factor, d-factor Intersections – stop signs, signal type, g/c Terrain type, grades, curves Lane widths, shoulder widths, median Widening potential, passing sight distance Pavement type and condition info No more “donut” Samples

HPMS Standard Samples Stratified “random” sample of physical roadway sections Stratified based on: Rural / Small Urban / Urbanized Functional Classification Traffic Volume Groups

Volume Groups Vol GrpRangeVol GrpRange 1<500735,000-54, ,000-84, , , , , ,000-19, , , ,000-34, ,000+

Sample Selection Originally fixed, focused on pavement 1998 Reassessment More flexible to account for variations and non-pavement data Later More “fluid” to focus more on traffic data 2010 Reassessment

HPMS Samples Sample Adequacy Sample Management

Traffic Data & VMT Traffic data (AADT) was only required in HPMS for Principal Arterials, NHS, and Samples AADT is now required for all Federal Aid eligible roads (STP-based on FC, and NHS) Must develop estimates for missing AADT counts VMT estimation is now a straight calculation

Data Collection Highway Performance Monitoring System

HPMS Field Manual

Publishing the HPMS data Published format: – “ Highway Statistics ” – “ Our Nation ’ s Highways – Selected Facts & figures ”

Vehicle Miles of Travel (VMT) HPMS VMT EstimatesHPMS VMT Estimates

VMT Estimation  Can be calculated for State System where traffic counts are relatively comprehensive  Estimated for HPMS using Sample expansion (until Reassessment)  Stratified by Urban, Rural, Small Urban areas

HPMS Sample Domains No. Samples Rural: 406 Sm. Urban: 395 Urbanized Buffalo 218 Buffalo 218 Rochester 195 Rochester 195 Utica 152 Utica 152 Glens Falls 60 Glens Falls 60 Elmira 76 Elmira 76 Saratoga 37 Saratoga 37 Poughkeepsie/ Newburgh 201 Poughkeepsie/ Newburgh 201 Kingston 45 Kingston 45 New York 345 New York 345 Albany 208 Albany 208 Binghamton 136 Binghamton 136 Syracuse 172 Syracuse 172 Ithaca 43 Ithaca 43

HPMS VMT Estimation  Entire VMT estimation for Federal Aid roads has been based on Sample data (all other traffic counts ignored) Will be changed to full calculation of Federal Aid VMT this year  Non-Federal Aid VMT (FC 08, 09, 19) based on adjustment of prior year VMT estimate

VMT Accuracy  Within HPMS, accuracy is affected by Sample “adequacy” and quality of “current year estimates” of AADT  Local VMT is more challenging given the difficulty of measuring both baseline traffic and growth

New approach to VMT – HPMS Reassessment  Traffic counts “required” on all Federal Aid eligible roads  VMT estimation is straight calculation No Sample “expansion”  Local VMT is still an off-line estimate Local VMT typically not used in Fed Aid formulas

“Required” Traffic Counts Percent FA with counts

“Required” Traffic Counts

“Current” year estimates  Non-current counts adjusted to current year using “Matrix” process 15 year table of actual traffic counts Regression analysis to develop growth rates by Functional Class by Region Rates applied to last actual counts  “Average” rate for 2009: %/yr

VMT – Old Process vs New Daily VMT on Federal Aid (STP) eligible roads VMT Growth Old rate: -0.2% New rate: -1.6%

To reflect current growth:  Improve data collection rate options Tighter control of contract schedules Shorten traffic count cycles  Increase # stations counted annually Set of short count stations, such as HPMS Sample approach Increase number of continuous counter

Cost implications  Requires additional staff for: Count processing Contractor liaison and administration Payment request processing

Impact of higher growth rate  Matrix produced a 0.5 to 0.6% rate  Recalculated VMT in new 2009 HPMS file using a 1% growth rate  Result showed a 0.1% difference in total VMT using a 1% annual growth rate for all counts older than 2009  Conclusion: counts are sufficiently current to reflect recent trends in VMT total, but still may not give desired “annual” picture