1. Developing Real-Time Freight Performance Measures Crystal Jones FHWA Office of Freight Management October 20, 2004

2. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 2 Why Performance Measures? Performance measures provide mechanism for understanding system performance by states and MPOs Performance measurement improves the management and delivery of products and services Performance measurement demonstrates the accountability of Federal stewardship of taxpayer resources. Performance measurement helps justify programs and their costs --Given limited budgets, etc., another tool for informing investment decisions at a national, state or local level Performance measurement is mandated by the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993.

3. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 3 What are the benefits of performance measurement?” Set goals and standards Detect and correct problems Manage, describe, and improve processes Document accomplishments Gain insight into, and make judgments about, the effectiveness and efficiency of programs, and processes Determine whether organizations are fulfilling their vision and meeting strategic goals Provide measurable results to demonstrate progress towards goals and objectives

4. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 4 The FPM Project is not… A mechanism to distribute federal funds, A program to identify specific trucking companies’ operations and routes, A means to collect regulatory data on operations, including Hours of Service compliance, speed, etc.

5. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 5 FHWA’s FREIGHT PERFORMANCE MEASURE PROGRAM Global Connectivity Strategic Objective "Facilitate a more efficient domestic and global transportation system that enables economic growth and development“ Develop baseline indices and performance measures for truck travel on the interstate system and border crossing time and delay Provide data and analytical tools to support operations research of truck traffic delays along freight significant corridors and at border crossing Understand the difference between Freight PMs and general PMs Assist States and MPOs with freight planning tools

6. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 6 Global Connectivity Desired Outcomes  Reduced barriers to trade in transportation goods and services  More efficient movement of cargo throughout the supply chain Goals  To reduce travel time in key highway freight corridors.  To reduce delays of commercial vehicles processed at National Highway System border crossings Measures (Tentative)  Travel Rate and Buffer Time on Freight Significant Highways  Border Crossing Time

7. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 7 Cooperative FPM Research Team Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Freight Management American Transportation Research Institute (formerly ATA Foundation) Technology Vendors University of Minnesota ITS Institute

8. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 8 Accomplishments to Date…. Travel Time on Significant Corridors Identification of Freight Significant Corridors I10, I70, I65, I45 and I5 Review of Data Collection Technologies System Alpha Test System Beta Test Border Crossing Time Conducted initial meeting with various stakeholders (Ambassador and Pacific Highway complete, Peace Bridge schedule for end of October) Collaboration with TC on their Border Wait-time Study

9. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 9 Step 1: Identification of Freight- Significant Corridors Multi-System Process Used to Identify Primary Freight Corridors:  Freight Analysis Framework  Industry Surveys & Website Solicitations  Technology Vendor Databases Information Cross-Factored to Generate 50- Corridor Corridor Compendium

10. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 10 Step 2: Developing Appropriate Freight Performance Measures a)Analysis of CVO Operational Issues - Delivery/Transit Times - Down Times - Routing/Dispatching Impediments b)Understanding Transportation Planning Objectives - Performance Measures - Bottlenecks & Impediments - Data Collection - Modeling & Calibration - TIPs, STIPs, & Policy Plan

11. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 11 Step 2: Developing Appropriate Freight Performance Measures Continued Tracking Changes in Travel TIMES & SPEEDS by LOCATION Can Provide: Identification of General Bottlenecks & Impediments Corridor Flows Longitudinal Changes by Corridor (seasonal, monthly, daily) Model Calibration Data

12. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 12 Step 3: Selecting an Optimal Tracking System Technologies Considered: Satellite-Based Systems Terrestrial Wireless Systems Hybrid Systems On-Board Systems Fixed-Site Systems

13. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 13 Alpha Test Tasks & Results Sophisticated Carrier ID Cleansing System developed for private sector Data Privacy issues Special Truck Tool software developed to “relate” truck data to US DOT maps Time and Speed extremes purged (one standard deviation to eliminate stopped trucks and speed errors) Alpha test successfully tracked speeds by corridor locations (manual calculations)

14. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 14 Beta Test Development Truck Tool reconfigured and automated Developed “virtual mile markers” software to accommodate missing points on maps Ran real-time data through system Truck travel data “automatically” converted into travel times and speeds by location

15. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 15 Beta Test Results Real-time location and travel data can be “automatically” converted into travel times and speeds by location Micro-deviations in speeds can be used to identify bottlenecks and system impediments FPM system can typically differentiate temporal bottlenecks from infrastructure bottlenecks

16. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 16 Infrastructure Versus Temporal Bottlenecks Infrastructure Bottleneck –  Basis – Weigh Station on I-5 between Los Angeles and San Diego.  Test Showed a temporal drop in segment traffic along corridor. Temporal Bottleneck  Intersection of I-5 and I-10 in Los Angeles  Differences in Peak and Non Peak travel times were documented

17. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 17 Beta Test Recommendations and Areas of Additional Study FPM system could benefit from more robust data collection  Integrate different data types & technologies or increase trucking “polling” points Visualization mapping software needs improvement FPM system requires improvements in GIS data sets; digital mapping of corridors (and mile-markers) would allow for corridor customization

18. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 18 Key Border Challenges – Some key border crossing points are seriously congested and transit times and the associated transportation costs are high. Physical infrastructure (transportation and other) at some border crossings require upgrading Clearance and Inspection procedures change and vary Localized data collection systems differ dramatically

19. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 19 What We Heard at the Border – Greater Frequency of Truck Position Data Collection Current Data and Integration of Other Types of Data Time Frame for a Useable Product Factoring in elements outside the control of transportation system  Staff  Brokers

20. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 20 Next Steps Expand corridors from 5 to 25 Expand project input to include more MPOs & State DOTs Develop and test Buffer Index Work with international stakeholders (including Transport Canada) to develop Border Crossing Performance Measures Negotiate data sharing agreements Align freight performance measures with DOT/FHWA performance measurement approaches

21. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 21 Key Take-Aways Need the Input of Groups like TBWG on:  Who are the correct audiences to discuss the project/program and its applications?  Any related studies on travel time, GIS, truck speeds?  Are other agencies using border measures?  What are the correct border measures to incorporate – per 1000 trucks, per day, hour etc.?  How can we involve your organization

22. Federal Highway Administration Office of Freight Management and Operations 22 Conclusions… FPM PROGRAM/PROJECT WILL PROVIDE… baseline freight performance measures that accurately reflect what we accomplishing, in quantitative terms, right now, at the present time YOUR INPUT AND INPUT FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR WILL PROVIDE… measurable, time-based targets that explicitly stipulates, also in quantitative terms, what measure of performance we expect

23. FHWA Office of Freight Management and Operations, USDOT “The success and growth in every business activity is dependent upon how an organization utilizes its critical data” Anonymous http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight Crystal Jones 202-366-2976 Crystal.Jones@fhwa.dot.gov