FHWA > Policy > Office of Highway Policy Information > HSS > Presentations

Uses of State Highway Data in the FHWA Office of Legislation and Strategic Planning

Highway Information Seminar - November 17, 2004

Ross Crichton Team Leader, Highway Needs & Investment Analysis, Office of Legislation and Strategic Planning

Primary HPLS Uses of State Data

• Apportionments Analysis
• Conditions and Performance Report

Apportionments Analysis - Background and Purpose

• Background: Established as a means to facilitate the coordination of technical assistance requests and provide responses to Congress and senior FHWA leadership on the potential implications of legislative proposals under consideration in a timely manner
• Purpose: To respond to requests for technical assistance involving the computation of State-by-State apportionments based on various alternative programs and formula factors stemming from the evaluation of proposed legislative changes

Apportionment Analysis - Legislation: Current & Proposed

• Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), FY 1998 - FY 2003
• Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2004 (SAFETEA - S.1072), FY 2004 - FY 2009
• Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century - A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU - H.R.3550), FY 2004 - FY 2009
• Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2004 - Part V (STEA04-Part V), 10/1/04 through 05/31/05

Apportionment Analysis. Factors Derived from HPMS: Lane Miles

Existing:

• Interstate System Lane Miles
• Lane Miles of Other Principal Arterials
• Lane Miles of Federal-aid Highways

Proposed:

• Lane Miles of rural minor collectors and rural local roads

Apportionment Analysis. - Other Factors Derived from HPMS

Existing:

• Vehicle Miles Traveled on the Interstates
• VMT on other Principal Arterials
• VMT on Federal-aid Highways

Proposed:

• VMT on all public roads
• Number of NHS Miles

Apportionment Analysis. - Apportionment Factors Derived from 551M

• Highway Account Contributions, i.e. STP, Minimum Guarantee, etc.
• Diesel Fuel Usage, i.e. the Interstate Maintenance program
• Commercial Vehicle, Contributions i.e. the NHS program

Apportionment Analysis - Lessons Learned from 1058 Analyses

• Lots of creative ideas for formulas
• Everyone cares a lot about how much each State gets under any scenario.
• Program formulas interact with Equity Programs (Minimum Guarantee, Equity Bonus, etc.) in ways that are hard to predict.

Apportionment Analysis. - Importance of Data Accuracy

• Accuracy in collection and reporting both HPMS and motor-fuel data is critical
• Inaccuracy may not affect your State's apportionments in a given situation but may significantly impact the apportionments of other States

Conditions and Performance Report - Background and Purpose

• Official Title: Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges and Transit: Conditions and Performance Report to Congress
• Required by TEA-21 and earlier statutes
• Purpose: To provide Congress and other decision makers with an objective appraisal of highway, bridge and transit conditions, performance, finance and future investment requirements

Conditions and Performance - Report.Report Perspectives

Retrospective:

• Description of the current system
• Recent trends

Prospective:

• Future needs
• Performance projections

Both perspectives draw heavily on HPMS and FHWA-500 series data.

Conditions and Performance Report.Retrospective: Uses of HPMS Data

• System Characteristics
• Physical Condition
• Operational Performance

Conditions and Performance Report.Retrospective: Use of FHWA-500 Series Data

Finance:

• Income and Expenditure Data
• Capital and Maintenance
• Funding Sources

Conditions and Performance Report.- Future Investment Requirements Scenarios

• Cost to Improve Highways and Bridges: Cost to implement all cost beneficial improvements - $106.9 billion
• Cost to Maintain Highways and Bridges: Cost to maintain average highway user costs at current levels - $75.9 billion
• Scenarios presented as average annual constant dollar estimates over 20 years

Conditions and Performance Report.Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS)

• Used to estimate investment requirements for pavement preservation and system expansion
• Potential improvements evaluated on the basis of savings in user costs, agency maintenance costs, and emissions costs

Conditions and Performance Report.Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS)

HERS uses HPMS Sample Data as primary input source:

• Current section characteristics
• Future AADT
• Widening feasibility

Data are used to model key condition and performance measures:

• Pavement condition
• Alignment adequacy
• Congestion and delay

Conditions and Performance Report - Sources of Other Investment Estimates

Bridge Preservation:

• Modeled using the National Bridge Investment Analysis System (NBIAS) based on National Bridge Inventory (NBI) data

Non-modeled capital investment:

• System enhancements improvements
• Improvements on lower functional systems

Conditions and Performance Report.- Uses of the C&P Report

Statistical reference:

• Information source for policy makers
• Legislative development: 1) Original $375 billion six-year funding level in House bill was derived by committee staff based on Cost to Improve scenarios in 2002 C&P Report, 2) $375 billion figure is not actually found in report: (i.e. Report does not assign responsibility for future investment requirements to different levels of government, and Investment analyses in report are 20 year averages)

Our goal in the Office of Legislation and Strategic Planning is to efficiently provide accurate and timely information to Congress and FHWA leadership.

Your data helps to make that possible.

Thanks, and keep up the good work!