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Conditions and Performance Report. Chapter 4

Conditions and Performance Report
Chapter 4—Operational Performance

Conditions and Performance Chapter Listing

Conditions and Performance Home Page


Introduction

Summary


Highway Operational Performance

Transit Operational Performance

 

Introduction

This chapter describes operational performance of the highway and transit infrastructure. Operational performance reflects the quality of service provided by transportation systems. It shows how well each system accommodates travel demand.

The chapter begins with a Summary section highlighting the key highway and transit statistics discussed later in this chapter, and comparing them with the values from the last report. Where the 1995 data have been revised, this is reflected in the summary table.

The highway section of this chapter begins by briefly discussing the costs of congestion. It examines the impact of congestion on highway users and on the entire American economy. The section then describes how congestion, an easy concept to understand, is actually problematic to measure. Because there is no single indicator for congestion, Chapter 4 looks at three measures: daily delay; and Daily Vehicle-Miles Traveled per lane; and Volume Service Flow (V/SF).

The highway section concludes by examining statistics from the Texas Transportation Institute's annual report on urban roadway congestion. These provide a good snapshot of congestion problems in 70 metropolitan areas throughout the United States.

The transit section of this chapter describes how to measure transit operational performance. It describes characteristics from the National Transit Database and passenger survey information.

 

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Page last modified on November 7, 2014
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000