Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Performance Measures

State DOTs Brazenly Request a Blank Check to Build More Highways

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 30, 2013 | 38 Comments

“This is a money and power grab.” “It’s very disappointing and very AASHTO.” That’s how some transportation reformers are describing the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ new recommendations for the next surface transportation bill. The current bill, MAP-21, expires in less than a year. AASHTO’s proposal is “so mired in protective technical-speak that […]

The Dangerous Myth That States Give More Than They Get For Transpo

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 22, 2013 | 4 Comments

There is a pernicious myth among some states that they give more to Washington in the form of gas taxes than they get back in the form of federal transportation funding. A recent rash of federal bailouts — $35 billion between September 2008 and March 2010 — ensured a windfall for every state in the […]

U.S. DOT Still Has Time to Get MAP-21 Performance Measures Right

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 11, 2013

Many transportation reform advocates were disappointed in the performance measures included in MAP-21, which was signed into law in July 2012. They weren’t tied to funding, they gave states and localities too much leeway to set their own performance targets, and they measured the wrong things. But there’s still a chance for them to get […]

Why Are State DOTs So Afraid of Accountability?

By Deron Lovaas | Sep 13, 2013 | 7 Comments

Deron Lovaas is the federal transportation policy director for NRDC. A version of this article appeared on his blog this morning. In this era of constrained resources, the country must move toward performance-based management and accountability for results in all sectors — including transportation. It’s a Culture of Consequences, in the words of the RAND […]

Moving People or Moving Vehicles: How Should We Grade America’s Streets?

By Darren Flusche | Nov 27, 2012 | 7 Comments

Darren Flusche is the policy director of the League of American Bicyclists. Should the performance of this road… …be measured like this one? Under the new federal transportation bill, known as MAP-21, the performance of these two roads could be measured the same way — even though one is a bustling business district, and the other is […]

UPDATE: Here’s Your Chance to Influence MAP-21’s Implementation

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 17, 2012 | 1 Comment

UPDATE 9/18 with comments from DOT officials. In July, Congress handed U.S. DOT a transportation bill with a lot of holes in it, especially relating to performance measures. We’ve reported on some of the more significant holes, and suggested some ideas on how to fill them. But there’s much more to say – and U.S. […]

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