Performance Management

Pursuant to the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and carried through into the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) must employ a transportation performance management approach in carrying out their federally required planning and programming activities. In accordance with this requirement, the Capital Region Transportation Council has agreed to plan and program projects that contribute toward the accomplishment of the State DOT targets for the categories below. For more information on the specific targets for each performance area please use the dropdown menus below and see the New Visions 2050 System Performance Report and Transportation Improvement Program for more information on how the Transportation Council supports these targets through planning activities and project programming.

On March 15, 2016, FHWA published the final rule for the HSIP and Safety Performance Management (Safety PM) Measures in the Federal Register with an effective date of April 14, 2016. This rule requires States to set annual targets for five safety performance measures. The Capital Region Transportation Council may establish safety targets by agreeing to plan and program projects that contribute towards the accomplishment of the New Yor State targets, or establish its own targets within 180 days of the State establishing and reporting its safety targets.

The Capital Region Transportation Council agreed to support the NYSDOT statewide 2024 targets for the following Safety Performance Measures based on five-year rolling averaged per Title 23 Part 490.207 of the Code of Federal Regulations on December 7, 2023, Via Resolution #23-10.

Safety Performance Measures 2024 Target
1. Number of Fatalities* 1,016.1
2. Rate of Fatalities (Fatalities/100 M VMT)* 0.886
3. Number of Serious Injuries* 11,089.9
4. Rate of Serious Injuries (Serious Injuries/100 M VMT) 9.606
5. Number of Non-motorized Fatalities and Non-motorized Serious Injuries 2,628.4

* Must be identical to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Highway Safety Plan targets set annually by the Governors Traffic Safety Committee (GTSC).

On January 18, 2017, FHWA published the Pavement and Bridge Condition Performance Measures Final Rule in the Federal Register. This second FHWA performance measure rule, which has an effective date of May 20, 2017 (originally February 17, 2017), established six performance measures to assess pavement conditions and bridge conditions for the National Highway Performance Program (NHPP).

The pavement condition measures represent the percentage of lane-miles on the Interstate and non-Interstate National Highway System (NHS) that are in good or poor condition. FHWA established five pavement condition metrics7: International Roughness Index (IRI); cracking percent; rutting; faulting; and Present Serviceability Rating (PSR). FHWA set a threshold for each metric to establish good, fair, or poor condition. Each section of pavement is classified as being in good condition or poor condition based upon the ratings of the metrics applicable to that pavement type. Pavement sections that are not in good or poor condition are classified as fair

NYSDOT established the statewide pavement condition performance targets in the table below on December 16, 2022. The Transportation Council agreed to support the NYSDOT statewide targets on June 1, 2023, via Resolution #23-4.

Federal Pavement Measures 2021 Baseline 2023 Target 2025 Target
1. Interstate NHS % Good 45.3% 53.2% 54.3%
2. Interstate NHS % Poor 1.1% 1.4% 1.7%
3. Non-Interstate NHS % Good 18.9% 22.3% 20.7%
4. Non-Interstate NHS % Poor 7.6% 9.3% 10.9%

On January 18, 2017, FHWA published the Pavement and Bridge Condition Performance Measures Final Rule in the Federal Register. This second FHWA performance measure rule, which has an effective date of May 20, 2017 (originally February 17, 2017), established six performance measures to assess pavement conditions and bridge conditions for the National Highway Performance Program (NHPP).

The bridge condition measures represent the percentage of bridges, by deck area, on the NHS that are in good condition or poor condition. The condition of each bridge is evaluated by assessing four bridge components: deck, superstructure, substructure, and culverts. The Final Rule created a metric rating threshold for each component to establish good, fair, or poor condition. If the lowest rating of the four metrics is greater than or equal to seven, the structure is classified as good. If the lowest rating is less than or equal to four, the structure is classified as poor. If the lowest rating is five or six, it is classified as fair.

NYSDOT established the statewide bridge condition performance targets in the table below on December 16, 2022. The Transportation Council agreed to support the NYSDOT statewide targets on June 1, 2023, via Resolution #23-5.

Bridge Performance Measures 2021 Baseline 2023 Target 2025 Target
% of NHS Bridges in Good Condition 25.3% 24.1% 21.1%
% of NHS Bridges in Poor Condition 11.3% 12.5% 12.8%

On January 18, 2017, FHWA published the system performance, freight, and CMAQ Performance Measures Final Rule in the Federal Register. This third and final FHWA performance measure rule, which has an effective date of May 20, 2017 (originally February 17, 2017), established six performance measures to assess the performance of the NHS, freight movement on the Interstate System, and traffic congestion and on-road mobile source emissions for the CMAQ Program.

The single freight movement performance measure represents the reliability of travel times for trucks on the Interstate system. FHWA established the Truck Travel Time Reliability (TTTR) Index, which is defined as the ratio of longer truck travel times (95th percentile) to a normal truck travel time (50th percentile). The TTTR Index is calculated for each segment of the Interstate system over five time periods from all hours of each day (AM peak, midday, and PM peak on Mondays through Fridays, overnights for all days, and weekends). The highest TTTR Index value among the five time periods is multiplied by the length of the segment, and the sum of all length-weighted segments is then divided by the total length of Interstate to generate the TTTR Index.

NYSDOT established the statewide freight performance targets in the table below on December 16, 2022. The Transportation Council agreed to support the NYSDOT statewide targets on June 1, 2023 via Resolution #23-3.

Year Truck Travel Time Reliability Index Target (TTTR)
2021 (Baseline) 1.39
2023 Target 2.00
2025 Target 2.00

On January 18, 2017, FHWA published the system performance, freight, and CMAQ Performance Measures Final Rule in the Federal Register. This third and final FHWA performance measure rule, which has an effective date of May 20, 2017 (originally February 17, 2017), established six performance measures to assess the performance of the NHS, freight movement on the Interstate System, and traffic congestion and on-road mobile source emissions for the CMAQ Program.

There are two NHS performance measures that represent the reliability of travel times for all vehicles on the Interstate and non-Interstate NHS. FHWA established the Level of Travel Time Reliability (LOTTR) metric to calculate reliability on both the Interstate and nonInterstate NHS. LOTTR is defined as the ratio of longer travel times (80th percentile) to a normal travel time (50th percentile) during four time periods from the hours of 6 AM to 8 PM each day (AM peak, midday, and PM peak on Mondays through Fridays and weekends). The LOTTR ratio is calculated for each segment of applicable roadway. A segment is reliable if its LOTTR is less than 1.5 during all time periods. If one or more time periods has a LOTTR of 1.5 or above, that segment is unreliable. The measures are expressed as the percentage of person-miles traveled on the Interstate and non-Interstate NHS that are reliable.

NYSDOT established the statewide system performance targets in the table below on December 16, 2022. The Transportation Council agreed to support the NYSDOT statewide targets on June 1, 2023, via Resolution #23-2.

Measure LOTTR Interstate LOTTR Non-Interstate
2021 (Baseline) 81.6% 85.7%
2023 Target 75.0% 70.0%
2025 Target 75.0% 70.0%

On July 26, 2016, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published the final Transit Asset Management rule. This rule applies to all recipients and subrecipients of Federal transit funding that own, operate, or manage public transportation capital assets. The rule defines the term “state of good repair” (SGR), requires that public transportation providers develop and implement transit asset management (TAM) plans, and establishes performance measures for four transit asset categories: rolling stock, equipment, transit infrastructure, and facilities. The rule became effective on October 1, 2016.

Public transportation providers must establish TAM targets annually for the following fiscal year and report them to FTA. Each provider shares its targets with the MPO in which the provider’s projects and services are programmed in the MPO’s TIP. The MPO is required to establish its first set of TAM targets within 180 days of the date that public transportation provider established its first targets. After this, MPOs are not required to establish TAM targets each year after the transit provider establishes targets. Instead, MPOs must set updated TAM targets when the MPO updates its LRTP. When establishing transit asset management targets, the MPO can either agree to program projects that will support the transit provider targets or establish its own separate transit asset management targets for the MPO planning area. FTA defines two tiers of public transportation providers based on size parameters. Tier I providers are those that operate rail service or more than 100 vehicles in all fixed route modes, or more than 100 vehicles in one non-fixed route mode. Tier II providers are those that are a subrecipient of FTA 5311 funds, or a State or Indian Tribe, or have 100 or less vehicles across all fixed route modes or have 100 vehicles or less in one non-fixed route mode. Tier I providers must establish their own transit asset management targets, while Tier II providers have the option to establish their own targets or to participate in a group plan with other Tier II providers whereby targets are established by a plan sponsor for the entire group. A state DOT is typically the group TAM plan sponsor.

The Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA), a Tier I provider, is the only transit provider that operates in the Transportation Council planning area. The CDTA set the following transit asset management targets on April 13, 2018:

Rolling Stock Asset Class (Revenue Vehicles by Mode) Useful Life Benchmark (ULB) Category Quantity in FY2020 ULB (Years) Expected Useful Life (EUL) (Years) 2019 & 2020 Target FY2020 % Exceeding EUL
Bus - Articulated (60-foot) Articulated Bus 9 14 12 10% 0%
Bus - BRT Bus 15 14 12 10% 0%
Bus - Hybrid (30 foot) Bus 8 14 10 10% 100%
Bus - Hybrid (40 foot) Bus 64 14 12 10% 9%
Bus - Large Bus (30 foot) Bus 8 14 10 10% 100%
Bus - Large Bus (40 foot) Bus 134 14 12 10% 6%
Bus - Commuter (40-45 foot) Over-the-Road Bus 14 14 12 10% 36%
Bus - Medium Bus (26-29 foot) Cutaway Bus 2 10 7 10% 50%
Bus - Small Bus (20-25 foot) Minibus 30 10 5 10% 10%
Trolley Trolleybus 7 13 10 10% 14%
Equipment Asset Class (Non-Revenue Support & Service Vehicles) Useful Life Benchmark (ULB) Category Quantity in FY2020 ULB (Years) Expected Useful Life (EUL) (Years) 2019 & 2020 Target FY2020 % Exceeding EUL
Car / Van / SUV Automobile 25 8 5 20% 40%
Truck- (1) Light Duty Automobile 0 8 5 20% 0%
Truck- (2) Medium Duty Automobile 6 8 7 20% 100%
Truck - (3) Heavy Duty Automobile 4 8 10 20% 50%
Truck- (4) Heavy Heavy Duty Automobile 1 8 12 20% 100%
Service Truck (Non-Revenue) Automobile 1 8 NA 20% NA
Forklift (Non-Revenue) Automobile 6 8 NA 20% NA
Wheel Polisher NA 1 8 NA 20% NA
Facilities Asset Class (Maintenance & Administrative Facilities, Passenger Stations, and Parking Facilities) TERM Condition Assessment 2019 & 2020 Target % Exceeding TERM Scale 3.0
Albany Transportation Building (110 Watervliet Ave.) 4 20% 0%
Albany Planning & Marketing Building (85 Watervliet Ave.) 4 20% 0%
Troy Transportation Building 4 20% 0%
Schenectady Transportation Building 4 20% 0%
Rensselaer Rail Station 4 20% 0%
Saratoga Rail Station 4 20% 0%

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published a final Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) rule on July 19, 2018. Under this rulemaking, providers of public transportation systems that are a recipient or sub-recipient of FTA Urbanized Area Formula Grant Program funds under 49 U.S.C. Section 5307, or that operate a rail transit system that is subject to FTA’s State Safety Oversight Program, must develop and implement a PTASP based on a Safety Management Systems (SMS) approach. As it relates to this documentation, each PTASP must include performance targets based on the safety performance measures established in FTA’s National Public Transportation Safety Plan (NSP). Other elements of a PTASP include but are not limited to approval by the agency’s Accountable Executive and Board of Directors, designation of a Chief Safety Officer, documented processes of the agency’s SMS, an employee reporting program, and process and timeline for annual reviews and updates of the PTASP.

Providers subject to the rule must annually certify a PTASP, including targets for transit safety measures that cover fatalities, injuries, safety events, and system reliability. The date by which providers must first certify a PTASP and targets was initially July 20, 2020. However, FTA extended the deadline to July 20, 2021, to provide regulatory flexibility due to the operational challenges presented by the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Upon establishing transit safety targets, a public transportation provider must make the targets available to the MPO in which the provider’s projects and services are programmed in the MPO’s TIP. The MPO is required to establish its first set of transit safety targets within 180 days of the date that provider established its first targets. After this, MPOs are not required to establish transit safety targets each year after the transit provider establishes targets. Instead, MPOs must set updated targets when the MPO updates its LRTP. An MPO must reflect the transit safety targets in any LRTP and TIP updated on or after July 20, 2021. When establishing transit safety targets, the MPO can either agree to program projects that will support the transit provider targets or establish its own separate targets for the MPO planning area.

The following transit providers subject to the PTASP rule operate in the Transportation Council planning area: Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA). These provider(s) are responsible for developing a PTASP and establishing transit safety targets annually. The Capital District Transportation Authority set the following transit safety targets in June 2020:

Transit Mode Fatalities (Total) Fatalities (Rate) Injuries (Total)Injuries (Rate)Safety Events (Total)Safety Events (Rate)System Reliability
Bus 0 0 547.0496.317,000
Commuter Bus 0 0 2 6.9310.470,000
Demand Response (Paratransit) 0 0 3 2.732.746,000
Demand Response (Taxi) 0 0 10.710.70