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

1
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
• FHWA Office of Legislation and Strategic Planning

2
Primary HPLS Uses of State Data

• Apportionments Analysis
• Conditions and Performance Report

3
Apportionments AnalysisBackground 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

4
Apportionment AnalysisLegislation 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

5
Apportionment AnalysisFactors 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

6
Apportionment AnalysisOther 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

7
Apportionment AnalysisApportionment Factors
Derived from 551M

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

8
Apportionment AnalysisLessons 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.

9
Apportionment AnalysisImportance of Data Accuracy

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

10
Conditions and Performance ReportBackground and
Purpose

• Official Title Status of the Nations 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

11
Conditions and Performance ReportReport
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

12
Conditions and Performance ReportRetrospective
Uses of HPMS Data

• System Characteristics
• Physical Condition
• Operational Performance

13
Conditions and Performance ReportRetrospective
Use of FHWA-500 Series Data

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

14
Conditions and Performance ReportFuture
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

15
Conditions and Performance ReportHighway
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

16
Conditions and Performance ReportHighway
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

17
Conditions and Performance ReportSources 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

18
Conditions and Performance ReportUses of the CP
Report

• Statistical reference
• Information source for policy makers
• Legislative development
• Original 375 billion six-year funding level in
  House bill was derived by committee staff based
  on Cost to Improve scenarios in 2002 CP Report
• 375 billion figure is not actually found in
  report
• Report does not assign responsibility for future
  investment requirements to different levels of
  government
• Investment analyses in report are 20 year
  averages

19
Our goal in the Office of Legislation and
Strategic Planning is to efficiently provide
accurate and timely information to Congress and
FHWA leadership.
20
Your data helps to make that possible.
Thanks, and keep up the good work!