Performance Management is a systematic approach to making investment and strategic decisions using information about the condition and performance of the system and developing an approach to achieve a desired set of national goals.  The national performance goals are:

• Safety—To achieve a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads
• Infrastructure condition—To maintain the highway infrastructure asset system in a state of good repair
• Congestion reduction—To achieve a significant reduction in congestion on the NHS
• System reliability—To improve the efficiency of the surface transportation system
• Freight movement and economic vitality—To improve the national freight network, strengthen the ability of rural communities to access national and international trade markets, and support regional economic development
• Environmental sustainability—To enhance the performance of the transportation system while minimizing impacts to the natural environment
• Reduced project delivery delays—To reduce project costs, promote jobs and the economy, and expedite the movement of people and goods by accelerating project completion through eliminating delays in the project development and delivery process, including reducing regulatory burdens and improving agencies’ work practices

In addition to the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) national performance goals, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has also developed performance measures relating to the following themes:

• Transit Asset Management– To assist transit agencies with maintaining buses and rail systems in a State of Good Repair (SGR) and to preserve and expand transit investments
• Transit Safety– To prevent public transportation accidents by integrating safety into all aspects of a transit system’s activities

Federal requirements call for plan coordination related to performance measures for the following planning documents:  multimodal plans, safety plans, infrastructure condition plans/asset management plans, congestion and air quality plans, freight plans and transit safety and asset plans.  Locally, the transportation planning process will work with the respective states and transit systems to integrate the national goals and address them.  Locally appropriate performance measures can be developed by the MPO and used to monitor the metropolitan transportation system or the MPO can support the state and transit systems in their efforts.

The Quad Cities MPO has chosen to support state targets in Illinois and Iowa for safety, transportation assets and system performance, as well as support the Quad Cities public transit systems’ safety and transit assets performance targets.  These are summarized in the Connect QC 2050: Performance Measures Technical Report Addendum associated with the Quad Cities Long Range Transportation Plan.  In supporting the State DOT’  and transit system targets, the MPO utilizes it planning and programming processes to aid performance improvements partnering with the States, transit systems and local jurisdictions to plan, program and implement projects.    

For a safety example, a Community Awareness of Roadway Safety group meets monthly in Scott County to discuss traffic safety issues and hot spots.  Annually, a joint Iowa-Illinois traffic safety group is assembled to discuss metropolitan traffic safety issues.  These groups also are utilized for the monitoring of the Bi-State Region Intelligent Transportation System Architecture document that outlines the use of coordinated technology to resolve transportation operational issues.  Transit managers in the MPO meet quarterly to discuss issues of ridership, safety and state of good repair.

Bi-State Regional Commission offers technical assistance to its member governments through grant-writing and grant assistance where projects are seeking to resolve performance problems or alternatives to enhance transportation system performance.  As an example, an Iowa community may seek Iowa Clean Air Attainment (ICAAP) funds to synchronize traffic signals within a congested corridor, or an Illinois Safe Routes to Schools grant to improve pedestrian/bicycle safety at a school crossing.  Additionally, Bi-State staff have prepared a 2021 Quad Cities Traffic Safety Plan to highlight hot spots and crash patterns to aid in determining adequate solutions.  An update to this plan is under development to align with the Safe Streets for All national initiative to support Vision Zero and reduce fatal and serious injury crashes through traffic safety action plans.