Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program: A Guidebook for Preparing Performance Plans for Metropolitan Planning Organizations

Federal Highway Administration2018PDFTech ReportUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Natural EnvironmentFederal Highway Administration (U.S.)United StatesCity planningHandbooksPerformance measurementCongestion management systemsAir quality managementPrior to MAP\u201321, there were no explicit requirements for State departments of transportation (DOTs) to demonstrate how their transportation program supported national performance outcomes. State DOTs were not required to measure condition or performance, establish targets, and assess progress toward targets, nor report on condition or performance in a nationally consistent manner that FHWA could use to assess the entire system. Without State DOTs reporting on the above factors, it is difficult to examine the effectiveness of the Federal-aid Highway Program as a means to address surface transportation performance at a national level. Changes under MAP-21 and FAST have integrated performance into many Federal surface transportation programs and required the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) to establish a set of national measures on which State DOTs must report performance or condition.3For the purpose of carrying out the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program, MAP-21 required USDOT to establish measures for State DOTs to use to assess traffic congestion and on-road mobile source emissions.4 To meet this requirement, FHWA finalized three performance measures (two congestion measures and one on-road mobile source emission reduction measure) in the National Performance Management Measures - Assessing Performance of the National Highway System, Freight Movement on the Interstate System, and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program Final Rule5 (PM3 regulation). Two Subparts of 23 CFR part 490, promulgated through the PM3 regulation, establish the performance measures for the CMAQ Program required by MAP-21: Subpart G (Measures to Assess the CMAQ Program \u2013 Traffic Congestion) and Subpart H (Measure to Assess the CMAQ Program \u2013 On-road Mobile Source Emissions). Table 1 lists the CMAQ performance measures associated with the PM3 regulation.104