Developing and Implementing Statewide Operations Performance Measures in the State of Oregon: Methodology and Application for Using HERS-ST and Archived Real-time Data

Many state or regional transportation agencies have an interest in implementing operations performance measures. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) recently sponsored research performed by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) to identify performance measures that are sensitive to operational treatments and to test a methodology for quantifying these measures statewide. Operations performance measures will help ODOT in the identification of transportation needs related to operations programs and to evaluate benefits of operations programs. The methodology, which uses Highway Economic Requirements System?State Version (HERS-ST) and archived real-time data (when available), was successfully tested on several corridors. It provides the flexibility of incorporating different operational treatments that reduce travel delay. It also allows for adjusting the delay reduction percentages for a given operational treatment to reflect local conditions if studies are available for a specific corridor(s). This paper describes the work performed by TTI and ODOT to develop the measures, test the methodology on case study corridors and suggest additional analysis and data enhancements to improve the methods prior to statewide implementation. This research effort identified numerous data elements that could be further analyzed with sensitivity analysis, inventoried, calibrated, and/or quality controlled to fine-tune the methodology output. Updates to HERS-ST that would enhance the methodology are also discussed. The experiences documented in this research will prove valuable to any state DOT or regional transportation agency that is investigating statewide or regional implementation of operations performance measures. In particular, the research identifies issues with typical traffic data sources and what may be necessary to update them for use in a statewide methodology such as the one presented here. Necessary sensitivity analyses are also identified.