This report follows an earlier AASHTO report for the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission (the Commission) entitled State DOT Performance Management Programs: Select Examples, published in June 2007. It examined performance-based surface transportation program approaches currently being implemented at some of the state DOTs around the country. Building on that primer, this report describes the basic principles involved in applying performance measurement to the state budgeting and program delivery process, and profiles how 11 states have applied these principles to improve performance and accountability.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 666: Target Setting Methods and Data Management to Support Performance-Based Resource Allocation by Transportation Agencies - Volume I: Research Report, and Volume II: Guide for Target-Setting and Data Management provides a framework and specific guidance for setting performance targets and for ensuring that appropriate data are available to support performance-based decision-making. Volume III to this report was published separately in an electronic-only format as NCHRP Web-Only Document 154. Volume III includes case studies of organizations investigated in the research used to develop NCHRP Report 666.

This report from the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2), which is administered by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, provides recommendations regarding the various cultural, organizational, and legal considerations that can affect the successful implementation of performance specifications.

NCHRP Report 662 describes how selected transportation agencies have reduced the time required to complete the project delivery process. This process takes new or renewed transportation facilities and services from conception to completion, ready for users. Project delivery is a primary indicator of an agency's effectiveness. Individual highway and other transportation projects are developed under programs intended to implement agency and legislative initiatives and other public policy. The way programs are organized and managed can determine the speed and efficiency of project development. Accelerating program functions can speed up project delivery. This report describes the experiences of eight state departments of transportation (DOTs) that made improvements in their project delivery and the lessons to be learned from their experiences. The information will be useful to DOT managers seeking to ensure that their agencies' organization, policies, and program operations facilitate project delivery.

Preparing State Transportation Agencies for an Uncertain Energy Future /

This guidebook provides methods for integrating performance measures from individual transportation modes and multiple jurisdictions and for developing new measures, if needed, to monitor transportation network performance. These network performance measures can be used to improve system management, planning, and investment decisions and can be applied to various scenarios. The guidebook should be of immediate use to practitioners in state, regional, or local governments; specially designated authorities; or those in the private sector who are responsible for measuring, operating, and investing in the performance of multimodal and/or multijurisdictional transportation networks.

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 424: Engineering Economic Analysis Practices for Highway Investment explores how U.S. transportation agencies have applied engineering economics--benefit–cost analyses and similar procedures--to decisions on highway investments.