Overview
Congestion Report details trends and the current state of congestion and reliability on the National Highway System (NHS) in 52 of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States. This report also includes examples of agencies using the National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS) for performance reporting, as well as a few operational strategies and performance management approaches implemented by State and local transportation agencies in recent years. The report concludes with a brief discussion to familiarize readers with a tool developed through an American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)–led pooled-fund study to assist agencies with submitting and utilizing performance measures.
The NPMRDS includes actual, observed travel times on the NHS for freight and passenger vehicles, and is freely available for use by State departments of transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) for their performance management activities. The travel time data have been used to calculate congestion and reliability metrics for the FHWA Urban Congestion Report (UCR) for six years.