Relevance Found: Incorporating Outcomes in Transportation Planning

Abstract

Six critical trends (competition between government programs; increasing state and local competition for federal money; performance targets and partnerships; irrelevance of traditional needs studies; core component of existing goals and objectives; and fragmentation of interest groups and stakeholders) that suggest explicit measurement of outcomes in transportation planning and management activities are identified and discussed. Outcome measures reflect an agency’s success in meeting its stated goals and objectives; they typically relate the effect of agency activities and programs on people and the environment, as well as customer satisfaction. This broad, qualitative information is not provided by traditional output measures, which reflect the quantity of resources used, activities performed by an organization, and efficiency in converting resources to products. Output measures are very important for many management and planning activities, and can be used for assessing program outcomes. However, outcome measures are the best tool for assessing the effectiveness of transportation programs and funding decisions in meeting the broad goals frequently found in transportation plans. Examples are provided of how both transportation and nontransportation organizations are using outcome measures to directly address the six trends. Strategies used by the public and private sector to transition to outcome measurement are also highlighted.