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Conference on Performance Measures for Transportation and Livable Communities

SEPTEMBER 7-8, 2011 • AUSTIN, TEXAS

OPENING SESSION

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Presiding

KATHERINE F. TURNBULL, Texas Transportation Institute

	Conference Welcome and Overview KATHERINE F. TURNBULL, Texas Transportation Institute
	Livable Communities: The Critical Role of Performance Measures from Concept to Implementation ROBERT C. JOHNS, Associate Administrator and Director, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
	Federal Highway Administration Livability Initiative JIM THORNE, Federal Highway Administration

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Conference Welcome and Overview

KATHERINE F. TURNBULL, Texas Transportation Institute

Katie Turnbull, chair of the planning team, provided a welcome to conference participants. She highlighted the conference sponsor and co-sponsors and the background to the conference. She described the conference format, the anticipated follow-up activities, and the challenge to participants. Katie covered the following topics in her presentation.

• The conference is sponsored by the University Transportation Center for Mobility (UTCM) at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), which is a part of The Texas A&M University System. Conference co-sponsors include the Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) at the University of Minnesota, the Transportation Economics Center at TTI, and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies.
• Tara Ramani, conference coordinator, and the conference planning team were recognized and thanked. Other members of the team included Linda Cherrington, Suzie Edrington, and Shawn Turner all of TTI, and Gina Bass of CTS. Robin Kline from the Research and Innovation Technology Administration (RITA) was recognized and thanked for her support.
• The need for a conference on performance measures related to transportation and livable communities was one of the suggestions from the TRB, RITA, and UTC Transportation for Livable Communities Conference held in the fall of 2010. It also builds on the TRB Performance Measurement conferences. The most recent of these conferences was held in May 2011. A TRB Geographical Information System (GIS) and Livability and Sustainability Workshop was also held in May.
• The focus of this conference is to advance the discussion and use of performance measures with transportation and urban, suburban, and rural livable communities. Identifying further research needs, outreach activities, and professional capacity building opportunities represents an additional focus of the conference.
• The conference format includes general sessions and breakout sessions. The first two general sessions provide a federal perspective on livable communities and the Partnership for Sustainable Communities that involves the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U. S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). State Senator Kirk Watson, who also served as Mayor of Austin, is the Wednesday luncheon speaker. Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning will be spent in breakout sessions. The closing luncheon on Thursday features observations and open discussion. Optional walking and commuter rail/transit-oriented development (TOD) tours are offered Thursday afternoon.
• A total of 120 individuals pre-registered for the conference. Participants come from 22 states and the District of Columbia. Participants represent metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), state departments of transportation, transit agencies, universities, consultants, cities, private non-profit organizations, and other groups.
• The PowerPoint presentations from all the sessions will be posted within the next few weeks on the conference website. The conference proceedings will also be prepared and distributed to participants and posted on the website. Research problem statements may be prepared based on topics discussed in the sessions. Future conferences and other activities will also be organized.
• Challenges to conference participants are to learn something new, to take a new idea or new information back to work, and to meet new colleagues. Further challenges are to actively participate in the sessions, to interact with others, to provide thoughts and ideas, and to help with the next steps.

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Livable Communities: The Critical Role of Performance Measures from Concept to Implementation

ROBERT C. JOHNS, Associate Administrator and Director, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center

Slides [PDF , 1.8M]

Bob Johns provided an overview of performance measures and livable communities to help establish the context for the conference. He described the Volpe Center and the Partnership for Sustainable Communities involving the U.S. DOT, HUD, and the EPA. He described the connections between livable communities and performance measures, identified key challenges in using performance measures to enhance livable communities, and suggested areas for further research. Bob covered the following topics in his presentation.

• The purpose of the Volpe Center is to advance transportation innovation for the public good. The mission is to improve the nation's transportation system by serving as a center of excellence for informed decision making, anticipating emerging transportation issues, and advancing technical, operational, and institutional innovations. The four Volpe values focus on public service, innovative solutions, professional excellence, and collaboration and partnering. Some of the unique aspects of the Volpe Center include modal knowledge and experience, disciplinary breadth and depth, the federal role, and the entrepreneurial culture. The Volpe Center includes 578 federal employees representing a full spectrum of disciplines from engineering to physical and social sciences. The Center also supports more than 60 federal career interns and co-op students.
• The five U.S. DOT strategic goals address safety, the state of good repair, economic competitiveness, livable communities, and environmental sustainability. The Administration's Federal Performance Initiative is driving federal performance. President Barack Obama made the following statement on April 13, 2011, "If we believe the government can make a difference in people's lives, we have the obligation to prove it works – by making government smarter, leaner, and more effective."
• The HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities includes six principles of livability. The first principle is to provide more transportation choices to decrease household transportation costs, reduce dependence on oil, improve air quality, and promote public health. The second principle is to expand location- and energy-efficient housing choices. The third principle is to improve the economic competitiveness of neighborhoods by giving people reliable access to employment centers, educational opportunities, services, and other basic needs. The fourth principle is to target federal funding toward existing communities – through TOD development and place-based policies. The fifth principle is to align federal policies and funding to remove barriers to collaboration, leverage funding, and increase the effectiveness of programs. The sixth principle is to enhance the unique characteristics of all communities by investing in healthy, safe, and walkable neighborhoods, whether rural, urban, or suburban.
• The Volpe Center is involved in a number of livability and performance measure projects. Examples of projects conducted for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) include MPOs and healthy communities, scenario planning workshops, a white paper on performance-based planning, and a non-motorized pilot program. Projects for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) include the HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities and Transit @ the Table: Statewide Planning, Rural Transit, Livability. The Volpe Center conducts statewide and metro planning oversight for the FTA and FHWA. It was also involved with the Chicago MPO Go to 2040 transportation/land use vision plan and the Federal Lands Performance Measure Framework.
• The intersection between livable communities and performance measures is critical. A number of key concepts can be identified from the successful use of performance measures. Performance-based planning is a holistic, continuous approach. It includes broad long-range goals and measures appropriate to these goals. Performance data to analyze alternatives is essential. Applying measures throughout the planning process and using the measures to monitor and evaluate results is also important. A feedback loop to adjust the on-going planning process is also important.
• A goal is defined as a broad statement of what is to be accomplished. Performance measures are indicators that evaluate how well something is performing. Performance measures may be qualitative or quantitative. Output measures record the level of activity from plans, programs, and projects, such as hours and miles of transit, and tons of salt per mile of roadway. Outcome measures focus on how effectively policies, plans, and projects accomplish goals. Examples of outcome measures include injuries per million miles, carbon dioxide (CO2) per vehicle mile, and walk access to transit. Process measures address how well planning activities meet requirements, such as the effectiveness of public involvement, institutional collaboration, and fiscal constraint. Finally, targets translate goals into quantifiable, measurable, and realistic terms expressed in performance measures. Agencies commit to meet defined targets. Examples of targets include reducing road fatalities per capita by 10 percent in five years and reducing transportation-generated CO2 by 20 percent of 2005 levels by 2020.
• A number of challenges may be encountered with the development and use of performance measures with transportation and livable communities. These challenges include operational and flexible definitions of livability; integrating federal, state, regional, and local transportation and livability goals; and rural livability and the role of performance measures in rural areas. Other challenges are measuring health benefits, estimating community economic impacts, cross-sectoral integration or bringing all the elements together, and capacity building.
• A first challenge is defining a livable community. Clarity is critical to have an operational definition for each locality. Focusing on the issues and opportunities in each area is important. Flexibility is essential, as there is no one model approach for all areas. The definition must make sense to decision makers and the public. Exploring relationships between livability and sustainability may be appropriate, especially the economic, environment, and equity goals of sustainability. Possible research opportunities related to this challenge focus on examining communications, education, consensus building, and collaborative planning techniques.
• A second challenge is integrating federal, state, regional, and local goals. Policies, funding, and technical assistance provide the building blocks for goals. Examining the goals relevant to transportation decisions that advance livable communities is important, as is integrating and establishing supportive roles and decision-making processes. There may be a possible need to combine diverse and complex goals. A possible research opportunity related to this challenge is developing ease studies of effective integration of MPOs, state departments of transportation, transportation authorities, and other agencies.
• A third challenge is rural livability and performance measures. Elements to consider include the differences between urban and rural livability, the role transportation plays in rural livability, and how to reflect these items in goals and performance measures. Rural performance measures may need to focus on non-traditional approaches. The Island Explorer in Acadia and Ellsworth, ME provides an example of a transit system serving a national park and the gateway communities. It provides visitors with access to the park and residents with access to jobs, housing, and health care. Possible research opportunities associated with this challenge include examining the integration of transportation, health, and housing plans and programs and the role of performance measures on technical and institutional issues.
• Estimating the health impacts from transportation represents a fourth challenge. There is growing interest in health as a livability goal. There is a need to move beyond traditional related goals, such as improving safety and air quality. Examining the health benefits of increased physical activity from walking and biking, the access to health-related destinations, such as healthy food and medical care, and aging in place should be examined. Health is a key goal of the Congressional Non-Motorized Pilot Program. Possible research opportunities related to this challenge include developing standardized measures of walking and biking, developing tools to estimate health and economic benefits, and identifying best practices to incorporate within transportation planning and decisions.
• A fifth challenge is estimating community economic benefits. Economic development and jobs are key benefits of transportation investments. Examples of benefits include new employment and improved options for access to work and to training. Key issues to consider include the distribution of benefits and equity, the interaction of land use and transportation, and incorporating performance measures into the transportation planning process. Possible research opportunities related to this challenge include data and forecasting tools for meaningful performance measures, successful applications for decisions, and communication to citizens groups.
• Cross-sectoral integration represents a sixth challenge. The second challenge deals with vertical integration of planning by transportation agencies at the federal, state, regional, and local levels for livable communities. In contrast, the sixth challenge addresses the newer issue of horizontal integration across sectors, such as integrating transportation and land use, economic development, housing, and health. It brings a complex assortment of groups around the transportation table. These groups have different agendas, priorities, clients, regulations, financial resources, and technical processes. A key transition will be from recognizing relevance for livability to mainstreaming new considerations into transportation decisions. Performance measures can translate goals into agreed-upon outcomes and can be combined with traditional goals and measures in thes planning process. Examples include land use and transportation options and the housing plus transportation index. Possible research opportunities associated with this challenge include refining data and measures, and conducting case studies of technical and institutional integration.
• Capacity building represents a final challenge. This challenge focuses on training and capacity building across transportation, land use, economic development, housing, environment, and health sectors. The potential and limits of cross-training need to be examined. For example, do transportation planners also need to be public health, housing, and economic development experts. There are limits of direct expertise, requiring the need to rely on coordination and collaboration. A key role for performance measures is to provide technical resources to communicate, compare, and decide how to make a community more livable. Possible research opportunities associated with this challenge include exploring new core competencies for practitioners, potential inter-disciplinary training, and focused collaboration across sectors. Another research need is examining the use of performance measures with transportation and housing, economic development, health, and the environment.
• In conclusion, clarity of concepts is essential for livable communities and performance measurement. It is important to maintain flexibility as there is no absolute concept of a livable community. Performance measures are critical as a basis for decision making and transparent results. Performance measures must accommodate this flexibility. Data availability continues to be a key concern to match the range of livability goals. Capacity building between levels of government and sectors will be needed. An incremental approach to improve connections appears best. Best practices research on integrated, inter-disciplinary approaches would be of benefit. Providing examples of using performance measures at a regional scale and at a project level, highlighting cross-sectoral collaboration, would also be of benefit.

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Federal Highway Administration Livability Initiative

JIM THORNE, Federal Highway Administration

Slides [PDF , 2.4M]

Jim Thorne discussed FHWA's livability initiative. He described approaches to incorporating livability into the transportation planning process and FHWA guides and tools to assist in these activities. Jim covered the following topics in his presentation.

• The HUD-DOT-EPA Sustainable Communities Partnership focuses on improving access to affordable housing, providing more transportation options, and lowering transportation costs, while protecting the environment. It also encourages incorporating livability principles into federal programs and funding. The partnership is based on the premise that working together is the most effective way to achieve the nation's economic, social, and environmental goals.
• The partnership livability principles focus on transportation choices, equitable and affordable housing, economic competiveness, supporting existing communities, aligning federal policies, and valuing communities. For transportation agencies, these livability principles relate to considering all transportation modes and affordability, and serving people of all ages, incomes, races, and ethnicities. They also relate to improving access to work, services, and markets. Additionally, the principles support making government more efficient and responding to community vision and values.
• Recent federal legislation – including the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) included a number of transportation planning factors. Examples of these factors include supporting economic vitality, increasing safety, increasing security, and increasing accessibility and mobility. Other planning factors focus on protecting and enhancing the environment, enhancing connectivity across and between modes, promoting efficient system management and operation, and preserving the existing transportation system. The transportation planning factors are intended to protect and enhance the environment, promote energy conservation, improve the quality of life, and promote consistency between transportation improvements and state and local planned growth and economic development patterns.
• Livability in transportation can be defined as using the quality, location, and type of transportation facilities and services to help achieve broader community goals, such as access to good jobs, affordable housing, quality schools, and safe streets. A variety of terms may be used to describe the same general concepts. These terms include livability, sustainability, smart growth, walkable communities, new urbanism, healthy neighborhoods, active living, TOD, and complete streets.
• A number of elements for incorporating livability in the planning process can be identified. These elements include increasing public and decision maker understanding that land use and transportation are intertwined and helping regions develop a vision related to community growth and values. Developing goals, performance measures, and policies that address livability and quality of life are also important elements in the planning process. Better integration of land use and transportation planning is also key to livable communities. Other elements include active public involvement, multimodal planning, and interdisciplinary efforts. Considering safe, connected, multimodal roadway networks and context-sensitive solutions (CSS) in regional, and corridor project planning is also important. The process may also focus on plans, programs, and projects to support broader community goals. It is important to remember that options and approaches vary depending on the characteristics of the area and the vision of residents.
• The FHWA is undertaking a number of efforts to advance livability.  Examples of these activities include the FHWA Livability website, the Livability in Transportation Guidebook, and including the role of FHWA programs in the Livability Report.  The FHWA has sponsored five regional workshops co-sponsored by the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Peer Exchanges on Rural Livability.  An Environmental Justice in Transportation: Emerging Trends and Best Practices Guidebook has been developed.  The Sustainable Communities Division Office Network provides ongoing support.  The FHWA Livability website is www.fhwa.dot.gov/livability and the Partnership website is www.sustainablecommunities.gov.
• The Livability in Transportation Guidebook provides planning approaches that promote livability. The report highlights projects, visioning activities, planning and process efforts, and policy development. It also highlights developing partnerships, design elements, and implementation and funding considerations. It includes urban and rural case studies and strategies that facilitate revitalizing rural small towns, better connecting downtowns with neighborhoods, and completing street networks. The case studies also address supporting compact, mixed-use development, maximizing the efficiency of existing transportation infrastructure, mitigating impacts of climate change, and preserving natural and cultural resources.
• The role of FHWA Programs in Livability: State of the Practice Summary highlights implementation of the livability principles within the context of the federal-aid highway program. It describes highway projects and programs, safety projects and programs, bicycle and pedestrian programs, management and operations, and freight projects and programs. It also presents strategies for implementing livability in multimodal corridors and system planning, and programmatic support and technical assistance. It describes processes, performance measures, and tools.
• The FHWA Land Use Tool Kit, the Transportation Planning for Sustainability Guidebook, and the FHWA Scenario Planning Guidebook are available at www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/landuse/.  The summary of the peer exchanges on “Effective Practices in Planning for Livable communities at Metropolitan Planning Organizations” is available at http://www.planning.dot.gov.  Topics addressed in the peer exchange included transportation and land use integration, the transportation planning process, and programming and project prioritization.  Other topics addressed included funding, project implementation, program evaluation and performance measures, and partnerships and outreach.
• The FHWA also has a number of activities underway to advance livability. These include livability in transportation webinars, creating a livable communities report, and developing livability fact sheets. A primer on the Role of Management and Operations in Supporting Livability and Sustainability and a Desk Reference for Integrating Demand Management into the Transportation Planning Process are being finalized. Livability Performance Measures and a Sustainable Highways Tool are also being developed.
• The new FHWA publication, Role of Management and Operation Strategies in Supporting Livability and Sustainability is available at http://plan4operations.dot.gov/. It describes how management and operation strategies can help improve existing transportation systems interface with communities. It addresses traffic incident management, traffic signal coordination, transit signal priority and bus rapid transit, and freight management. Other topics include work zone management, special event management, road weather management, congestion pricing, managed lanes, and ridesharing programs and demand management programs. Parking management, electronic toll collection and transit smartcards, and traveler information are also addressed.
• The livability performance measures project is developing and defining performance measures appropriate to creating, developing, and enhancing livable communities. It focuses on making the adoption and tracking of livability performance measures easier by distilling current practice, knowledge, and research into a resource that will guide users through the process. The project will produce a handbook to help transportation agencies incorporate performance measures related to livability.
• Examples of next steps in developing methods for gauging livability include researching the literature and best practices of measuring livability. Interviews with members of the academic community, state departments of transportation, and MPOs are being used to obtain information on rural, suburban, and urban examples. A draft livability performance measures handbook is being developed. An expert panel peer exchange will be convened to assess the proposed performance measures and a beta test will be conducted to engage a broader cross section of practitioners in the effort. The results of these activities will be used to create an electronic "how to book" on livability performance measures. Outreach workshops will be held to help promote the wide-spread use of the guidebook.
• The sustainable highways tool is a self-evaluation tool to measure sustainability over the life cycle of a transportation project. It includes a collection of best practices. The web-based tool is based on the triple bottom line of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. A pilot test version is available at www.sustainablehighways.org.

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