FHWA moving strongly towards roadway performance metrics
The Federal Highway Administration has established 11 performance measures to determine its 2008 effectiveness in improving American highway transportation. Among them are several advocated by the Salt Institute, including a measure of the "percentage of time a roadway meets safety and capacity level of service (LOS) standards." This would be measured comparing roadway use to design capacity during and after winter weather events, adjusted for frequency and intensity of the events. A second important measure is the "reduction in user costs (i.e. delay, crashes, vehicle operating cots, emissions, salt damage)" attributable to winter maintenance operations. Other measures relate to the extent and effectiveness of technology transfer activities and the speed with which new technologies are put into operation.
