Compared to many of its international counterparts or the private sector, the U.S. government is noteworthy for the remarkable lack of goal-based criteria or performance measures in its infrastructure programs. Furthermore, we face an even more basic problem – our extremely poor data collection at the federal, state and municipal level makes it nearly impossible to determine if we are spending our infrastructure dollars wisely or even what we are spending. At the same time, without clear policy goals for infrastructure investment, it is difficult to set data-gathering priorities.
There is a growing consensus among transportation professionals, advocacy groups, academic and think tank experts and some members of Congress and their staffs that for the next surface transportation bill we should develop a strong, national performance goals and, just as importantly, figure out how to measure and implement them and provide adequate resources for that measurement.
But there are formidable institutional, cultural and political barriers that have prevented Congress and recent administrations from grappling with the difficult task of setting goal-based and meaningful performance criteria or tasking executive agencies to do so, and in implementing those goals so that they actually drive investment decisions.
This paper seeks to look at the current state of Congressional and executive agency understanding of data collection and performance criteria in our nation’s transportation systems and makes recommendations on ways to better inform and motivate Congressional staff and members and administration officials to better use these tools in their analysis and crafting of the next surface transportation bill. With major economic recovery legislation currently under debate, the question of how to ensure those funds can be spent wisely could not be more timely and important.
For additional information on the America 2050 project, visit the archived America 2050 website.