Performance-Based Planning and Programming

Performance-based planning and programming applies performance management principles to transportation system policy and investment decisions, providing a link between management and long-range decisions about policies and investments that an agency makes in its transportation system. Performance-based planning and programming is a system-level, data-driven process to identify strategies and investments. Long-range planning helps to define key goals and objectives and to analyze and evaluate strategies and scenarios for meeting goals. Connecting performance measures to goals and objectives through target setting provides a basis for understanding and sharing information with stakeholders and the public.

With the 2012 passage of the Federal surface transportation legislation, "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act" (MAP-21), performance-based planning has taken on even greater significance. MAP-21 calls for statewide and metropolitan planning processes to incorporate a more comprehensive performance-based approach to decisionmaking.

The objectives-driven, performance-based approach to planning for operations is an example of performance-based planning focused on one area: operations. The same processes and principles are used in both planning for operations and performance-based planning. The planning for operations approach falls under the larger planning activity of performance-based planning. By expanding the objectives-driven, performance-based approach for operations to other areas such as safety, asset management, freight, and others, a region or State can build a comprehensive performance-based planning process.