FHWA’s Office of Policy, Office of legislation and Strategic Planning

Conditions and Performance Report Analytical Tools

The Conditions and Performance (C&P) Report is intended to provide Congress and other decision makers with an objective appraisal of the physical conditions, operational performance, financing mechanisms, and future investment requirements of highways and bridges.  The report offers a comprehensive, factual background to support the development and evaluation of legislative, program, and budget options at all levels of government.  It also serves as a primary source of information for national and international news media, transportation associations, and industry.

The FHWA is required under 23 U.S.C. 502(g) to submit the C&P report to Congress on a biennial basis.  The 2006 edition of the report is due to be submitted by January 31, 2007.

The forecasts of future investment requirements found in the C&P report rely on analytical tools that have been expressly developed for this purpose. The two models, known as the Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS) and the National Bridge Investment Analysis System (NBIAS), use economic reasoning and engineering principles to design, evaluate, and select improvements to correct both current and future physical and operational deficiencies in the Nation’s highway and bridge infrastructure. The analyses are based on a 20-year forecast period, and results are reported as annual averages at the national level.

Since the C&P report is a policy document, the peer review to be conducted under this plan would not cover the report itself. Instead, the peer review will be applied to the models that are used to generate the investment requirements estimates found in the report. The FHWA has previously engaged in periodic reviews of the models to validate their procedures and to help guide the FHWA’s model development efforts.

Highly influential scientific information

Influential scientific information

The preliminary peer review plan is as follows:

1) The peer review will be conducted prior to the submission of the 2006 edition of the Conditions and Performance report.  The current target date for the review is Fall 2005.  The review will cover new analytical procedures that have been recently developed (or are currently in development), as well as providing input into the multi-year research roadmap for the C&P analytical tools.

2) The current plan is for the review to be conducted by a panel. However, letter reviews may be substituted should the resources for the panel review that are expected to be available not materialize.

3) The results of the peer reviews will be posted on the OST Web site planned for that purpose.  Updated versions of the models themselves will be available for use by any interested parties following the completion of each C&P cycle.

4) The FHWA does not anticipate there will be any relevant public comments for the peer reviewers prior to the commencement of the reviews. However, any such comments that might be received will be provided directly to the reviewers by the FHWA.

5)We intend to conduct separate panels for each of the models, and perhaps smaller sub panels for specific aspects of the models.  The panels are likely to consist of 4-10 members each.

6) The primary disciplines that will be needed for the peer review will be in economics; bridge, pavement, safety, and traffic engineering; and transportation modeling.  The precise mix of disciplines on any individual panel will depend on the particular analytical procedures that are to be reviewed.

7)The FHWA will hire a contractor to help plan and facilitate the reviews.  Peer reviewers will be selected by the FHWA, with input and suggestions from the contractor.

8) While the FHWA does not anticipate seeking nominations for peer reviewers from outside groups at this time, any such efforts would be through the relevant standing committees of the Transportation Research Board.

Name

Darren Timothy

E-mail:

Darren.timothy@fhwa.dot.gov

Phone:

(202) 366-4051