Measuring Progress
The formulation of goals and objectives determines what direction planning efforts should take.
Measuring Progress
The Champaign Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study (CUUATS) staff, in conjunction with the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) Steering Committee, developed goals with related objectives and performance measures to reflect the long range transportation vision for 2045 and provide direction for the plan’s implementation. The five overarching long-term goals are safety, multimodal connectivity, equity, economy, and environment. These goals and their objectives are based on a combination of the Federal transportation goals, State of Illinois transportation goals, local knowledge, current local planning efforts, and input received from the public. Additionally, short-term objectives and performance measures translate the long range vision for 2045 into short term action. CUUATS staff uses the SMART (specific, measurable, agreed, realistic, and timebound) acronym to guide the objective development process.
• Goals are defined as an end state that will be brought about by implementing the plan.
• Objectives are sub-goals that help organize the plan implementation into manageable parts.
• Performance Measures are metrics used to help agencies track the progress toward each objective over time.
• Strategies are ideas or guiding principles to help agencies reach the stated goals and objectives.
Annual LRTP Report Card
Each year CUUATS staff updates the Annual LRTP Report Card to measure and document the progress made toward the current LRTP’s short-term objectives using the performance measures. The Annual LRTP Report Card helps provide transparency and continuity between five-year LRTP updates by identifying opportunities and barriers to achieving LRTP goals and objectives. Each objective’s performance measure (or measures) are assigned a good, neutral, or negative rating depending on the circumstances and data trend of each measure. The Report Card is reviewed by the CUUATS Technical Policy Committees each year and is available online for local agencies and members of the public.
The Annual LRTP 2045 Report Card tracks the performance measures in the LRTP 2045 for the active years of the plan, 2020 to 2024, with 2020 as the base year. The Annual LRTP 2040 Report Card tracks the performance measures in the LRTP 2040 for the years 2015 through 2019, with 2015 as the base year.
In addition to helping the metropolitan planning area refine its vision, the LRTP 2045 has been updated in accordance with federal requirements. In May 2016, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) jointly issued the final rule on Statewide and Nonmetropolitan Transportation Planning and Metropolitan Transportation Planning, implementing changes to the planning processes that had been established by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP21) and the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act). These changes established 23 performance measures intended to ensure effective investment of federal transportation funds. The federal measures include five safety measures which are reflected in the LRTP 2045 safety measures, as well as six infrastructure, three system performance, and nine transit asset conditions measures. These additional measures are reflected in CUUATS Annual Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and are also documented in this plan in the System Performance Report. The System Performance Report includes an evaluation of system performance with respect to each performance target.
Safety: To achieve a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads.
Infrastructure Condition: To maintain the highway infrastructure asset system in a state of good repair.
Congestion Reduction: To achieve a significant reduction in congestion on the National Highway System.
System Reliability: To improve the efficiency of the surface transportation system.
Freight Movement and Economic Vitality: To improve the National Highway Freight Network, strengthen the ability of rural communities to access national and international trade markets, and support regional economic development.
Environmental Sustainability: To enhance the performance of the transportation system while protecting and enhancing the natural environment.
Reduced Project Delivery Delays: To reduce project costs, promote jobs and the economy, and expedite the movement of people and goods by accelerating project completion through eliminating delays in the project development and delivery process, including reducing regulatory burdens and improving agencies' work practices.
Source: United States Code, 23 U.S.C. 150(b)
Economy: Improve Illinois’ economy by providing transportation infrastructure that supports the efficient movement of people and goods.
Access: Support all modes of transportation to improve accessibility and safety by improving connections between all modes of transportation.
Livability: Enhance quality of life across the state by ensuring that transportation investments advance local goals, provide multimodal options and preserve the environment.
Stewardship: Safeguard existing funding the increase revenues to support system maintenance, modernization and strategic growth of Illinois’ transportation system.
Resilience: Proactively assess, plan, and invest in the state’s transportation system to ensure that our infrastructure is prepared to sustain and recover from extreme weather events and other disruptions.
Source: Illinois Department of Transportation, Long Range Transportation Plan, 2019
Safety: The metropolitan planning area will maintain, preserve, and operate its existing transportation system to provide safe, efficient, and reliable movement of people, goods, and services in the short term, and in the long term, achieve the state’s goal of zero deaths and disabling injuries.
Multimodal Connectivity: The Champaign-Urbana area will increase accessibility, connectivity, and mobility of people and freight to all areas of the region by maintaining a multimodal system of transportation that is cost-effective for people, businesses, and institutions and will allow freedom of choice in all modes of transportation including active modes whenever possible.
Equity: The metropolitan planning area will aim to provide safe, affordable, and efficient transportation choices to all people to support a high quality of life in every part of the community.
Economy: The metropolitan planning area will maximize the efficiency of the local transportation network for area employers, employees, materials, products, and clients at the local, regional, national, and global levels and facilitate strong inter-regional collaborations to realize large-scale transportation improvements.
Environment: The metropolitan planning area will reduce the transportation system’s significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation to maintain a high quality of human and environmental health in the region.