Performance measurement has grown in importance within transportation agencies due to decreased and stipulated funding and federal focus on system performance. A shift has occurred in how transportation planning and decision making historically took place including a rise in prominence of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). The public, state and local agencies, and other stakeholders are mutually served by the regional MPO to assure that transportation funding allocation and project selection meet the regional needs and coordinate the transportation planning process to provide a seamless transportation system. The recent Federal transportation funding program MAP-21 establishes performance measures for each MPO in coordination with the State department of transportation (DOT). Small MPOs, those which serve populations of less than 200,000 people, differ vastly from larger MPOs in the amount of funds available and authority to allocate funds as well as the resources that are available to perform a performance measurement program. Small MPOs often lack the resources to identify and use performance measures, even though performance measurement at the MPO level has promoted efficient decision-making in large MPOs. This research strives to find by interviews and surveys of the small Texas MPOs if the use of certain performance measures in small MPOs can be financially upheld with limited resources and budget. This thesis is timely in relation to the MAP-21 performance measurement requirements as it shows that performance measurement is, at this time, difficult to impossible based on small Texas MPOs’ very limited resources. Due to the estimated costs of basic performance measurement programs and the difficulty in quantifying the tangible benefits, the use of performance measurements in small Texas MPOs is unlikely. Small Texas MPOs listed potential performance measurement program benefits such as: project prioritization, funding allocation, and showing the public that professional planning is useful. It was found that any potential benefits of performance measurements are limited when dealing with small communities with fairly obvious transportation problems. The estimated cost of a basic performance measurement program in a small Texas MPO was determined to be around $150,000 per year. This cost exceeded both their abilities to fund a performance measurement program and the perceived benefits of such an effort. This research suggests the following performance measures are most likely to be beneficial when proven cost effective: V/C ratios, travel times, crash rates (safety) and VMT. These measures are often easily accessible and could be beneficial in the long-range planning of a local transportation system. However, fiscal and staffing limitations, along with realities of planning for a small community make the use of performance measures difficult. The results of this study can aid the Secretary of Transportation in understanding the limited technical capacities of small Texas MPOs in regards to performance measurement.

Transportation in the United States is responsible for a disproportionate amount of global greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. To address the issue, strategies that seek to mitigate transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and adapt transportation systems to the threats of a more inhospitable climate should be developed through the transportation planning process. The transportation plans and related documentation of 60 metropolitan planning organizations, 13 domestic cities, and 27 large international cities were reviewed to ascertain if climate change considerations are being incorporated into transportation planning. The review of transportation plans revealed that climate change considerations are often not incorporated into the planning process, especially in regard to adapting transportation systems to the effects of climate change due to the inherent uncertainties in climate data and risk analysis. On the other hand, greenhouse gas mitigation is more frequently included in the planning process, when compared to climate change adaptation, because the required data collection techniques and analysis tools are better developed and already in place within many planning organizations. This research has shown that there is much room for improvement in terms of including climate change into transportation planning through a variety of recommendations presented in the body of this thesis. Many of the identified mitigation and adaptation recommendations could be worked into existing transportation planning requirements, processes, and strategies at the metropolitan and local level. However, due to the influence by federal and state governments on the planning process, completely addressing climate change through transportation systems will require these high levels of government to redefine transportation regulations and planning requirements in addition to partnering with metropolitan planning organizations and local governments to develop more reliable climate data and increase its availability.