BACKGROUND 

Transportation professionals have numerous analytical tools to assess aspects of system performance. However, those tools do not bridge the critical linkages among agency values or illustrate relationships among multiple variables to adequately represent the state of transportation system health. The tools also do not reflect the evolution of what communities expect of transportation agencies. Agencies are now expected not only to deliver infrastructure assets for mobility but also to develop access-oriented approaches to enable community success. This is shown by the societal goals and foundational factors identified in Critical Issues in Transportation for 2024 and Beyond and by the vision and goals identified in NCHRP Research Results Digest 404: Collective and Individual Actions to Envision and Realize the Next Era of America’s Transportation Infrastructure: Phase 1. 

Additionally, the tools available to transportation agencies today are often limited by scalability and resource constraints, and their outputs are typically oriented toward technical users, such as asset managers. As a result, the insights provided by these tools are not easily communicated to agency leadership, elected officials, partner agencies, or the public—key stakeholders in decision-making processes. Research is needed to help agencies (1) create a process for defining transportation system health that reflects their values, needs, contexts, and characteristics, and (2) communicate with the public and elected officials about the state of their systems and needs. 

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this research is to develop a guide for defining, assessing, and monitoring multimodal transportation system health through a decision matrix. This matrix will allow transportation agencies to select opt in/opt out measures and components and apply variable weights to reflect their unique values, strategic priorities, and contextual factors.