This report examines current practice on how to measure the efficiency of road administration, and suggests to have a well defined set of goals and objectives for the successful road projects and programmes. The report provides a standardised set of performance indicators which road administration could use to gauge themselves. It also deals with the uses and purposes of performance indicators, and data systems that can support development of measures. The study was started in 1995 by a Scientific Expert Group of the OECD Road Transport Research Programme with the objective of defining the minimum set of key road data that must be collected in order to evaluate the current status of road management from the point of view of all stakeholders. The Group identified and classified performance indicators into 8 categories (Accessibility and Mobility, Safety, Environment, Equity, Community, Programme Development, Programme Delivery, Programme Performance), with 3 perspectives (Government level, Road Administration level, Road User level). There are 40 primary indicators and 35 secondary indicators. Of the indicators, 16 are commonly used and identified as the minimum required for effective performance measurement. An International OECD Task Force has been established to carry out a field test using these 16 key indicators in order to test their practicality and operation. The report consists of seven chapters: Chapter I discussed issues and concepts involved in performance measurement. Chapter II reports on a survey of current practices in performance measurement in the road sector in the OECD countries. It continues with a literature review and develops a conceptual model of the road transport system which forms the basis of the suggested performance indicators. In Chapter III, a structure for the variety of performance indicators is developed to be consistent with the conceptual model and the broad aims of road administrations. In Chapter IV, the suggested indicators are discussed and justified in detail. Chapter V discusses data needs and data measurement. Chapter VI contains reflections and opinions on how performance indicators may be used in managing a road administration as well as auditing its performance. Chapter VI makes a concrete proposal for the field test of subset of 16 kwy indicators to learn more about their usage.
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