Visualization of Highway Performance Measures (2022) / Chapter Skim
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49 This chapter will discuss five case examples selected to provide a deeper dive into the visualization of performance measures. Case examples come from interviews with state DOT representatives and represent current practices from the DOTs listed in Table 4.
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50 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures Washington State DOT: Using Performance Journalism to Tell the Agency Story Washington State DOT has pioneered accomplishments in the visualization and communication of performance measures; some examples are shown in Figure 36. Nearly two decades ago, WSDOT faced a problem of credibility and accountability that was affecting the ability to attract the investment of necessary support and resources to accomplish desired goals as effectively as possible.
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Figure 36. Washington DOT visualization examples (Source: WSDOT)
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52 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures The initial culmination of WSDOT's efforts was the quarterly PDF publication of a document they titled the Gray Notebook. As of this writing, WSDOT has issued around 80 editions of the notebook.
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Simple Charts Bar charts were used in 83% of Appendix C visualizations. Pie charts were used in 29% of Appendix C visualizations.
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54 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures in serious injury or fatality to pre-pandemic rates (see Figure 39)
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Case Examples 55 along with a brief caption, does the job. A particularly impressive visualization created to communicate the performance of pavement maintenance incorporates the use of photographs into a larger infographic.
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56 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures Maps, as seen in Figure 41, are yet another visualization tool that WSDOT has found to be effective through the Gray Notebook. In addition to aerial photography, maps have been used to tell other stories of relative progress toward statewide environmental policy goals.
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Case Examples 57 they can be applied. Like any educational endeavor, over time, an increasing number of stakeholders are being exposed to the value and applicability of these tools.
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58 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures in total number of incidents, percent blocking, average incident clearing time, cost of incident induced delay, economic benefits of Incident Response, and percentage of change from the previous year of 2019. This visualization was able to present a very clear data story, in which the data showed the economic benefit of investment in the Incident Response Team program in terms of dollars and cents.
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Figure 43. Example of more complex visualization from dashboard (Source: WSDOT)
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Figure 44. Video example (Source: WSDOT)
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Case Examples 61 Figure 45. Generic dashboard structure.
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62 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures Figure 47. Executive summary begins dashboard (Source: WSDOT n.d.)
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Case Examples 63 Figure 48. Heat map detail from dashboard (Source: WSDOT)
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64 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures Virginia DOT: Dashboard Makes an Impact Virginia DOT has had success in using Power BI and SharePoint software to create visualization tools to communicate performance measures in transportation construction projects, safety, and road conditions to the general public. Internally, they have used the same tools to create a myriad of dashboards, as shown in Figure 49, capable of delivering visualizations of increasingly specified data tailored to the needs of individual divisions and agencies.
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Figure 49. Virginia DOT dashboard opening screen and projects detail (Source: VDOT)
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Figure 50. Opening screen Virginia dashboard (updated in 2021)
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Case Examples 67 7 PERFORMANCE MEASURES 3 PERFORMANCE MEASURES 4 HIGHWAY MEASURES MORE DETAILED 4 Highway and 3 Performance Management | Citizen Survey | Projects Performance | Safety Condition | Finance Make selection Figure 51. Structure of Virginia dashboard performance reporting system (Source: VDOT)
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Figure 52. Detail on on-time, on-budget performance from the Virginia dashboard (Source: VDOT)
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Case Examples 69 In 2002, only 20% of projects were completed on time. In 2003, VDOT created a dashboard that reported on the on-time, on-budget progress of projects.
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70 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures measures. Most significantly, these local dashboards visualize the current status of active projects, showing at what point in the development and implementation stages of a project it runs into trouble and why.
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Figure 54. Example of multimodal mobility performance measures from The FDOT Source Book (Source: FDOT)
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72 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures It is important to note that responding state DOTs emphasize the significance of both demand from organizations in the transportation community, as well as considerable support from executive and government agencies to their success. The current FDOT Emerging Transportation Coordinator in Forecasting and Trends states that the initial impetus for the Source Book project came from requests from customers for the availability of this type of data in an easily accessible and usable form.
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Figure 55. Utah dashboard (Source: UDOT)
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74 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures Figure 56. UDOT dashboard splash screen (Source: UDOT)
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Case Examples 75 The public-facing homepage for the site, shown in Figure 58, emphasizes the mission of UDOT in a logical, general-to-specific way. The first links available provide information about their overall mission, vision, values, and strategic goals, often presented in an infographic format.
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Figure 60. UDOT dashboard high-level overview (Source: UDOT)
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Case Examples 77 For example, the section on Funding is labeled with both the word and a clickable graphic of stacks of coins. The general categories available are Funding, Projects, and Tactical Measures.
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Figure 61. UDOT dashboard revenue summary (Source: UDOT)
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Figure 62. UDOT mobility dashboard for Region 2 (Source: UDOT)
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Figure 63. Zero fatalities performance measure (Source: UDOT)
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Case Examples 81 What can be determined by UDOT's available data is that the roads within UDOT's jurisdiction did not suffer any comparable drop in condition or other safety measure that would explain the continued higher fatality rate they are currently experiencing. This identification serves to help guide the direction for further innovation in how to create more complex tools that allow for the telling of even more detailed data stories.
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82 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures and appropriate remedial strategies can more quickly be identified and implemented. An even simpler and practically useful visualization that they have found helpful in budget forecasting is a set of tools designed as dials that communicate the total amount of the annual UDOT snow budget for the year, the amount used, and the amount remaining.
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Figure 64. Arkansas DOT bridges dashboard (Source: ARDOT 2022)
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84 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures ARDOT respondents currently working on performance visualization within ARDOT all commented extensively on the deliberateness with which they are thinking about what types of data to visualize, in what specific manner, differences between internal and external usage and audiences, and the need for governance of data collection, storage, and usage. A learning process is beginning to take place as different DOTs are publishing more and more of their work in this area, and these are the important considerations that those at ARDOT are talking most about as they look toward creating their own centralized performance management dashboard.
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Figure 65. ACT (Arkansas Crash Analysis Tool)
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86 Visualization of Highway Performance Measures would like to visualize. Construction project locations can still be represented as well as weightrestricted routes, rest areas, and feeds from live traffic cameras throughout the ARDOT system.
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Case Examples 87 the general public. The reasoning given for this approach can be said to be one of the guiding principles of VDOT's perspective on visualization; the primary goal is simplicity.
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