Federal, state, and local transportation agencies frequently discuss the urgent need to modernize and update our nation’s infrastructure. Less discussed is the need to extend that need beyond physical roadways. However, the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) example shows that digital infrastructure may require the most attention.
Originally developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 1978, the HPMS is designed as a comprehensive database that can help lawmakers and regulators at every level of government improve their decision-making in developing policies, creating laws, and allocating funding. However, its inherent challenges, from the slow-moving technology to the resources required for updates, make it a less-than-ideal vehicle for that goal.
It’s time for an update—not just in the data fed into the system. It’s also time to reconsider how the system is built and managed from the ground up. Re-envisioning how the Highway Performance Monitoring System functions can lead to a true realization of its potential benefits. Ultimately, this will create a modern digital infrastructure that allows our nation’s roadways to move into the future.
The Core Purpose of the Highway Performance Monitoring System
The Highway Performance Monitoring System aimed to replace the biennial physical studies of roadways conducted since 1965. Its primary purpose is to use data from each state to create a comprehensive picture of all roadways. This includes their approximate traffic, road conditions, and more.
The result is a comprehensive dataset that provides basic data points on everything from bridges (sortable by size, type, and state) to the miles of highway per state sorted by urban and rural categories as well as local, state, and federal ownership. States also submit traffic and road condition data, which is then aggregated into a comprehensive overview of these more dynamic data points. The HPMS focuses on public roads and offers data feeds into other systems used by agencies to make their evaluations.
This data is undoubtedly beneficial for all who use it. Officials at all government levels can use the information to decide where to allocate funding and how to distribute it. They can also identify which sources should provide the funding. Any infrastructure plan, from federal to local, can get the data it needs to make these decisions.
Shortcomings and Challenges of the Current Highway Performance Monitoring System
These benefits are undeniable. However, the Highway Performance Monitoring System also has several shortcomings that require further examination. These shortcomings pose challenges for transportation agencies and could undermine their core purpose.
First, and perhaps most importantly, this is an outdated software system. Its last update was in 1998, which aimed to integrate newer technologies that agencies might use for data collection and analysis. Since then, the Highway Performance Monitoring System has remained unchanged. It has been unable to leverage the technologies agencies may have adopted in the 27 years since.
This, in turn, feeds into the second major shortcoming of the HPMS as currently imagined. All of its data relies on information from individual states responsible for collecting and analyzing it yearly. Doing so requires significant cost and time, amounting to a constant project providing the FHWA and Congress with data within their jurisdiction.
At a time when aging infrastructure becomes an increasingly urgent problem to address, this challenge leads to a zero-sum equation. Spending resources on collecting, providing, and analyzing data for the HPMS takes away from more impactful activities, such as repairing and maintaining roads.
Finally, the current Highway Performance Monitoring System represents a potentially significant opportunity cost. It relies on outdated technology and databases to function, and cannot leverage new (and significantly more efficient) technologies like machine learning, AI, and automation. The slow-moving nature of federal agencies makes it unlikely that this will change anytime soon.
Finding a Better System to Replace the HPMS
The Highway Performance Monitoring System’s current shortcomings require a complete rethinking. A nationally organized database of roadway information is undoubtedly beneficial. However, the system’s design should avoid placing additional strain on state transportation agencies to collect and report the data. Given that much of the roadway maintenance and improvement happens at the state level and below, the system should work to benefit these agencies.
In other words, it’s time to flip the solution. Creating a centrally managed and informed national digital infrastructure map would enable individual states to direct their work using data collected for them, not by them.
Consider, for example, the possibility of leveraging technologies like AI, machine learning, and computer vision to dynamically build an annual inspection and analysis of the nation’s roadways that happens largely automatically and in the background. Such an automated system would free up resources at every level, reducing the focus on manual data entry and analysis, and shifting attention to the actions that could result from those analyses.
This type of digital infrastructure map is far from impossible. A few months ago, Blyncsy announced the creation of such a map using its data points. These are generated by AI-based technology that analyzes millions of dashboard camera feeds from all over the country.
Re-Envisioning the Highway Performance Monitoring System
Blyncsy’s United States Interstate Highway System Roadway Safety and Maintenance Condition map is only a proof of concept. With federal government resources and potential public-private partnerships, data and insights could be generated dynamically and continuously, for individual states and decision-makers at every level of government.
Imagine a system enabling transportation agencies to access and present roadway data more comprehensively and visually. Imagine a federal data system that works for each of these state and local agencies, not the other way around. Finally, imagine the result: a safer, more equitable transportation network across the United States for all who use it. Contact us at Blyncsy today!
