NCHRP Report 1035: Effective Methods of Target Setting

Effective Methods of Target Setting explored transportation agencies’ approaches to target setting across the national performance areas during the first federal performance period. The project’s focus on sound methods for data-driven target setting led High Street to conduct an in-depth statistical analysis of safety performance forecasting models to compare predictive capabilities. The guide provides recommended methods, discusses trade-offs associated with each, and walks users through how to implement each recommended method. While sound, data-driven methods were the foundation of the research, the team’s extensive conversations with practitioners also uncovered importance of coordination, processes, and conversations in making the entire target setting process effective or not, regardless of the target setting approach adopted by an agency. In particular, the research found that taking opportunities to have “hard conversations” with partners and leaders about adverse outcomes– whether they are actual outcomes reflecting a missed target or potential outcomes associated with a worsening target being established — are a notable characteristic of agencies’ ability to use the target setting process to drive efforts at performance improvement.