A Better Way to Choose Highway Projects

How perfomance-based funding works.

Performance-based funding uses a variety of performance measures to assist in prioritizing and selecting projects for funding. This data is used as part of a transparent, public process that also relies on the professional judgment of transportation stakeholders and, in some cases, the general public.

Because transportation dollars are scarce, it is especially important to ensure that they are spent wisely and transparently. Performance-based funding promises a more credible and accountable process for programming road and highway projects.

CMAP recommends that IDOT organize its highway funds into three broad categories: maintenance, modernization, and expansion. Each of these categories, or "buckets", would have clear, transparent criteria to use in evaluating projects, and projects' scores would be publicly reported. Using these rankings as well as the input of local agencies, decision-makers would make final selections of projects for funding.