SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

We published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period on this information collection on August 26, 2026, at [91 FR 55157]. The notice received 5 comments. The comments and FHWA's responses are below:

A comment was submitted by “W.D.M. (USA) Limited” suggesting changes to how the TPM safety metric is calculated, which is outside the scope of this renewal.

The Transportation Departments of Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming submitted a joint comment (Joint Comment Letter). Additionally, individual comments were submitted by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

The joint comment letter recommended conditioning OMB clearance on FHWA initiating an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to revise 23 CFR part 490 to reduce the data collection and associated reporting requirements in 23 CFR part 490. They suggested reducing the NHS routes in rural areas that would be subject to the travel time and congestion elements of the regulation. The request for an ANPRM and this feedback has been noted. Modifications to 23 CFR part 490 regulations are outside the legal scope of this administrative Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) clearance docket and cannot be made through this notice.

Regarding the necessity and usefulness of the information collection, the letters from AASHTO, MoDOT, and ODOT said that FHWA should periodically assess whether the required reporting is necessary to support a specific federal decision or program objective, and those requirements that provide limited additional value should be eliminated or simplified. FHWA is responsible for collecting the information required by Congress in 23 U.S.C. 119 and 150 and codified in 23 U.S.C. Part 490. The TPM Biennial Reports, the subject of this collection, align with and are limited to the reporting requirements detailed in 23 CFR part 490. Any change to the scope of the statute or regulation is outside of the scope of the PRA clearance docket and cannot be made through this notice.

Regarding the accuracy of the estimated reporting burden, the letters from AASHTO, MoDOT, ODOT and the joint comment letter stated that the burden of 2,040 hours per response is underestimated, with some stating FHWA's estimate needs to provide greater detail. The submissions provided no empirical data, alternative workload calculations, or evidence upon which FHWA could re-evaluate or adjust its burden estimates. FHWA has provided detailed analysis of the burden assumptions in the Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIA) for the 3 related rulemakings, published on the Docket for each rule, and the costs in this notice are based on BLS wage data as detailed in this document.

Regarding improving the quality, usefulness, and clarity of information, the letters from AASHTO, MoDOT, and ODOT stated the priority should be concise, decision-useful information that reduces repetitive reporting of information already available to the federal government. Additionally, MoDOT noted that the data collected has a lag that can create inconsistencies, which is one reason it does not use the data reported to FHWA in its decision making. FHWA has limited the reporting to the requirements of 23 CFR part 490. Changes to those requirements, including the timing of the data used, are outside the scope of this notice. The ( printed page 69908) commenters did not provide any information on what elements of the data collection they have identified as already available to the federal government. FHWA believes that the required information reported is specific to the requirements of 23 CFR part 490, and therefore not duplicative of other programs. Finally, commenters stated that FHWA should reduce conflicting definitions across federal data collections. Any changes to definitions are outside of the scope of this notice.

Regarding minimizing burden through coordination and technology, the letters from AASHTO, MoDOT, and ODOT encouraged FHWA to use a “collect once, use many times” approach, and use information available to FHWA, rather than requiring State DOTs to reproduce that data for this reporting. The reporting of data used by 23 CFR 490 to establish actual condition and performance, such as the CMAQ Public Access System or the National Bridge Inventory System (NBIS), are federal data collections that serve many different programs, and implement collecting data once and using it many different ways. Within the PMF, FHWA uses data available to it to prepopulate baseline and actual condition and performance, and any State data submitted in previous reports that may be relevant to the current report. One example is how FHWA prepopulates the targets developed by the State DOT that are submitted in the Baseline Performance Report in the Mid Performance Period Report and the Full Performance Period Report, so State DOTs only need to submit these values once. Finally, MoDOT stated that the lag in the time between when data is collected and used for the required reporting limits the value of the outputs, and that the timing of the PMF submittal is not aligned with the timing of the CMAQ reporting, causing undue burden. The timing of the collection and reporting of the data that is an input to the TPM program, such as NBIS data or pavement condition data, is not governed by 23 CFR part 490 and therefore outside the scope of this notice.

While many of the comments are not part of the subject notice, FHWA will consider them when evaluating the relevant programs, processes, and regulations.

Title: Transportation Performance Management Biennial Report.

OMB Control: 2125-0656.

Background: The MAP-21 (Pub. L. 112-141) and FAST Act (Pub. L. 114-94) transformed the Federal-aid highway program by establishing new requirements for transportation performance management (TPM) to ensure the most efficient investment of Federal transportation funds. Prior to MAP-21, there were no explicit requirements for State DOTs to demonstrate how their transportation program supported national performance outcomes. State DOTs were not required to measure condition or performance, establish targets, assess progress toward targets, or report on condition or performance in a nationally consistent manner that FHWA could use to assess the entire system. Prior to the requirement to report these factors, it was difficult for FHWA to examine the effectiveness of the Federal-aid highway program to address surface transportation performance. The TPM requirements, as established by MAP-21 and FAST Act, require States to measure condition or performance, establish targets, assess progress towards targets and report on condition and performance.

State DOTs must submit biennial performance reports (23 U.S.C. 150 (e) and 23 CFR 490.107). The information is provided to the DOT in an electronic format through an online data form called the Performance Management Form (PMF). Alternative formats are made available where necessary. As part of the rulemakings implementing the MAP-21 and FAST Act requirements, FHWA evaluated all the Biennial Reporting requirements in the individual regulatory impact assessments (RIA) and determined the following:

Respondents: 52 State DOTs, including Washington DC and Puerto Rico.

Frequency: Biennially.

Estimated Average Burden per Response: 2,040.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 106,080.

Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed collection is necessary for the FHWA's performance; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burdens; (3) ways for the FHWA to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways that the burden could be minimized, including the use of electronic technology, without reducing the quality of the collected information. The agency will summarize and/or include your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information collection.

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48.

91 FR 69907