In the year since our audit of multimodal projects, the Transportation Bureau has made progress in implementing our recommendations to improve project evaluation.
The Transportation Bureau developed a process to ensure project goals are met. The Bureau has added resources and staff to develop consistent goals, metrics, and evaluations for planning and projects of every type.
Transportation still needs to add measures for livability factors and other neighborhood impacts. We will follow up again in one year to confirm that this work is completed.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation designs and constructs projects to improve streets for pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles. In 2018, we audited two projects to assess the Bureau’s planning and evaluation process. We found the Bureau met expectations for the planning phase, but its evaluation of project effectiveness needed improvement.
2018 Recommendations
Develop and fund a consistent evaluation process that includes livability and neighborhood impact assessments.
2019 Auditor's Status Update
Transportation developed a checklist to ensure project goals are being met at each stage but is still working to develop and include livability factors and other neighborhood impact measures.
The bureau assembled a team, called the Office of Strategy, Innovation & Performance, to create consistent goals, metrics, and evaluations for planning and projects.
To improve evaluation of crash data and metrics to assess overall performance of the transportation system, the bureau added an analyst position to the Vision Zero team.
2018 Recommendations
Use the results from project evaluations to inform the City’s future transportation plans and priorities.
2019 Auditor's Status Update
Projects included in the Transportation System Plan are scored against specific criteria, such as climate impact, economic benefits, equity, and neighborhood access.
In 2018, Transportation began using e-Builder, a capital project program and project management software to track outcomes. Outcomes will be used to compare projects and determine which ones meet the goals in the Transportation System Plan.
As Transportation continues to improve the project evaluation process by including livability factors and other neighborhood impacts, it needs to include those outcomes in the transportation system planning process.
View the original 2018 audit report.
Visit our online dashboard to track the status of recommendations from other reports