Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for Renewal of a Currently Approved Information Collection.

Issuing agencies

Abstract

The FHWA has forwarded the information collection request described in this notice to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the renewal of an existing information collection. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 213 (Thursday, November 5, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 213 (Thursday, November 5, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69907-69908]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-22586]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

[Docket No. FHWA-2026-1222]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for 
Renewal of a Currently Approved Information Collection.

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of request for renewal of currently approved information 
collection.

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SUMMARY: The FHWA has forwarded the information collection request 
described in this notice to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for the renewal of an existing information collection. We are required 
to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Please submit comments by December 7, 2026.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket ID Number 
1222 by any of the following methods:
    Website: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
    Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
    Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of Transportation, West 
Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alexis Kuklenski, (202) 689-9229, 
Office of Administration, Federal Highway Administration, Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Office 
hours are from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays.

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

[[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.

     Issued on: November 3, 2026.
Jazmyne Lewis,
Information Collection Officer.
[FR Doc. 2026-22586 Filed 11-4-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-22-P


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