Key Performance Indicators

Introduction

Good performance information is an essential part of good management and assists in ensuring accountability, transparency and aids us in our decision making. At Main Roads we use performance measurement to gain insight into, and make judgements about, the effectiveness and efficiency of our programs, processes and people.

We measure our progress in meeting strategic goals and outcomes, gather and analyse performance data and then use that data to drive improvements and successfully measure the deployment of actions into outcomes. Our performance measures support decision making by:

• providing useful information on how efficient and effective our core processes are
• signalling if improvements are necessary
• identifying potential risk areas
• determining if our customers and stakeholders are satisfied and if we are meeting our own and the Government’s goals.

We have a well-established outcome based performance measurement framework that seeks to measure our success in delivering agreed Government goals and outcomes. Our performance measures are integrated within a monthly evaluation process that is reviewed by our Corporate Executive Leadership team.

Alignment with Government Goals

Main Roads contributes towards the achievement of four goals identified by the Western Australian Government. We achieve the delivery of these goals through an outcome based Program Management approach. There are seven programs, or services, that drive outcome based decision making to achieve the delivery of services to our customers. The following table shows the alignment of each Program against the Government’s goals.

Review of Measures and Changes Since the Last Report

As reported last year Main Roads participated in a review of our outcome based management reporting in consultation with the Department of Treasury. The aim of the review, which was initiated by the Economic Expenditure Review Committee, was to seek greater transparency and alignment with individual programs and areas of activity.

In November 2014 the Treasurer advised that the Department of Treasury concluded that our current reporting structure and measures did not exhibit the generic deficiencies identified as the driving impetus for the Cabinet decision. It was also noted that Main Roads continues to review its measures to ensure they remain best practice. There are no other changes to our measures since the 2014 Annual Report.

Understanding Community Perception Measures

Four of the measures are derived from an annual Community Perceptions Survey that seeks to reflect the satisfaction levels of customers in both metropolitan and rural areas of the State. These results are used to ensure that Main Roads’ projects and customer service initiatives are targeted at the areas of greatest need.

Through the use of an external research company, the data was collected by way of telephone interview using a developed structured questionnaire. The results are based upon a random and representative sample of 903 people (203 persons in the Metropolitan area and 700 persons in rural areas – approximately 100 from each Region). When extending these results to estimate the percentage of satisfied Western Australians, the overall sampling error is +/- 3.26% at the 95% confidence interval and is also weighted to reflect the actual population distribution based on ABS statistics. The full survey is available on the Main Roads website.

The four measures are Community Satisfaction with Main Roads, road safety, maintenance and provision of cycleway and pedestrian facilities.

Understanding On Time and On Cost Measures

The delivery of infrastructure in a State that is as climatically and geologically diverse as Western Australia provides many challenges. Ten of our efficiency measures are based on reporting against the delivery of our contracts in terms of time and cost. To recognise the complexity in achieving this, and consistent with approaches taken in other road agencies, all reporting against these measures includes a 10% margin when calculating the final outcome.

Structure

The following provides a summary of our program outcomes and measures for each indicator showing the trend over time as well as providing a status report as to how the results for 2014-15 compared against the targets from the State Budget Papers. The remainder of this chapter provides commentary on the efficiency and effectiveness indicators for each of the seven outcome based programs.

Summary

 Road Safety

Outcome: Providing a safe road environment

This program seeks to reduce the State’s road fatality rate to the lowest in Australia by minimising road factors contributing to road trauma and reducing the serious crash injury rate. We demonstrate this through the following measures:

Effectiveness Indicators

Community Satisfaction with Road Safety

This indicator represents how satisfied the community is with Main Roads’ overall performance in the area of road safety. The survey results show that Main Roads’ high performance on road safety remains strong with 94% of survey participants rating it as okay or better exceeding the target of 90%. The survey showed the greatest area of improvement was the perceptions of road safety in the Kimberley and the Pilbara regions.

Black Spot Location Indicator

The indicator gives a measure of the number of locations on the road network that meet State Black Spot criteria based on an analysis of crash history. The measure uses a sliding window to determine whether the number of locations eligible for funding is increasing or decreasing, taking into account the amount of travel in the State. The four year trend continues to shows a gradual decline in the number of eligible black spot locations with the current result being the lowest recorded since the implementation of the Black Spot program in 2001, coming in below the estimated target.

Efficiency Indicators

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Time

This indicator represents the percentage of contracts that were delivered on time in the Road Safety Program. The result achieved was 94% of contracts being delivered on time against a target of 90%. Of the four contracts that were late one was due to contractor production and resource issues, one was due to reprioritisation of resources in the Region coupled with inclement weather, one was due to fire bans restricting movement of machinery coupled with contractor productivity issues due to breakdowns and the final contract was late due to additional service relocation and is currently subject to assessment for a formal contractual extension of time to be granted. The overall result is slightly lower than last year but the overall four year trend remains positive.

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Budget

This indicator represents the percentage of contracts that were delivered on budget in the Road Safety Program. The result achieved was 94% of contracts delivered on cost which is above the target of 90%. Of the four contracts that were over budget two were due to a variation in the scope of works whilst the third contract was over budget due to incorrect cost allocations which will be corrected in the next financial year. The final contract is over budget due to non scope variations arising from the replacement of unsuitable materials resulting in extra materials being required. In each circumstance these contracts are being reviewed by the relevant contract manager to determine if variations should be issued however, at the time of preparing the report they remain over budget.

Black Spot Location Indicator

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Time

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Budget

 Office of Road Safety

Outcome: Improved coordination and community awareness of road safety

This program represents the outcomes sought from the Office of Road Safety and their role in supporting the Minister for Road Safety and the Road Safety Council in coordinating and raising community awareness of the road safety effort for Western Australia. We demonstrate this through the following measures:

Effectiveness Indicators

Effectiveness of Road Safety Awareness Campaigns

This indicator represents the portion of Western Australian drivers who remember seeing major road safety community education campaigns with a mass media budget of more than $500 000 conducted by the Office of Road Safety. The data is collected independently through professional market research companies by conducting evaluation surveys of in excess of 400 responses before and after each major campaign. This year the data is based on five campaigns (drink driving, speed behaviour, speed enforcement, changes in legislation and mobile phone usage) which averaged a penetration rate of 65% which is in line with the target.

Efficiency Indicators

Percentage of Projects Completed on Time

This indicator represents the percentage of projects approved by the Road Safety Council and the Minister for Road Safety that were delivered on time by the Office of Road Safety, it excludes external bodies grant funded projects. The current year’s result shows that 91% of all projects were delivered on time which above the target of 90% and reflects an improvement on last year’s result.

Percentage of Projects Completed on Budget

This indicator represents the percentage of projects approved by the Road Safety Council and the Minister for Road Safety that were delivered on budget by the Office of Road Safety. The current year’s result shows that 100% of all projects were delivered on cost ahead of the target of 90%.

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Budget

 Road Efficiency and Road Management

Outcome: Reliable and efficient movement of people and goods

The Efficiency Program seeks to improve the efficiency, capacity and utilisation of the existing road network whilst the Road System Management Program seeks to optimise real-time management of the network, provide traveller information, asset management planning and to support service delivery throughout the organisation. Together these programs contribute to achieving the outcome. We demonstrate this through the following measures:

Effectiveness Indicators

Community Satisfaction

This indicator represents how satisfied the community is with Main Roads’ overall performance in the management and operation of the State road network. The survey results show that Main Roads overall performance remains high with 96% of respondents rating Main Roads’ performance as okay or better exceeding the target of 90%. The survey showed the perceptions are most positive among road users in the Mid West – Gascoyne region.

Network Configuration-Roads

This indicator shows the percentage of travel undertaken on roads meeting specific criteria for seal width, carriageway width and curve rating. The indicator gives a measure of the ability of Main Roads to plan for and maintain roads to desirable standards. In 2015, 90.7% of travel was undertaken on roads meeting the seal width, carriageway width and curve rating criteria which is in line with the target of 90%. The results over the four-year period are relatively consistent and demonstrate that Main Roads continues to plan and program works to address roads that are below the criteria.

Road Network Permitted for use by Heavy Freight Vehicles

This indicator relates to the efficient movement of goods within Western Australia and the percentage of available State roads accessed by B-Doubles, Double road trains and Triple road trains. The use of larger vehicles with greater payloads can increase the overall efficiency of freight transport operations, resulting in lower transport costs. However, to maintain road safety and guard against infrastructure damage, restrictions are placed on some trucks. Because of the relatively high efficiency of these vehicles, the proportion of roads accessible to them is an important factor in the overall efficiency of freight transport in this State. Over the past four years the trend has remained relatively consistent with most minor fluctuations in results attributed to changes in ownership of roads between State and Local Government and very minor variations with access categorisation.

Network Configuration - Bridges

Similar to the roads measure, bridges are assessed for strength and width using agreed investigatory criteria. The monitoring of bridge strength and width needs to ensure a safe and efficient road network relating to improved access and transport efficiencies. These measures are indicators for the number of bridges that meet, or are above, the investigatory criteria, recorded as a percentage of the total number of bridges on main roads and highways. Therefore, the percentage of bridges meeting these network configuration criteria should continue to rise but only slightly in future years. All bridges that do not meet the investigatory criteria for strength or width are considered in assessing, scoping and prioritising works, as part of the ten year bridge strategy. During the year five new bridges were added to the State’s bridge stock and these additional assets all met width and strength criteria.

Strength - The results of this indicator show that 89% of the bridges meet the agreed criteria for strength against a target of 89%.

Width - In relation to width 95% of bridges meet the criteria against a target of 95%.

Efficiency Indicators

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Budget

This indicator represents the percentage of contracts that were delivered on budget in the Road Efficiency Program. Whilst the target was established at 90%, the result achieved was 100% of contracts being delivered on budget.

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Time

This indicator represents the percentage of contracts that were delivered on time in the Road Efficiency Program. Whilst the target was established at 90%, 72% of contracts were. Of the five contracts that were late two are still in progress whilst a third was over by less than ten days. Of the remaining two contracts one was delayed due to the unavailability of sealing and white lining resources and the other was delayed due to accessing heavy vehicle movement permits, this final contract is subject to review by the contract manager to determine if an extension of time could be granted but at the time of preparing this report it remains outstanding.

Average Cost of Network Management

This indicator measures the financial efficiency of the Road System Management program in terms of cost per million vehicle kilometres travelled to manage the road system. In order to compare current figures with previous years all figures have been adjusted and reported in terms of current year’s dollars. In respect of the current year the result of $5, 000 per million vehicle kilometres travelled which is lower than the target. The trend for this measure is continuing to show a gradual increase which continues to reflect an increase in the provision of non infrastructure services particularly arising from the focus on addressing congestion.

Community Satisfaction

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Time

 State Development

Outcome: Facilitating economic and regional development

This program expands the road network in accordance with State and Commonwealth transport and land use strategies that will facilitate the economic and regional development of the State. We demonstrate this through the following measures:

Effectiveness Indicators

Return on Construction Expenditure

New road and bridge construction networks add to the capacity of the road network. Return on Construction Expenditure is based on Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) estimates of a set of projects undertaken each year. It indicates the extent to which road and bridge construction expenditure will deliver future economic benefits to the community. This indicator represents the expenditure weighted BCR for the State Development Program and Road Efficiency program for which a BCR has been calculated. The target for 2014-15 is an expenditure weighted average BCR of 4.3, with the result for 2014 - 15 being 5.6.

Efficiency Indicators

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Time

This indicator represents the percentage of contracts that were delivered on time in the State Development Program. The result achieved was 100% of contracts being delivered against a target of 90%.

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Budget

This indicator represents the percentage of contracts delivered on budget against a target of 90% in the State Development Program. The result achieved was 100% of contracts being delivered on budget which is consistent with last year’s result.

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Time

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Budget

 Road Maintenance

Outcome: Providing a well maintained road network

This program seeks to maintain the existing road and bridge network by maximising asset life and minimising whole of life costs. We demonstrate this through the following measures:

Effectiveness Indicators

Community Satisfaction of Road Maintenance

This indicator represents how satisfied the community is with Main Roads overall performance in the maintenance of the State road network. The survey results show that Main Roads rating has improved since last year achieving 95% of survey participants rating it as okay or better coming in on target. The survey showed that the largest improvement as well as the highest rating was in the Kimberley region. Although there is greatest room to improve in Goldfields-Esperance and Southwest regions, ratings in both areas improved over the last year.

Preventative Maintenance Indicator

The Preventative Maintenance Indicator provides a measure of the proportion of sealed state road network which has a surfacing age younger than its optimal target age. The indicator provides a measure of proactive maintenance undertaken on the network on an annual basis. Sections of the network with a surfacing age younger than target age are classified as ‘Good’.

Smooth Travel Exposure

This indicator is based on the percentage of travel undertaken on the State road network meeting specific roughness criteria. In 2014 - 15, 96% of the total travel on sealed state roads is undertaken on roads that meet the roughness standard. The result was slightly under the established target.

Efficiency Indicators

Average Cost of Network Maintenance per Lane Kilometre of Road Network

This indicator identifies the financial efficiency of road and roadside maintenance works by showing the cost per lane kilometre to maintain acceptable travel conditions on the State roads. In determining the cost basis expenditure on structures and infrastructure depreciation has been excluded. In order to compare current figures with previous years all figures have been adjusted and reported in terms of current year’s dollars which can influence the trend result. This year’s result shows a 21% variance against the target with the result being lower than estimated. There are two significant factors that have caused the rate to be lower than the target being the reduced funding arising from targeted budget savings and less natural disasters occurring over the last 12 months. Both of these unexpected factors resulted in the target being effectively overstated.

Community Satisfaction of Road Maintenance

Preventative Maintenance Indicator

 Community Access

Outcome: Improving community access and roadside amenity

This program seeks to provide infrastructure that will increase personal mobility and community access. We demonstrate this through the following measures:

Effectiveness Indicators

Community Satisfaction with Cycleways and Pedestrian Facilities

This indicator represents how satisfied the community is with Main Roads’ performance in the construction, maintenance and management of cycleways and pedestrian facilities. The survey result shows that Main Roads rating has decreased since last year achieving 76% against the target of 90%. Perceptions of cycleways and pedestrian facilities across Western Australia have declined since last year, with the biggest drops in Goldfields -Esperance and the Pilbara, however perceptions improved significantly in the Kimberley.

Unplanned Road Closure on the State Road Network

Generally 100% of Main Roads Road sealed network is available to all road users; however, there are unplanned road closures due to a number of reasons including flooding, cyclones, major bushfires and major road accidents, which may vary in duration. The availability of the sealed road network is measured as a percentage of calendar days that the whole network is available to the road user. Closure is determined by measuring the number of whole days (24 hours commencing from the time the road is closed) that any section of the sealed road network is closed. This year the road network was available 87% of the year which exceeds the 85% target which was increased last year.

Efficiency Indicators

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Time

This indicator represents the percentage of contracts that were delivered on time in the Community Access Program. Whilst the target was established at 90%, 83% of contracts were delivered on time. Only two contracts were late one being for less than ten days and arose due to inclement weather, the second contract is still in progress and has been impacted by defects associated with rock protection resulting in removal and replacement of materials. This will be subject to review by the contract manager at the conclusion of the works but remains late at the time of reporting.

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Budget

This indicator represents the percentage of contracts delivered on budget against a target of 90%, the result was 92%. This is an improvement on last year and reflects that one contract was over budget due to a variation in scope to include an additional retaining wall due to concerns raised by the community.

Community Satisfaction with Cycleways and Pedestrian Facilities

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Time

Percentage of Contracts Completed on Budget