Our highways are the lifeblood of our nation.
Highways, roads, and bridges keep our economy moving.
They take us about our daily lives and are there to serve us in emergencies.
Transportation agencies are responsible for maintaining our roads, bridges, and tunnels.
These agencies rely on tax dollars for funding transportation systems.
However, transportation is changing.
People and businesses demand better and safer roads.
Yet consumers are traveling in more fuel-efficient vehicles and buying less gas, which means
less revenue for fixing aging highways.
Meanwhile, new construction and road repair costs are increasing for our overburdened
transportation system.
Transportation agencies must use their tax dollars wisely to optimize service and minimize
risk.
Managing today’s transportation systems requires a two-step approach.
We have to take care of what we already own, and we have to manage for the long-term, so
that our transportation systems meet the needs of future generations.
Transportation agencies in the United States and around the world are finding that asset
management programs address this solution.
Asset management is a strategic and systematic approach to managing transportation assets.
It considers risk and investment needs over the entire life of an asset.
Asset management helps ensure that available funding addresses your highest priorities.
Chris Champion: “In Australia and internationally, asset management is leading to more informed
decisions and maximizing the value of our budget dollars.
It’s helping us to manage our risk and deliver more sustainable services for our communities.”
Making informed decisions that maximize the value of budget dollars will help address
the first step of our solution: taking care of what you already own.
Most states are already taking action to keep their assets in good repair, using information
about asset performance to stretch available tax dollars.
Tim Henkel: “I think Transportation Asset Management is a lot like keeping your car
in good shape.
You can avoid big repair replacement costs if you do preventative maintenance.
A good example of preventative maintenance on a car might be waxing that car to keep
it from rusting over time.
In Minnesota, Transportation Asset Management is much the same.
We monitor the condition of our assets over time so that we can make more informed investment
decisions.
And the best part is, stretching our limited transportation dollars.”
To begin, we have to end the “Worst First” way of doing business.
Waiting for a structure to completely wear out and then replacing the entire structure
is much more expensive than preserving and renewing the structure over time.
Over the life of an asset, a worst first strategy adds up to a lot more in expenditures than
a strategy that uses more cost-effective treatments to preserve asset performance.
Instead of relying on a crisis to signal action, asset management uses a systematic, data-driven
approach to managing assets and reducing agency risks.
You can base asset management decisions on reliable data about asset performance and
know how that performance will change over time.
The second step is to manage for the long-term.
Asset management encourages a long-term view that balances what you desire with what you
can afford over the life of an asset.
As consumers, all of us consider long-term costs when making big investments like buying
a car or a house.
We have to make sure we have enough income to make monthly payments and to keep up routine
maintenance.
Likewise, before building new highways or bridges, plan your future costs of maintaining
those assets.
For example, the total cost of taking care of a road or a bridge can be up to three times
the initial construction cost.
So, for every one million dollars you spend on a new project, you may be committing to
as much as three million dollars in future years to maintain the asset.
Unless you arrange funding for future maintenance, something has to give.
In the past, that “something” may have been the quality of service that you provide.
To help estimate these future costs, agencies use Transportation Asset Management Plans.
These plans include an inventory of assets and the level of service provided.
They predict future demands to help set up a life cycle management plan and risk management
plan.
Asset management also provides insight in developing financial plans and investment
strategies.
The process of developing a Transportation Asset Management Plan helps agencies better
understand what it costs to take care of what they already own so they can better manage
their long-term needs and commitments.
Future generations depend on this foresight to ensure the long-term financial sustainability
of the services provided.
The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, or MAP-21 as it is known, calls
for asset management.
MAP-21 requires all state transportation departments to develop risk-based asset management plans
for the 230,000 miles of pavements and bridges on the National Highway System.
Many resources are available to help you establish an asset management program.
The Federal Highway Administration, or FHWA, offers tools to help State DOTs effectively
use asset management and meet MAP-21 requirements.
Butch: ” Early on, FHWA has been very very active in working on Asset Management.
Our office was created 1999, and we started with an initiative to advance Asset Management.
But today with Map 21, we have a statutory requirement that states will now have Asset
Management plans.
Our goal is to make sure the states are successful in developing these asset management plans.
So we conducted the whole series of outreach activities, which include webinars; we have
NHI training; we put on some workshops; we put together an expert an expert task group
to really help us gather the right information to facilitate making these states successful
as they move forward with Asset Management.”
FHWA’s asset management website provides you with asset management publications and
templates.
The website also has existing asset management plans, case studies, and summaries from peer
exchanges.
A key reference is the Transportation Asset Management Guide – A Focus on Implementation.
It is available through the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials,
or AASHTO.
Michael Bridges: “This guide provides practitioners and decision makers with a hands-on document
to implement an asset management approach for their organization that will lead to improved
investment decisions and help manage our risk and improve the sustainability of the system.”
FHWA works with the Transportation Research Board, AASHTO, and other organizations to
support asset management.
Asset management is essential to taking care of your resources, managing them for the long
term, and becoming better stewards for the future.
During these times of increased demand and constrained budgets, asset management makes
budget dollars go further and reduces agency risk while providing a transportation system
that succeeds now and in the future.
For more information on asset management, visit the FHWA’s asset management website
at www.fhwa.dot.gov/asset.