Document Library

Critical Issues in Transportation: 2024 and Beyond calls for reassessing the role of transportation in addressing major societal challenges and the research that informs the choices that society will need to make in 2024 and coming years. This reassessment is driven by large-scale environmental, public health, and socioeconomic forces. The report focuses on five societal goals: 1) Mitigating and responding to climate change, 2) Promoting equity and inclusion, 3) Increasing road safety, 4) Advancing public health, and 5) Building and sustaining a strong, competitive economy. Transportation is essential for achieving all of these societal goals.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has developed this 2023 update to its Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) to document its progress toward a long-term state-of-good repair (SOGR) in its pavement and bridge assets. This TAMP complies with 23 CFR 515.7, which calls for state departments of transportation (DOTs) to develop and implement a 10-year risk-based asset management plan for pavement and bridge assets on the National Highway System (NHS). MassDOT has chosen to include in the TAMP all pavement and bridges on the NHS (regardless of owner) and all pavement and bridges owned by MassDOT (regardless of NHS status).

NCHRP Research Report 1066 discusses how to assess risks and summarizes 12 studies that demonstrate how to enhance the measurement of risks, quantify risks, and better link risk management processes with the appropriate tools. It provides transportation asset management staff with a primer on the mathematical and statistical concepts underlying quantitative risk assessment; case study applications; and a set of tools and techniques for identifying and evaluating enterprise-, network-, and program-level asset-management-related risks. The report and its appendices build on the AASHTO Guide for Enterprise Risk Management to provide users with practical tools and guidance on implementing them and will be of immediate interest to departments of transportation (DOTs) seeking comprehensive and easily implementable strategies and tools to improve the condition and performance of transportation assets at the national, state, and local levels.

Supplemental to the report are a presentation and a
NCHRP Web-Only Document 366: Risk Assessment Techniques for Transportation Asset Management: Appendices.

This document takes an expansive view and considers how pavement and bridge conditions can contribute to system performance areas, such as highway safety, freight mobility, or reliability. The document also considers other impacts, such as how attributes including pavement shoulders, pavement friction, or bridge conditions contribute to highway safety, freight movement, noise reduction, and transportation system resilience. It also includes three fictional transportation asset management plan (TAMP) chapters illustrating how the TAMP could directly support multiple transportation performance objectives. Those chapters are the performance gap analysis, risk assessment, and investment strategies.

"A Guide for Incorporating Maintenance Costs into a Transportation Asset Management Plan" offers transportation agencies a comprehensive approach to include maintenance costs in a risk-based TAMP. This guide provides methodologies for data collection and management, showcases life-cycle planning tools for assessing cost-effectiveness, details strategies for optimizing 10-year investments using benefit-cost analyses, and designs a financial plan blueprint detailing anticipated revenues and investments in capital and maintenance costs on a 10-year horizon.

NOTE: Web-Only NCHRP Document 372 is an accompanying research product of NCHRP 23-08.

This report summarizes the proceedings of the 2023 Transportation Asset Management Peer Exchange hosted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The peer exchange was held in Boston, Massachusetts on July 8-9, 2023.

Transportation agencies strive to provide a safe and functional transportation system that delivers the highest possible level of service and enables the efficient movement of people and goods. Unexpected or unplanned events can impact a State DOT’s ability to provide the desired level of service. Managing uncertainties through risk management is an integral part of modern leadership practices and a key component to transportation asset management (TAM). Risk management is also one of the minimum requirements to include in a Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) under 23 U.S.C.119(e).

This report builds on information gathered from developing State Departments of Transportation case studies on identifying and managing financial risks. The report summarizes the common financial risks considered in State DOT TAMPs and how these factors influence the development of TAMP investment strategies. Approaches to managing these risks are provided with examples showing how State DOTs have put these strategies into practice. Keys to success are provided.

This document examines the interface of transportation asset management, transportation performance management, and performance-based planning and programming. All three create synergies that focus upon how short-term performance contributes to long term strategies to achieve national goals for safety, asset management, congestion relief, freight mobility, and resilience.

The scope of this TAMP as required by MAP-21 is limited to National Highway System (NHS) Highways and Bridges. In Maine, this includes the Maine Turnpike.

The 2023 TAM Peer Exchange held on July 9th at the 14th national TRB TAM Conference had a feature topic of "The Art of Project Selection." This slide deck compiles presentations from attendees of the peer exchange that showcase "Elements of Good Prioritization." Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washington State share parts of their innovative approaches to project prioritization.

The report, created by the Transportation Asset Management Expert Task Group (TAM ETG), addresses the concerns of agencies facing a rise in the proportion of their pavement and bridge networks deteriorating to Fair condition. The TAM ETG members identified the factors contributing to this situation and initiated discussions emphasizing the importance of managing this increasing percentage of their networks based on TAM principles. The findings from these discussions form the basis of this document, which aims to: provide State and local transportation agencies with an understanding of why prioritizing investments in assets in Fair condition is more effective than heavily investing in those in Poor condition, and encourage the adoption of more proactive lifecycle planning in investment decisions.