To date, there has been a great deal of variability in how state highway agencies have established maintenance quality assurance (MQA) program components and how the results have been used to establish accountability, improve highway maintenance effectiveness, establish budget requirements, and allocate resources. Therefore, a domestic scan was organized through the U.S. Domestic Scan Program, which is managed under the auspices of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). The domestic scan took place in October 2011 in Anaheim, California. The scan’s specific objectives included: 1. Explore the experiences of top-performing agencies, examining the degree to which their business plans and system-preservation strategic plans are linked to their MQA programs; 2. Identify successful strategies for linking customer expectations to agency performance measures; 3. Examine the variables that have most influenced the use of MQA results to improve agency accountability and/or support budgeting and resource allocation decisions; 4. Examine if, and how, different data measures, data-collection procedures, and data verification activities influence MQA program costs and the use of MQA results; 5. Examine the ways in which innovation has been incorporated into MQA programs; 6. Explore the ways highway maintenance and preservation information is presented to senior management, elected officials, and the public; 7. Explore the strategies (e.g., education and training programs) that have been used successfully to build buy in and accountability among field personnel; and 8. Identify technical and/or organizational challenges to overcome and strategies to improve the use of performance measures for highway maintenance and preservation activities. The findings and recommendations from the scan are summarized in this report.

Infrastructure Assets: Highway Assets, Pavement
Capabilities: Data & Information Systems, Tools & Technology
Management Processes: Performance Reporting & Communication, Resource Allocation, Strategic Direction