National Academies Press: OpenBook

Analytical Tools for Asset Management (2005)

Chapter: Front Matter

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Analytical Tools for Asset Management. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13851.
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T R A N S P O R T A T I O N R E S E A R C H B O A R D WASHINGTON, D.C. 2005 www.TRB.org NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP REPORT 545 Research Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration SUBJECT AREAS Planning and Administration • Pavement Design, Management, and Performance • Bridges, Other Structures, Hydraulics and Hydrology Analytical Tools for Asset Management CAMBRIDGE SYSTEMATICS, INC. Cambridge, MA PB CONSULT Washington, DC SYSTEM METRICS GROUP, INC. San Francisco, CA

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. Note: The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, the Federal Highway Administration, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the individual states participating in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of this report. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America NCHRP REPORT 545 Project 20-57 ISSN 0077-5614 ISBN 0-309-08832-1 Library of Congress Control Number 2005929325 © 2005 Transportation Research Board Price $31.00 NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Board’s judgment that the program concerned is of national importance and appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research Council. The members of the technical committee selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that performed the research, and, while they have been accepted as appropriate by the technical committee, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, or the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical committee according to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee and the Governing Board of the National Research Council.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished schol- ars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and techni- cal matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Acad- emy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achieve- ments of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Acad- emy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both the Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. William A. Wulf are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board is a division of the National Research Council, which serves the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. The Board’s mission is to promote innovation and progress in transportation through research. In an objective and interdisciplinary setting, the Board facilitates the sharing of information on transportation practice and policy by researchers and practitioners; stimulates research and offers research management services that promote technical excellence; provides expert advice on transportation policy and programs; and disseminates research results broadly and encourages their implementation. The Board’s varied activities annually engage more than 5,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other organizations and individuals interested in the development of transportation. www.TRB.org www.national-academies.org

COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS STAFF FOR NCHRP REPORT 545 ROBERT J. REILLY, Director, Cooperative Research Programs CRAWFORD F. JENCKS, Manager, NCHRP CHRISTOPHER J. HEDGES, Senior Program Officer EILEEN P. DELANEY, Director of Publications HILARY FREER, Editor NATALIE BARNES, Associate Editor NCHRP PROJECT 20-57 PANEL Field of Special Projects—Area of Planning and Administration MARK J. WOLFGRAM, Wisconsin DOT (Chair) MADELEINE BLOOM, Potomac, MD CARL CHASE, JR., South Carolina DOT DAVID S. EKERN, Idaho Transportation Department CHARLES E. HOWARD, JR., Puget Sound Regional Council, Seattle, WA SUE MCNEIL, Urban Transportation Center, University of Illinois - Chicago LUISA PAIEWONSKY, Massachusetts Highway Department JOHN J. SHUFON, New York State DOT SANDRA STRAEHL, Montana DOT STEVE TAKIGAWA, California DOT ERIC GABLER, FHWA Liaison JAN EDWARDS, AASHTO Liaison THOMAS PALMERLEE, TRB Liaison

This report presents two tools developed to support tradeoff analysis for trans- portation asset management. These software tools and the accompanying documenta- tion are intended for state departments of transportation (DOTs) and other transporta- tion agencies to help them improve their ability to identify, evaluate, and recommend investment decisions for managing the agency’s infrastructure assets. A gap analysis conducted in the first phase of the study revealed that many existing asset management systems are not being used to their full potential. A need was identified for tools that could be integrated with existing systems to improve an agency’s ability to analyze and predict the impacts of investments at the network and program levels on overall sys- tem performance. This report and software will be very useful tools for analysts and decision-makers in three major functional areas within state DOTs: (1) policy, plan- ning, and program development; (2) engineering (construction, maintenance, and oper- ations); and (3) budget and finance. Asset management is a business process that incorporates the economic assessment of tradeoffs among alternative investment options to help make cost-effective invest- ment decisions. Governments at the local, state, and federal levels are investing sig- nificant sums of tax revenue in transportation infrastructure, and the public has a right to expect that the investment will be well managed. Increased constraints on budget and staff resources have created an environment where the efficient management of trans- portation assets is even more critical. The advent of increasingly powerful computer systems has made possible the development of sophisticated asset management sys- tems to provide the information transportation agencies need to make the best use of their investment. Agencies wishing to improve asset management practice have been constrained by the analytic limitations of their existing management systems. Current procedures in planning, program development, and program delivery may not be geared to investi- gation of the full range of investment options or to the analyses needed to compare and conduct tradeoffs among alternatives. While initial steps may have already been taken to define performance measures, agencies may lack the capability to conduct tradeoff analysis for different investment levels. Under NCHRP Project 20-57, “Analytic Tools Supporting Transportation Asset Management,” a research team led by Frances Harrison of Cambridge Systematics, Inc., began with a gap analysis to determine how existing tools were being used and what kinds of new tools were needed. This analysis included a review of the capabili- ties and limitations of currently available asset management tools. Finally, the team developed and field tested two analytical tools: AssetManager NT and AssetManager PT. AssetManager NT is a tool to analyze the investment versus performance across infrastructure categories in the highway mode over a 10- to 20-year timeframe. Asset- FOREWORD By Christopher J. Hedges Staff Officer Transportation Research Board

Manager PT is a tool to demonstrate the impacts of investment choices on a short-term program of projects. A companion CD-ROM included with this report contains the software tools and User Guides. The initial release of AssetManager NT includes “robot” tools to produce required inputs from the FHWA’s Highway Economic Requirements System for State Use (HERS/ST) program and the AASHTOWare Pontis bridge management system. AssetManager PT was developed to the prototype stage as a proof-of-concept tool. The report includes recommendations for future enhancements of the AssetManager tools and for resource materials that could facilitate their implementation. AssetManager NT and PT were designed to improve a transportation agency’s ability to identify, evaluate, and recommend investment decisions for managing the agency’s infrastructure assets. It is hoped that, over time, the tools will be adopted and used by state transportation departments and further enhanced by AASHTO with sup- port from its member agencies.

1 SUMMARY 3 SECTION 1 Introduction 1.1 Research Objectives, 3 1.2 Overview of the Research Approach, 4 1.3 Contents of Report, 8 9 SECTION 2 Needs Assessment 2.1 Objectives of the Needs Assessment, 9 2.2 Needs Assessment Methodology, 9 2.3 Literature Review, 11 2.4 State Interview Findings, 14 2.5 Exploratory Discussions, 21 23 SECTION 3 Review of Existing Tools 3.1 Objectives and Scope, 23 3.2 Review of Current Analytical Tools, 23 30 SECTION 4 Selection of Tools for Development 4.1 Gap Analysis, 30 4.2 Screening of Candidate Tool Concepts, 30 4.3 Selected Tool Concepts, 34 36 SECTION 5 Tool Descriptions 5.1 Overview, 36 5.2 AssetManager NT, 36 5.3 AssetManager PT, 42 49 SECTION 6 Testing Process 6.1 Initial Testing of Prototypes, 49 6.2 MDT Field Testing, 49 6.3 NYSDOT Field Testing, 52 55 SECTION 7 Recommended Future Initiatives 7.1 Overview, 55 7.2 Improvements to AssetManager NT, 55 7.3 Improvements to AssetManager PT, 56 7.4 Implementation Support for the AssetManager Tools, 57 7.5 Remaining Gaps in Analytical Tools for Asset Management, 58 60 SECTION 8 References 61 APPENDICES CONTENTS

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 545: Analytical Tools for Asset Management examines two tools developed to support tradeoff analysis for transportation asset management. The software tools and the accompanying documentation are designed to help state departments of transportation and other transportation agencies identify, evaluate, and recommend investment decisions for managing the agency’s infrastructure assets.

The software tools associated with NCHRP Report 545 are available in an ISO format. Links to instructions on buring an .ISO CD-ROM and the download site for the .ISO CD-ROM are below.

Help on Burning an .ISO CD-ROM Image

Download the NCHRP CRP-CD-57.ISO CD-ROM Image

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