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Transportation Asset Management Case Studies
Comprehensive Transportation Asset Management
Asset Sustainability Index: A Proposed Measure for Long-Term Performance

Table of Contents

• Notice
• Quality Assurance Statement
• Technical Report Documentation Page.
• Foreword
• Executive Summary
• Chapter 1: The Asset Sustainability Index
• Creating an Index from the Ratios
• Addressing Need
• Addressing Outliers
• Chapter 2: Private Sector Precedents
• Analogous Railroad Capital Performance Measures
• Balanced Score Card Analogies and Triple Bottom Line
• Summary
• Chapter 3: International Precedents
• Australian Practices
• Asset Valuation within Australian Asset Management
• UK Highway Infrastructure Valuation
• Chapter 4: Example of a U.S. Pavement Sustainability Ratio
• Ohio Pavement Forecasts
• Utah Pavement Sustainability Ratio Computation
• Trade-Offs and System Conditions
• Tradeoffs and Backlogs
• Computing Long-Term Optimum System Conditions
• Utah DOT -The Pavement Sustainability Ratio
• Minnesota Pavement Sustainability Example
• Chapter 5: U.S. Examples of a Bridge Sustainability Ratio
• Ohio DOT Bridge Sustainability Ratio
• Calibrating Budgets for Asset Sustainability
• Calculating a District Bridge Sustainability Ratio to Support Tradeoffs
• Minnesota DOT Bridge Sustainability Analysis
• Summary
• Background
• Conclusion
• North Carolina DOT Bridge Sustainability Analysis
• Summary
• Bridge Condition Data
• Performance Reporting and Tradeoffs
• Conclusion
• Chapter 6: Example of US Maintenance Sustainability Ratio
• Maintenance Asset Sustainability-The Utah DOT Case Study
• Sustainability Ratios for Select Maintenance Activities
• Target Setting
• Background on Measuring Level of Maintenance
• Shoulder Work: Analysis of the data
• Pavement Striping: Analysis of the Data
• Pavement Markings: Analysis of the Data
• Signs and Posts: Analysis of the Data
• Guardrail: Analysis of the Data
• Conclusions
• Considerations and Lessons Learned
• Detailed Observations
• Lessons Learned
• Ohio Maintenance Sustainability Ratio
• Ohio Maintenance Categories
• Target Setting and Resource Allocation
• Selected Maintenance Expenditure Analysis
• Ohio Conclusion
• North Carolina Maintenance Analysis
• Summary
• Background
• Conditions and Expenditures
• Legislative Reporting
• Chapter 7 Combining Ratios into an Index
• Highest-Level of Indices
• Uses of the Index
• Details for Greater Understanding
• Summary
• Chapter 8 GASB 34 Precedents
• GASB 34 History
• Chapter 9 Methods for Calculating Need
• Use of Management Systems
• Inventory-Based Estimates
• Depreciation Method
• Chapter 10: Summary and Observations
• Consolidating Key Performance Focus Areas
• US Precedents for Sustainability Metrics
• Uses of the Sustainability Metrics
• Complementary Asset Valuation
• Private Sector Precedents
• Observations

List of Figures

• Figure 1: Ratios from Maintenance, Pavements and Bridges combine into the Asset Sustainability Index.
• Figure 2: This illustration depicts how the use of the ASI in a time series represents an important decline in needed infrastructure investment.
• Figure 3: Inputs to the Asset Sustainability Index.
• Figure 4: Pavement Sustainability Ratio and valuation over time.
• Figure 5: The "Sustainability Gap" or investment gap.
• Figure 6: Pavement deterioration curves.
• Figure 7: Guardrail sustainability ratio calculation.
• Figure 8: Long-term investment perspective.
• Figure 9: Combining ratios into an index.
• Figure 10: Kentucky?s Charles Roebling suspension bridge is an example of a unique asset.
• Figure 11: Class I capital investment growth.
• Figure 12: The Balanced Scorecard.
• Figure 13: Sunshine Coast short-term, medium-term and long-term metrics.
• Figure 14: Gold Coast Asset Consumption forecasts.
• Figure 15: Asset values in Bundaberg.
• Figure 16: An idealized example of asset consumption.
• Figure 17: Conditions on Ohio's "priority system".
• Figure 18: Ohio pavement conditions over 30 years.
• Figure 19: Ohio pavement sustainability ratio and gap.
• Figure 20. Construction inflation influenced investment needs.
• Figure 21: Utah pavement conditions over time.
• Figure 22: Utah pavement budget versus condition.
• Figure 23: Backlog of pavement treatments.
• Figure 24: Utah Interstate pavement condition trends.
• Figure 25: NHS conditions and trends.
• Figure 26: Non-NHS condition and trends.
• Figure 27: Budget need for optimal conditions.
• Figure 28: Utah pavement sustainability ratio.
• Figure 29: MnDOT "good" ride quality.
• Figure 30: MnDOT "poor" ride quality index.
• Figure 31: MnDOT remaining service life.
• Figure 32: MnDOT declining program projections.
• Figure 33: MnDOT's declining pavement investment levels.
• Figure 34: Ohio bridge conditions over time.
• Figure 35: General appraisal conditions by district.
• Figure 36: Statewide bridge condition changes.
• Figure 37: Ohio deck condition changes.
• Figure 38: Shifting budgets to address deficiencies.
• Figure 39: Improving conditions over time.
• Figure 40: Shifting bridge allocations over time.
• Figure 41: District 1 bridge funding shifts.
• Figure 42: Heat map of bridge conditions showing shifting conditions over time.
• Figure 43: Statewide "heat map" of bridge conditions and associated sustainability ratio.
• Figure 44: Improvement in MnDOT sufficiency ratings.
• Figure 45: Age profile of MnDOT bridges.
• Figure 46: Bridge conditions and targets over time.
• Figure 47: MnDOT long-term investment trends.
• Figure 48: North Carolina network-wide bridge health conditions.
• Figure 49: Forecasted decline in bridge health at current expenditure levels.
• Figure 50: Targets, Performance, Expenditure and Budgeted Amounts.
• Figure 51: Shoulder Work - Score, Target and Expenditure.
• Figure 52: Pavement striping condition, expenditures.
• Figure 53: Pavement marking targets, expenditures.
• Figure 54: Sign, post conditions expenditures.
• Figure 55: Guardrail performance, expenditure.
• Figure 56: Touch screen menu of deficiencies.
• Figure 57: Map of maintenance deficiencies in one county quadrant.
• Figure 58: A county work plan shows condition, level of effort.
• Figure 59: A county work plan's anticipated level of effort by category of deficiency.
• Figure 60: Ohio guardrail expenditures and conditions.
• Figure 61: General system guardrail conditions, budgets.
• Figure 62: Guardrail Work-Score, Target and Expenditure.
• Figure 63: Shoulder drop off condition, budgets.
• Figure 64: Drop off conditions, expenditures on Priority System.
• Figure 65: Forecasted pavement conditions at current budget levels.
• Figure 66: LOS forecast.
• Figure 67: NC ASI for maintenance categories, expenditures.
• Figure 68: ASI over time.
• Figure 69: Theoretical Pavement Sustainability Ratio and corresponding asset valuation.

List of Tables

• Table 1: Pavement Sustainability Ratio.
• Table 2: Asset value and annual investment needs.
• Table 3: Norfolk Southern RR assets and capital expenditures.
• Table 4: NSC track mileage.
• Table 5: NSC maintenance targets.
• Table 6: NSC rolling stock metrics.
• Table 7: BNSF financial metrics.
• Table 8: BNSF capital investments.
• Table 9: Queensland asset investment indicators.
• Table 10: Sunshine Coast asset investment metrics.
• Table 11: Bundaberg metrics.
• Table 12: Ohio pavement expenditures and outcomes.
• Table 13: Ohio pavement expenditures and outcomes.
• Table 14: Increased investment and achievement of asset goals.
• Table 15: Ohio bridge expenditures, funding gap.
• Table 16: Ohio bridge sustainability ratio components.
• Table 17: Changes in Ohio bridge funding, sustainability ratio.
• Table 18: Bridge condition statistics.
• Table 19. Bridge Sustainability Ratio..
• Table 20: Recurring bridge needs and activities.
• Table 21: Bridge maintenance program categories.
• Table 22: NC bridge conditions, targets.
• Table 23: Recommended expenditure levels.
• Table 24: Maintenance grades.
• Table 25: Shoulder Work - Target, Score, Dollars Spent or Budgeted.
• Table 26: Striping scores, conditions, expenditures.
• Table 27: Pavement markings scores, expenditures.
• Table 28: Sign post scores, expenditures.
• Table 29: Guardrail condition, expenditures.
• Table 30: Guardrail expenditures and conditions.
• Table 31: Shoulder drop off conditions, expenditures.
• Table 32: NC maintenance conditions and targets.
• Table 33: NC Interstate maintenance condition, budget and need.
• Table 34: Forecasted need by category for performance-based activities.
• Table 35: Calculation of a Sustainability Index.
• Table 36: NCDOT bridge maintenance need by category.
• Table 37: Sustainability ratios over time by asset class or activity.
• Table 38: Kansas DOT GASB data.
• Table 39: Kansas highway asset values.
• Table 40: 10 year bridge investment need.
• Table 41: Example of pavement need estimate.
• Table 42: Bridge depreciation costs.
• Table 43: Useful service life.
• Table 44: Example of how sustainability indices can illustrate program needs.

Front Cover Photo: The cover includes photographs of a road paving project, a section of guardrail, a collection of traffic signs and a picture of a worker in a lift truck working on a bridge.

Presented by:

DTFH61-10-C-00036

In accordance with Contract Number DTFH61-10-C-00036 in response to Broad Area Announcement "Transportation Changes and Revolutionary Advances for Transportation Planning"

Presented to:
The Federal Highway Administration Surface Transportation Environment and Planning Cooperative Research Program

This report submitted by the team of:
Gordon Proctor & Associates, Inc.
StarIsis Corp.
The National Center for Pavement Preservation