State Officials Rethinking Funding Decisions as Highway Law Requires Risk-Based Plans

This story appears in the Jan. 28 print edition of Transport Topics.

WASHINGTON — Employees from nearly every state’s department of transportation came together with federal officials here to set a course for future transportation funding decisions.

The discussion at the recent Transportation Research Board annual conference was fueled by a requirement in the new highway funding law, signed by President Obama in July, that every state develops risk-based, asset management transportation plans.

Prior to the release of details on how states should craft their plans, which will include minimum standards for pavement and bridge conditions, Butch Wlaschin, director of the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Asset Management, addressed five TRB sessions over three days to encourage state and local transportation officials to “move away from the ‘build it now’ mentality.”

States should think about actual “life-cycle costs,” rather than how costly the project was to construct and open, he said.

“We have to get away from a big ribbon-cutting event and then think everything will be fine for years,” Wlaschin said.

The state of Minnesota knows all too well about the dangers of deteriorating transportation infrastructure.

The I-35W bridge collapse that killed 13 people and injured dozens more in August 2007 in Minneapolis forever changed funding decisions, Michael Barnes, director of operations at the state’s transportation department said during a TRB presentation.

The creation of the “Better Roads” program in the aftermath of the collapse was based on the same type of risk-management approach that is major part of the new highway funding law, he said.

The Better Roads program was recently awarded a 2013 Global Roads Achievement Award from the International Road Foundation.

“The biggest trick is understanding the trade-off between the amount of funding and maintenance options available,” Barnes said, noting that a chief risk officer has been created within MnDOT for that reason.

Peter Stephanos, director of FHWA’s Office of Performance Management, cited such programs as “Better Roads” as the model for asset-management requirements. He said a rulemaking on freight performance standards for states is likely to be issued in the middle of 2014, following the release of other highway safety measures.

The target date for implementation of all performance standards is spring 2015, and states will be required to provide updates on how they are continuing to address congestion at freight bottlenecks.

Wlaschin said these updates can help states more quickly pinpoint when needs are changing. For example, many regions have seen a spike in truck traffic in recent years as natural gas and oil exploration has soared. This likely requires additional maintenance of these roads than in the past.

At another TRB session focused on port infrastructure investments, Wlaschin offered similar advice.

“It takes a lot of care over 30 years to make sure [a project] lasts 50 years,” he said.

Ports also need to know when aggressive action is needed to maintain the most critical roads and bridges, he said.

If the efficient movement of freight is hampered by deficient infrastructure, businesses could seek out other nearby ports.

Successfully utilizing asset-management plans requires the acceptance that the best decisions are often the least glamorous, said Pat Morin of the state of Washington DOT.

“A lack of funding has forced us to come up with creative measures, and that could potentially lead to risk not seen before,” he said.

Morin touted the success of chip-seal technology, which has extended the life of roads and bridges, even though it does not receive much attention.

Likewise, selective concrete panel replacement is maintaining the system’s overall performance with a smaller financial investment, he said.

“We need more focus on road preservation, even if it is not as exciting as flashy new projects,” said Roderic Sechrist, assistant commissioner of New York State DOT’s Operations and Asset Management Division.

In assessing life-cycle costs, Wlaschin warned of a crisis beyond roads and bridges. 

“There needs to be a strategic effort to make sure lights don’t start falling down,” he said. “There are aging highway signs that are 40 or 50 years old. Staying on top of the full inventory of assets is critical.”

Stephanos said asset management plans will instruct states to look beyond roads and bridges and to evaluate “the full asset.” That includes lights, guardrails and even office buildings.