Use of Transportation Asset Management Principles in State Highway Agencies (2013)

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36 APPENDIX A Survey Questions NCHRP Synthesis 43-01: Use of TAM Principles in State Highway Agencies—Main Survey About the Survey Dear [contact(“first name”)] [contact(“last name”)], The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is preparing a synthesis on the “Use of Transportation Asset Management (TAM) Principles in State Highway Agencies.” This is being done for the NCHRP synthesis program, under the sponsor- ship of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration. This synthesis will help document TAM state of practice and the extent to which agencies have shifted their organizational cultures and business processes to support performance-based decisions that consider long-term investment options based on quality data. To complete the synthesis of TAM practices, two questionnaires will be conducted. The initial covered the self-assessment from the first volume of the AASHTO AM Guide. The second survey, attached, is a comprehensive questionnaire on the use of TAM covering a variety of assets other than just pavements and bridges. The synthesis report will focus on the practices of state highway agencies from the questionnaires results, follow-up inter- views, and a focus group meeting at the TAM Conference in San Diego in April of 2012. The report will include examples of how mature practices have been used for a variety of assets, including roadway hardware (e.g., signs and guardrails), ITS, bridges, and pavements. This questionnaire is being sent to all of the state DOT’s AM contact list. If you are not the appropriate person at your agency to complete this questionnaire, please forward it to the correct person. This should represent a collective response from each DOT. If needed, please consult other staff from different offices. Your cooperation in completing the questionnaire will ensure the success of this effort. Please complete and submit this questionnaire by March 20, 2012. We estimate that it should take approximately 30 minutes to complete the questionnaire. If you have any questions, please contact our principal investigator, Omar Smadi at smadi@iastate.edu or 515 294-7110. Any supporting materials can be sent directly to Omar Smadi by e-mail or at the address shown at the end of the questionnaire. Thank you very much for your time and cooperation. Jon Williams

37 NCHRP Topic 43-01 Survey Questionnaire Asset management principles have been used by several highway agencies, but there is little information on comparative expe- rience or on best practices to help other states with developing/implementing these principles. This questionnaire is part of the effort in NCHRP Synthesis Topic 43-01 to gather information on state highway agencies’ perspectives on the use of asset management principles. Trial use in a survey pre-test shows that the questionnaire can be easily completed within 30 minutes. The following definitions are used in this questionnaire (AASHTO Asset Management Guide: A Focus on Implementation): Asset: the physical transportation infrastructure (e.g., travel way, structures, other features and appurtenances, operations systems, and major elements thereof); more generally, can include the full range of resources. An individual separately man- aged component of the infrastructure; e.g., bridge deck, road section surface, streetlight, sign, etc. Asset Management: a strategic approach to managing transportation infrastructure. It focuses on business processes for resource allocation and utilization with the objective of better decision making based upon quality information and well- defined objectives. Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP): is an essential management tool which brings together all related busi- ness processes and stakeholders, internal and external, to achieve a common understanding and commitment to improved performance. It is a tactical-level document, which focuses its analysis, options development, programs, delivery mechanisms, and reporting mechanisms on ensuring that strategic objectives are achieved. Implementation Plan: is the process by which a state DOT starts implementing the TAMP. Please enter your contact information. First Name*: __________________________________________________ Last Name*: __________________________________________________ Title*: _______________________________________________________ Agency/Organization*: __________________________________________ Street Address*: _______________________________________________ Suite: ________________________________________________________ City*: ________________________________________________________ State*: _______________________________________________________ Zip Code*: ____________________________________________________ Country: _____________________________________________________ E-mail Address*: ______________________________________________ Phone Number*: _______________________________________________ Fax Number: __________________________________________________ Mobile Phone: _________________________________________________ URL: ________________________________________________________ The information provided in this survey will be shared as a part of the NCHRP 20-05/43-01 report on “Use of Asset Man- agement Principles in State Highway Agencies.”

38 In case of questions and for NCHRP to send you a link to the final report, please provide: Tel: __________________________________________________________ E-mail: _______________________________________________________ State of the Practice—General 1) Is your agency under any type of a mandate to use transportation asset management principles? ( ) Yes ( ) No Please specify the type of mandate you have to use transportation asset management principles (Legislature, Depart- ment head, etc.) ___________________________________________________________________________________ 2) Does your agency have an asset management group (task force) to coordinate all of the asset management activities? ( ) Yes ( ) No Please provide a brief description of the task force (offices involved, modes included, etc.): ___________________________________________________________________________________ State of the Practice—Inventory 3) Does your agency have an asset inventory? ( ) Yes ( ) No ___________________________________________________________________________________ If so, please indicate which assets are currently included within the inventory (check all that apply). [ ] Pavements [ ] Bridges [ ] Culverts [ ] Signs [ ] Pavement Markings [ ] Guardrail [ ] Roadway Lighting [ ] Tunnels [ ] Earth Retaining Walls [ ] Other Other Assets in the Inventory ___________________________________________________________________________________

39 4) How often do you conduct condition surveys for each asset? Annual Semi-annual Random Other Pavements ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Bridges ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Culverts ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Signs ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Pavement Markings ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Guardrail ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Roadway Lighting ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Tunnels ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Earth Retaining Walls ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ___________________________________________________________________________________ 5) How are the data collected for each asset? Manual Automated Semi-Automated Other Pavements ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Bridges ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Culverts ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Signs ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Pavement Markings ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Guardrail ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Roadway Lighting ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Tunnels ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Earth Retaining Walls ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 6) Has your agency identified primary AM data needs across the organization? ( ) Yes ( ) No 7) Does your agency have a process to assess the quality of the collected data (QC/QA)? ( ) Yes ( ) No 8) Does your agency have a data integration effort? ( ) Yes ( ) No ___________________________________________________________________________________ State of Practice—AM Activities 9) Our AM progress to date and anticipated activities over the next two to five years can be best summarized by: ( ) Minimal efforts to date and little change anticipated ( ) Developed inventories for bridge and pavements with some management capabilities being added over time

40 ( ) Expanding inventories beyond bridge and pavements with considerable management capabilities and integration under future consideration ( ) Complete inventories with future activities focused on advancing asset management capabilities, training, and implementation. 10) Our AM program includes the following (check all that apply): [ ] Our agency supports and is planning to further integrate asset management and infrastructure preservation among a wide variety of assets and agency decision tools. [ ] Our agency will be working to integrate AM policies in resource allocation and project selection. [ ] Our agency is integrating AM as part of performance reporting. [ ] Our agency is using AM to assess return on investment for infrastructure expenditures. ___________________________________________________________________________________ State of Practice—Management Process 11) My state highway agency’s state of practice on the use of asset management principles can be best summarized by: ( ) Collect some asset information but really do not do any management. ( ) Have begun the process of developing a TAMP, but it is not complete. ( ) Have developed a TAMP but have not begun implementation. ( ) Have developed a TAMP and in various stages of implementation. ( ) Have developed a TAMP and it is fully implemented into our business process. ( ) Other 12) Some of the major barriers faced toward development and implementation of a AM process (current or in the past) include(s) (check all that apply): [ ] Executive commitment [ ] Staff commitment [ ] Resistance to change [ ] Lack of resources (data, equipment, etc.) [ ] Lack of staff [ ] Staff turnover [ ] Lack of expertise and training [ ] Lack of guidance/support from FHWA and/or AASHTO [ ] Inter-departmental interactions [ ] Higher/other priorities [ ] Outside pressure to have a subjective approach [ ] Availability of adequate tools in the marketplace ___________________________________________________________________________________

41 13) A TAMP is an essential management tool which brings together all related business processes and stakeholders, inter- nal and external, to achieve a common understanding and commitment to improved performance. It is a tactical-level document, which focuses its analysis, options development, programs, delivery mechanisms, and reporting mecha- nisms on ensuring that strategic objectives are achieved. Given the above definition, please check all that apply: [ ] Our TAMP is kept up to date and serves as a resource document on a regular basis [ ] Our TAMP is used for both short- and long-term planning efforts [ ] Neither 14) Can you share a copy of your TAMP with the research team? ( ) Yes ( ) No ___________________________________________________________________________________ 15) Please characterize your agency’s efforts in working with decision makers and other stakeholders to incorporate the TAMP as part of your business processes. ( ) Minimal effort to integrate TAMP into business processes ( ) Status quo with no real changes or initiatives over the last couple of years ( ) Active with efforts across multiple departments and business units 16) Since using AM our agencies decisions are more (please check all that apply): [ ] Data-driven [ ] Defensible [ ] Integrated [ ] Performance-based ___________________________________________________________________________________ State of Practice—Staffing 17) My state highway agency’s state of practice on staffing and support for TAMP activities can be best summarized by (please check all that apply): [ ] My agency has an identified AM champion [ ] My agency has developed strategies to promote AM [ ] My agency has an AM implementation task force [ ] Our AM efforts are led by mid-level management [ ] Our AM efforts are led by top-level management ___________________________________________________________________________________ State of Practice—Performance Measures 18) The key asset performance data, which drive decision making across the organization, include (check all that apply): [ ] Physical condition [ ] Safety [ ] Environment

42 [ ] Operations [ ] Capacity [ ] Risk Assessment [ ] Other ___________________________________________________________________________________ Other key asset performance data Please list the other key asset performance data, which drive decision making: ___________________________________________________________________________________ 19) Our agency’s TAMP includes the following (please check all that apply): [ ] A long-range plan specific asset performance criteria which guides capital program development [ ] A process to review and update these asset performance targets along with the limitations of data collection and decision making [ ] Forecasting capabilities for asset performance [ ] Verification process to check that forecasts provide realistic projections of system deficiencies [ ] Process to align asset management practices with the performance measures ___________________________________________________________________________________ State of Practice—Decision Making 20) Which types of projects are selected based on AM systems and performance measures (check all that apply): [ ] Pavements [ ] Bridges [ ] Maintenance [ ] Operations [ ] Safety [ ] Capital Improvements [ ] Other 21) Our current agency decision making includes (check all that apply): [ ] Performance-based resource allocation [ ] Defined process using AM for selecting projects and developing programs [ ] Policies to balance asset preservation and capital improvements [ ] Adequate decision-making software packages and tools to support decision making [ ] A process to share AM output information with agency/elected officials [ ] Adequate risk assessment and management tools to support short-term decision making [ ] Adequate risk assessment and management tools to support long-term decision making ___________________________________________________________________________________