Document Library

This report provides a comprehensive look at approaches taken by AASHTO member departments to comply with the requirements of Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 34. GASB 34 is the accounting standard that requires general infrastructure assets to be reported together with related depreciation or preservation costs in the comprehensive financial statements of state and local governments. This report documents how the requirements set by GASB 34 were met and catalogs the various approaches that were implemented in the first year. This report will be helpful to professionals who work with state departments of transportation and local governments in the areas of finance, auditing, asset management, and policy-making.

This report presents two tools developed to support tradeoff analysis for transportation asset management. These software tools and the accompanying documentation are intended for state departments of transportation (DOTs) and other transportation 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 system 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, planning, and program development; (2) engineering (construction, maintenance, and operations); and (3) budget and finance.

A significant challenge for U.S. transportation agencies is managing the transportation asset base while funding expansions of the network to meet increasing demands. The Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored a scanning study of asset management experience, techniques, and processes in Australia, Canada, England, and New Zealand. In its study, the U.S. team observed that asset management as an organizational culture and decisionmaking process is critical to transportation programs facing significant capital renewal and preservation needs and that successful programs require top-level commitment. The team also learned that agencies in the countries studied used asset management practices to obtain funding for transportation infrastructure. The team’s recommendations for possible implementation in the United States include using asset management principles to assess and invest in the Interstate System, creating a National Asset Management Steering Committee to distribute information and provide training, developing a Web-based asset-management toolbox, and conducting research on asset management topics.

This case study details the economic approach to asset management in Hillsborough County, Florida. A critical component of Hillsborough County's asset management program was their use of economic analysis tools. These tools will help the county to save money in the long run, and will facilitate the integration of other asset management practices into the county's programming. This report is part of the FHWA Office of Asset Management's series of case studies on TAM, produced with the goal of sharing information between agencies to improve efficiency.

As numerous tunnels in the United States began to show signs of considerable deterioration, it became necessary to develop a Tunnel Management System to guide highway and rail transit tunnel owners. Produced in conjunction with the Highway and Rail Transit Tunnel Maintenance and Rehabilitation Manual, this manual provides specific information for the inspection of tunnels. The manual includes information on inspection preparation, procedures, and documentation.

As numerous tunnels in the United States began to show signs of considerable deterioration, it became necessary to develop a Tunnel Management System to guide highway and rail transit tunnel owners. This manual provides specific information for the maintenance and rehabilitation of tunnels; provides specific recommendations for performing preventive maintenance to the tunnel structure, mechanical systems, electrical elements, track systems, and miscellaneous appurtenances; and offers general procedural recommendations for making structural repairs to various types of tunnel liner materials.

The thirteenth installment in the pavement preservation checklist series, focusing on the procedure for slurry seal application.

The tenth installment in the pavement preservation checklist series, focusing on the procedure for full-depth repair of Portland cement concrete pavements.

The nineth installment in the pavement preservation checklist series, focusing on the procedure for partial-depth repair of Portland cement concrete pavements.

The eighth installment in the pavement preservation checklist series, focusing on the procedure for dowel bar retrofit for Portland cement concrete pavements.

The seventh installment in the pavement preservation checklist series, focusing on the procedure for diamond grinding of Portland cement concrete pavements.

This synthesis may be useful to bridge owners and consulting engineers engaged in the design, inspection, and management of bridges with fracture-critical details, as a guide to present specifications and engineering judgment. It focuses on the inspection and maintenance of bridges with fracture-critical members (FCMs), as defined in the AASHTO "LRFD Bridge Design Specifications." The objectives of this report were to survey and identify gaps in the literature; determine practices and problems with how bridge owners define, identify, document, inspect, and manage bridges with fracture-critical details; and identify specific research needs. Among the areas examined were: inspection frequencies and procedures; methods for calculating remaining fatigue life; qualification, availability, and training of inspectors; cost of inspection programs; instances where inspection programs prevented failures; retrofit techniques; fabrication methods and inspections; and experience with FCM fractures and problems details. This synthesis contains information obtained from a survey distributed to bridge owners and consultant inspectors (72 state, provincial, and international departments of transportation and agencies), a literature search, and targeted interviews. Useful responses were received from 34 states and three Canadian provinces.