1. Setting Appropriate Measures
To Encourage Sound Infrastructure Preservation
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

2. An Age of Performance Measurement
We are entering an age of performance management for transportation programs
AASHTO, the GAO, the U.S. Congress all have declared their support for performance- based transportation programs
MAP-21 mentions ‘performance’ more than 150 times
It creates a requirement for federal, state MPO performance measures and targets
We are entering an era in which performance measures and performance management are essential to the federal transportation programs. This expectation will require federal, state and to some extent local transportation officials to set officials goals for the condition and performance of the transportation system. They then will identify performance measures to track progress toward those goals and mustset specific numeric targets to meet. Annual and periodic reports to the public will allow the Congress, the public and the media to determine whether we transportation officials are meeting the goals we’ve set.
This expectation of performance will require all of us to understand how to set the appropriate performance measures that incent sound asset management practices and do not encourage only a short-term, worst first mindset to managing our infrastructure.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

3. An Age of Performance Management
DECLARATION OF POLICY—Performance management will transform the Federal-aid highway program and provide a means to the most efficient investment of Federal transportation funds by refocusing on national transportation goals, increasing the accountability and transparency of the Federal-aid highway program, and improving project decision making through performance based planning and programming.
This quote is taken directly from MAP-21, the new transportation legislation. As you can see it puts Congress on record as declaring that performance management will be the official policy of the federal highway programs. This will require us all to contribute toward the achievement of transportation goals for both the condition and the performance of the highway system.
This approach represents a major shift in U.S. transportation policy. To date, the Federal Highway Administration has not held states or MPOs accountable for achieving particular targets for infrastructure condition, levels of congestion or for safety. That is about to change. Under the new MAP-21 legislation, states will have to develop a set of performance targets for infrastructure condition, safety, congestion, freight mobility and for environmental sustainability.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

4. The Need to Measure Carefully
The old say is, ‘what gets measured, gets managed’
Performance measures for infrastructure are very good, if chosen correctly
Agencies will be evaluated on their measures
So they will face pressure to meet their targets in the short-term
It is important to pick measures that encourage sound long-term preservation
There has been a lot of literature about performance measures and performance management in the private sector. Performance management in the corporate world has been common for decades, while it is still relatively new in transportation agencies. You’ve probably heard the term, what gets measured gets managed. This means that organizations and the people within them focus on what they are evaluated upon. They also tend ignore or downplay other areas that are not measured.
This means that performance measures for infrastructure can be very good if chosen correctly. Or, they can incentivize unsound asset management and maintenance practices if the measures focus upon the wrong things.
Agencies are likely to be evaluated on their measures so they will face pressure to achieve the standards and targets set by their performance measurement systems. It is therefore important to pick measures that reinforce the sound long-term practices found in good preservation, preventive maintenance and asset management programs.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

5. Potential Problems with Measures
A focus only on meeting short-term condition targets can encourage a ‘worst first’ approach
Over time, a ‘worst-first’ only approach will be more expensive
It does not encourage preservation or preventive maintenance
Without encouraging preservation and preventive maintenance, overall conditions can decline and costs for maintaining infrastructure increase
A focus on only meeting short-term condition targets could incentivize a worst-first approach.
If the performance measure for pavements is only current smoothness, such as measured through the International Roughness Index or IRI, then the agencies will not have an incentive to perform preventive maintenance, or preservation or to undertake major pavement rehabilitation or replacement projects. Instead, they could be incentivized to only focus on short-term resurfacings to make their roads smooth to achieve a good score.
What could occur in such a scenario, is that for the first few years the agencies achieve their pavement smoothness performance targets by performing a lot of simple resurfacing projects. Over time, however, they will not have been investing in key long-term pavement performance needs such as maintenance of drainage, the improvement of roadway bases, they won’t have an incentive for preservation or preventive maintenance and they are less likely to perform needed pavement rehabilitation projects. Those projects are expensive and do not in the short-term provide a lot of lane miles of smooth pavements to increase their overall pavement network smoothness metrics. Over time the worst-first approach will lead to higher overall costs and inability for the agencies to keep up with their pavement needs.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

6. Current Shortage of Measures
Because performance management is new, we don’t have many good measures
Presently we have national IRI, or International Roughness Index and Bridge Structural Deficiency data nationally
These are important but incomplete
They only look backward and don’t tell us about future trends
They also don’t encourage sound asset management principals
Because the national transportation programs are new at performance management, we don’t have a lot of good performance measures that can be applied consistently across the country. Presently, the states collect IRI data and Bridge Structural Deficiency and Bridge Functional Obsolesence data to feed national reports.
These are good measures as far as they go. However, there are several widely recognized shortcomings with relying on IRI or bridge structural deficiencies as the basis for national performance measures.
First, if we rely on these measures to gauge our infrastructure conditions we are only looking backwards. They can provide us lagging indicators of past conditions but they don’t tell us anything about the future direction of our transportation network.
Secondly, by themselves they can encourage a worst-first approach. A focus only on IRI or structural bridge deficiencies could encourage states to diminish preventive maintenance and preservation efforts and to only address pavements and bridges that are already deficient. In effect, our policy could be incentivized to ignore assets until they become unsound and they to chose the most expensive solution to achieve a short-term condition target.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

7. What are better measures
Measures that encourage a long-term, lowest lifecycle approach may be best
They can encourage sound preservation, preventive maintenance and asset management principles
Here are some examples
Fortunately, although we don’t have many national performance measures to chose from today, we do have many sound state performance measure examples that we can build from. The states and many local governments have been involved in performance management for a decade or more. They have learned from their experiences and they have incorporated sound asset management principles into their performance measurement systems.
Some attributes of good performance measures are that they encourage a long-term, lowest lifecycle approach to managing infrastructure. The agencies who have sound long-term measures tend to rely not only on measures of current conditions but also forecasts of future conditions. Their metrics focus upon keeping good pavements and good bridges in good condition, as well as improving those bridges and pavements that already are in a poor state. In other words, a sound performance measurement system will encourage and incentivize a balanced investment program that includes a right mix of fixes including preservation, preventive maintenance, reactive maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

8. Utah DOT Investment Backlog
This is a measure from the Utah DOT. What you see here is the department is measuring the backlog of needed treatments to various parts of its pavement network. In red are the Interstate Highway miles, in yellow are the National Highway System miles and in blue are the low-volume routes, generally rural two-lane routes. What this chart reflects is that the Utah DOT has had to make difficult tradeoffs because of mandated legislative budget decisions. It has enough funds to keep up with its Interstate and its National Highway System routes. However, it has had to reduce the investment in its rural two-lane system. What this performance measure provides is insight into the future direction of the Utah highway system. This performance measure of the backlog of needed treatments tells the Utah public that the rural highway system in the state is headed for worst conditions and a substantial backlog of needed investment. This type of measure is a leading measure. It provides insight into the future direction of the roadway network and does not only provide information about past conditions. This measure also illustrates the consequences of current budgeting decisions that the Utah DOT does not have the power to change. This type of measure illustrates that the important Interstate and National Highway System will remain in sound condition under current budget and condition forecasts. However, rural Utah will face declining pavement conditions.
The Utah DOT is a strong asset management agency. The agency officials do not like the trend this chart illustrates but by picking a sound performance measure, the backlog of needed treatments, they are able to illustrate future consequences and to provide a measure that encourages sound asset management practices.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

9. Utah Pavement Forecast
This chart from the Utah DOT represents another good performance measure and it complements the last one. This performance measure is for the Overall Condition Index which is a composite measure of pavement condition data. It measures more than just smoothness. To keep a good OCI number the agency needs to practice over time a sound mix of fixes to keep both the pavement surface conditions and the pavement structure in good condition.
The chart builds from the last one and it shows the red line, which is the Interstate Highway System, remains in fairly good overall condition through 2030 if current budget levels and investment practices continue. In the light blue, the NHS routes also remain in fairly good condition. However, the yellow trend line shows that the statewide average Overall Condition Index is declining primarily because of the steep decline in the rural highway pavement network. As you see, it is forecasting that after 2015 there will be a steep decline in the condition of the rural pavements.
This type of measure is good for two reasons. First, the OCI looks at many pavement elements including its structural condition so to keep a good OCI performance level an agency must preserve its pavement structure and not only the pavement surface. Secondly, these types of measures are leading measures. The Department is not focused only on what are its conditions today, but what are its conditions going to be in the future.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

10. Declining Value of Pavements
Another performance measure that is worth considering is some variation of the Remaining Service Life, which is shown here from a Minnesota report on the state’s pavement network. Now, not everyone likes Remaining Service Life as a performance measure. They think it confuses the public who may think that when a pavement reaches the end of its service life the road becomes impassable, or it collapses or something. The concept of reaching the end of its “economic life” may be too confusing to convey to the public.
Be that as it may, the use of the Remaining Service Life as a performance measure by the Minnesota DOT does convey some very important information to the public and to policy makers. As you can see here, in 2001, the principal arterials in Minnesota had an average remaining service life of 14.8 years and the non-principal arterials had a remaining service life of 13.4 years. Because investments in pavements did not keep up with need, by 2010, the remaining service life for principal arterials had fallen to 10.1 years and for non-principal arterials it was down to 7.7 years.
Now this metric is a lagging metric in that it only reports actual conditions from the past to the present. But because it measures Remaining Service Life it does provide insight into the future direction of pavement conditions. Clearly, the Remaining Service Life of the non-principal arterials has fallen by nearly half and the principal arterials by 31 percent. This chart illustrates a trend where the overall conditions of pavements in Minnesota have been less robust, there is less overall resiliency in the pavement network and there is less value remaining in the pavement network. Whereas in 2001, a principal arterial could provide good service for nearly 15 years, now it only can provide good service for 10 years or less. This type of measure tells policy makers that the overall value and health of the pavement network is declining.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

11. MnDOT’s Pavement Forecast
Building from the Remaining Service Life, the Minnesota DOT provided this trend line and forecast showing its current forecasts. In red are the lane miles of non-principal arterials with poor ride quality shown from 2001 through 2010 and projected to It illustrates that the percent of the system with poor ride quality will increase from only two percent of the system in 2001 to 10 percent of the system by This type of metric illustrates important trend information, and does not provide only an isolated snapshot in time. It allows policy makers to understand the direction of infrastructure conditions if current investment levels condition.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

12. Michigan Bridge Trends
The Michigan DOT has taken a sound asset management approach to the selection of performance measures for its bridge inventory. In the 1990s, Michigan bridges were in poor condition compared to national averages. The department has steadily repaired its bridges in poor condition but it also has taken a parallel approach to keeping its good bridges from falling into a poor state of repair. In effect, it is taking a “worst-first” approach to the bridges that already are in poor condition but it also focuses on at-risk bridges to repair them before they fall into a poor state of repair and require costly repairs or even replacement.
The performance measure you see here tracks the number of bridges by year that decline from a Good or Fair Condition to a Poor condition in Michigan. As you can see in 1999, the trend peaked with nearly 200 bridges declining from the Good or Fair state into a Poor state of repair. The department knew that such a trend was not sustainable. It could not afford to have nearly 200 bridges annually fall into a Poor condition state.
It has steadily focused upon its Good and Fair bridges and provided timely, and often lower-cost repairs, to keep them in that sound state so that they do not decline into a Poor state of condition. As you can see, by 2010, the number of bridges declining into a Poor condition state was less than 50, or only a quarter of the ones in 1999.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

13. Michigan Bridge Focus
This chart from the Michigan DOT is a little complicated but it represents a very important performance measurement approach. What it illustrates is that the department focuses its measurement intently upon the bridges in the Good and Fair condition. It invests maintenance funds and projects into them so that they do not fall into the Poor condition state. It seeks to steadily reduce the number of Poor bridges, but more importantly, it attempts to reduce the rate of decline in its overall bridge inventory. It believes this approach to managing its bridges will prevent the problems of the past where bridges were allowed to fall into a Poor condition state and then require expensive treatments that the state cannot afford.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019

14. Performance Measure Lessons
Focus on leading measures
Incentivize sound asset management principles
Reward preservation of assets
A challenge will be to improve our management systems to provide sound, leading indicators of future condition trend lines
As we enter the era of performance measurement, the examples from Utah, Minnesota and Michigan hold several lessons. First, it is possible to develop performance measures that incentivize sound, long-term practices. The key is to focus upon long-term trend lines of performance so that policy makers can understand the long-term consequences of current actions.
Second, good performance measures will incentivize good asset management practices. If you manage what you measure, it will be important to measure how well we preserve our infrastructure for future users and not only how well we perform today.
Third, it will be important not to incentivize or encourage a worst-first approach. If we focus only upon investing in bridges and pavements that already have fallen into a poor condition state we could consume funds that are also needed to preserve our good pavements and bridges so that they do not become expensive problems in future years.
The opening of the Performance Management Era in transportation offers many opportunities. We should learn from the good examples from around the country and adopt a set of performance measures that encourage and reward good asset management practices.
The opening of the Performance Management Era hopefully will create new momentum to improve our bridge and pavement management systems so that they can provide meaningful leading performance measures that inform our nation of where our transportation system is headed if current trends continue.
Michigan Best Practices Conference
6/28/2019