8.0 Asset Management
Performance Targets
As part of its Comprehensive Program Update efforts, NYSDOT recently established condition targets for pavements and bridges. The targets are provided in Table 8.1. These are not “aspirational” goals, but reflect an effort to minimize deterioration of the existing highway and bridge infrastructure in an environment where available resources are less than one third of what is needed to maintain a state of good repair. The targets represent the attainable in ten years if the funding commitments and strategies presented in this TAMP are implemented.
As shown in the table, both pavement and bridge conditions are projected to worsen over the next ten years. However, the rate of deterioration will be less than if the NYSDOT did not implement asset management strategies. The percent poor pavement is expected to increase in the short term under a preservation first strategy, as resources are focused on getting good and fair pavement into a low-cost preservation cycle. This strategy eventually frees up funds in the future to repair the poor pavements.
NYSDOT will continue to refine the trade off balance between investments in bridges vs. highways, preservation vs. system renewal and core asset conditions vs. system improvement to sustain as much of the existing infrastructure as possible while addressing the most highly beneficial economic, social and environmental transportation opportunities that can be afforded in the current fiscal environment.
Table 8.1
NYSDOT Pavement and Bridge Targets
Performance Measure Baseline
2013 State of GoodRepair Target2023 NYSDOT Pavements
% VMT on Good and Excellent 71% 88% 59%
% Poor 10% 10% 36%
NYSDOT Bridges(1)
Deficient(2) 49% 25% 50.5%
% Poor 23% 10% 29%
8.1 TARGETSETTINGPROCESS
When establishing asset management targets, NYSDOT considers the following: The value of the asset to the overall interconnected transportation system and
its users;
The condition and uses of the asset (see chapter 2); Risk of asset failure, closure or restriction;
Traffic volumes and availability of alternate routes or detours; NYSDOT’s guiding principles for asset management (see chapter 1); Funding availability and restricted uses of that funding (see chapter 3); Life cycle cost considerations (see chapter 5);
Asset management investment strategies (see chapter 7); and
An analysis of future funding versus performance scenarios (see section 8.2). The resulting targets reflect an attempt to focus on preserving as much of the system as possible while also providing funding for the most critical replacement, safety, and enhancement projects as seen from a Statewide perspective. The balance of needs funding and resulting performance targets will be driven from a more analytical approach when cross-asset optimization is implemented as part of NYSDOT’s Enterprise Asset Management process. NYSDOT also will work to incorporate risk analysis into future target updates. NYSDOT uses an iterative process to establish targets, that consists of multiple iterations of the following steps:
1. Determine total funding available. 2. Divide funding among assets.
3. Determine amount of asset specific funding that goes to service life extension or condition improvement.
4. Develop treatment strategies for those assets. 5. Consider condition of assets being treated.
6. Evaluate the “window of opportunity” for treating needs for individual assets or asset segments.
7. Separate needs into: a. Preservation needs; b. System renewal needs;
8. Determine the dollar cost required to treat the assets in each of these four categories.
9. Determine funding estimates for each of these categories. 10. Model results.
11. Determine what percentage of those modeled end conditions is achievable. 12. Review results, and repeat steps 2 through 11 as necessary until a working
consensus is achieved on the results. 13. Establish targets.
8.2 SCENARIOANALYSIS
An important aspect of NYSDOT’s performance target setting process is understanding the relationship between funding levels and future asset management performance. This section describes how NYSDOT forecasts future performance levels and conducts scenario analysis. This is done for two primary reasons.
To provide a basis for cross asset trade-off to see what critical performance levels can be achieved by moving funds from one asset class to another.
To demonstrate critical thresholds that could be achieved by additional funding. For example, at a certain funding level bridge conditions could be stabilized at current levels or pavement conditions could achieve a perpetual state of good repair, or what combination of pavement and bridge funds would be needed to keep the backlog of funding needs from further increasing.
NYSDOT uses custom in-house developed analysis software, the Pavement Model and the Bridge Needs Tool, which use asset inventory and condition data along with NYSDOT custom developed deterioration curves to determine the appropriate treatment for each asset in a given year. These deterioration curves account for the significant factors which impact asset deterioration including asset type, materials and location within the state to address climactic differences between geographic regions.
The software uses the windows-of-opportunity approach described in Chapter 5 to optimize the timing of each treatment on each asset. Some assets may be within a window of opportunity for a specific treatment for many years. The
Once the model has recommended a treatment for each asset in the year of analysis, it then allows the user to prioritize treatments based on any performance measure. This prioritization is constrained by a budget. For pavements, the initial prioritization is performed using a measure of dollars invested divided by VMT carried by the segment. This approach prioritizes preservation work on highly traveled segments. Multiyear analysis has shown this to be the most cost effective means of accomplishing NYSDOT’s strategy of Preservation First. For bridges, prioritization is based on iterative runs of the software looking at which combination of projects would best improve the primary performance criteria described above.
The Pavement Model and Bridge Needs Tool were used to develop the forecasts that follow. The forecasts reflect the funding levels described in Chapter 3 and the investment strategies described in Chapter 7. All model runs were performed to include all NYSDOT pavement and bridges.