TRAPPD: Informing Risk-Based Asset Decisions

Following a federal mandate to establish risk-based transportation asset management plans, MaineDOT has created a matrix that informs funding and scheduling on an asset-specific or program-wide basis (Merrill et al. 2015). Building on this work, MaineDOT has established the “Transportation Risk Assessment for Project Planning and Delivery” (TRAPPD) initiative. MaineDOT opted to consider risk in terms of project delivery (i.e., on schedule, on budget). This mirrors strategic goals of the department and does not lessen the ability to maximize safety, condition, and level of service when determining priority of work on one asset over another. Generally, it has been a project’s environmental context (i.e., landscape setting) in combination with specific scopes and practices that have constrained projects' schedules and threatened budgets. Contextual elements that pose inordinate risk include the presence of an endangered species; hydrologic and hydraulic limitations; natural resource impacts; and/or traffic management. Incorporating these concerns for MaineDOT roads, bridges, culverts, multi-modal facilities, and other assets, TRAPPD provides a numeric comparison using only existing data, or “proxy indicators,” to reduce or eliminate costs of gathering new asset information. Proxy indicators are those that provide parallel information or context for questions that would otherwise require a data gathering effort. Using TRAPPD online, asset managers can now view combined risk scores and individual proxy scores and adjust expectations for asset condition and project delivery in real time, prior to inclusion of a project into a work plan. This capability represents a transition from proof-of-concept status to an automated, implemented, and transferable framework for risk-based decision-making by state DOTs or municipalities.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABC40 Standing Committee on Transportation Asset Management. Alternate title: Maine DOT’s Transportation Risk Assessment for Planning and Project Delivery (TRAPPD): Moving Beyond Data to Decisions
• Authors:
  • Gates, Judy
  • Merrill, Samuel B
  • Folta, Bradford
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: 7p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asset management; Automation; Budgeting; Decision making; Government funding; Project delivery; Risk; Scheduling; Transportation planning
• Identifier Terms: Maine Department of Transportation
• Geographic Terms: Maine
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01663919
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-04313
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 22 2018 12:03PM