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Funding Needs for Maintenance and Preservation of Transportation Assets

Project Details
STATUS

In-Progress

START DATE

11/18/24

END DATE

05/18/27

RESEARCH CENTERS InTrans, CTRE
SPONSORS

National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP)

Researchers
Principal Investigator
Omar Smadi

Director, CTRE

Co-Principal Investigator
Ahmed AlBughdadi

Research Scientist, CTRE

Co-Principal Investigator
Yazan Abukhalil

Research Engineer, CTRE

Co-Principal Investigator
Alireza Sassani

Research Scientist, CTRE

Co-Principal Investigator
Inya Nlenanya

Research Scientist, CTRE

About the research

This research aims at addressing the problems and needs identified by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program regarding the ability of state transportation agencies to implement timely, well-funded maintenance programs, especially for ancillary assets. This warrants decision-support materials and tools for a data-driven maintenance program applicable to various non-pavement-and-bridge asset classes.

This research will primarily focus on developing a practical tool that transportation agencies can utilize to accurately estimate and justify their funding needs for maintenance and preservation of transportation assets. The tool will enable agencies to do the following:

  • Quantify the optimal annual costs for maintaining different asset classes in a state of good repair over their life cycle. This includes analyzing the impacts and costs of deferring or delaying maintenance activities.
  • Compare maintenance strategies and scenarios to determine the most cost-effective approach for achieving the desired asset condition levels within available budget constraints.
  • Produce visualized reports and summary outputs that effectively communicate maintenance and preservation funding needs to technical and non-technical audiences, including decision
    makers.
  • Provide a flexible framework that agencies can adapt to their specific asset inventories, condition assessment methods, and data availability for both existing assets and future system expansion.

The tool and supporting research will enhance agencies’ ability to develop comprehensive transportation asset management programs (TAMPs) and state highway improvement programs. It will also facilitate data-driven investment decisions that minimize life-cycle costs and optimize system performance across all asset classes.

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