Moving Toward Transportation Asset Management

A shift to a holistic Transportation Asset Management (TAM) policy is often a major change in the way a transportation agency approaches investment in its transportation assets. Around the country, states are finding this shift worthwhile as they are steadily seeing the condition of their assets improve and their resource allocation decisions galvanizing around an increasingly coherent vision for their transportation infrastructure. This article presents the salient features of existing TAM systems for states and agencies considering such a shift. Additionally, focus groups of Connecticut transportation managers and decision makers were undertaken to identify current activities that could be leveraged and built upon in a full TAM-supportive policy. The findings of this study indicate that states considering the adoption of a holistic TAM policy should consider using five concepts (the 5Cs) as a strategy for TAM implementation: clarity, communication, champion, consistent, and comprehensive.