Why Your Agency Should Consider

Asset Management Systems 

for Roadway Safety

U.S. Department of Transportation

Federal Highway Administration
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Why Include Roadway Safety Elements in 

Your Asset Management System? 1

The evolution of formal asset management 

programs in government 1

Asset management for highway agencies: 

It’s time to move beyond pavement and 

bridge management 1

Why is a systematic approach required for 

management of roadway safety elements? 2

Why should you consider including roadway 

safety elements in your asset management 

system? 2

What are the benefi ts of integrated asset 

management systems? 3

Case Studies: States Take Varied 

Approaches to Asset Management 

Systems for Roadway Safety Elements 5

New Mexico’s video-based Integrated Asset 

Management System makes it easier to 

maintain remote highways. 6

Virginia lowers condition assessment costs 

by random sampling. 9

Florida’s Roadway Characteristics Inventory 

System is a tool for zero-based budgeting, 

performance management, and resource 

allocation. 11

Tennessee’s map-based roadway asset database 

will integrate with Maintenance Management 

System, other internal databases. 12

Initial Action Steps for Building a Roadway 

Safety Asset Management System 15
This primer provides a general overview of asset 

management systems for roadway safety elements including hardware and initial guidance for 

agencies beginning to consider such systems.

The evolution of formal asset management 

programs in government

Since the 1980s, advocates for business standards have 

called for the application of standard business accounting practices to the oversight of government agencies. 

These advocates have noted that the financial reports 

of State and local governments should have sufficient 

information to assess agencies’ financial decisions 

and the cost of government services. The demand for 

increased financial accountability for publicly owned 

assets, coupled with the growing need to carefully 

shepherd scarce government resources, has motivated 

government agencies to develop more formal asset 

management programs.

Recently, the information technology (IT) revolution 

has simplified gathering inventory, condition, and performance data, as well as applying economic, performance, and behavioral models to support decisions on 

resource allocation. As a result, highway agencies have 

new tools for managing roadway assets.

Asset management for highway agencies: It’s 

time to move beyond pavement and bridge 

management

Roadway infrastructure is one of the largest investments of State governments. State transportation 

agency officials who manage major highway assets face 

many challenges. As travel demand escalates, system 

users expect high-quality service; yet in most States 

transportation agency 

funding is constrained.

In general, the Nation’s 

highways are an aging asset, so maintenance, repair, 

and replacement costs are 

increasing as resources 

shrink. 

Transportation agencies 

have embraced the asset 

management decisionmaking framework to help them highlight both the 

significance of highway infrastructure as an investment 

and the cost-effectiveness of systematic condition and 

performance monitoring and maintenance programs. 

During the past 10 to 15 years, most State departments 

of transportation (DOTs) have implemented pavement and bridge management systems. These systems 

provide the timely information and “what if” analyses 

that State DOTs need to justify program funding and to 

make cost-effective resource allocation decisions about 

these high capital-cost assets.

While pavements and bridges are the “big ticket” capital 

outlay assets in our roadway infrastructure inventory, 

the highway system’s safety and efficiency depend on 

the performance of roadway safety elements. Costeffective maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement 

of roadway elements such as signs, signals, lighting, 

guardrails, barriers, crash cushions, pavement markings, 

and detectors are vital. Yet, because of the pressure of 

other needs and priorities, most State DOTs have not 

yet developed adequate asset management systems 

for roadway safety hardware.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Why Include Roadway Safety Elements 

in Your Asset Management System?

1

Asset management is 

a strategic approach 

to managing 

transportation 

infrastructure assets. 

It provides a systematic 

process for maintaining, 

upgrading, and 

operating physical 

assets cost effectively.
Why is a systematic approach required for 

management of roadway safety elements?

One of the principal responsibilities of a roadoperating agency is to optimize the safety of all road 

users. Providing well-designed, properly installed, 

and well-maintained safety elements (sometimes 

referred to as roadway safety hardware) is a key part of 

this responsibility.

Reactive strategies are not effective. It is not sufficient 

to simply respond to reports that roadway safety 

elements require maintenance or repair. To protect 

roadway users, safety-related roadway elements must 

be replaced before they fail. Asset management systems help highway agencies develop work plans and 

budgets to maintain, repair, or replace hardware cost 

effectively and at the appropriate time. 

To ensure the safety and efficiency of the roadway system, it is necessary to have a comprehensive approach 

to the design, installation, inventory, monitoring of condition and performance, and maintenance and repair of 

roadway safety hardware.

Continual condition and performance monitoring 

required: Roadway safety elements require continual 

monitoring because the condition of system components degrades relatively quickly and failures seriously 

compromise motorist safety. Weather conditions 

(particularly wind, snow, ice, as well as repeated freezethaw cycles), chloride applications, acid rain and other 

environmental factors, and traffic loads all take a daily 

toll on a roadway’s condition.

Visual inspection is not always enough: Some roadway 

safety components require more than simply visual 

inspection. For example, the nighttime visibility of 

roadway signs (known as retroreflectivity) deteriorates 

steadily, and special equipment is required to measure 

sign visibility objectively.

Performance data are valuable: To determine future 

budget needs, highway agencies need to predict the 

performance life of guardrails, signs, pavement markings, and other roadway safety elements in their operating environments. Asset management systems are a 

valuable database of performance information.

Why should you consider including roadway 

safety elements in your asset management 

system?

The key benefits of applying sound asset management 

principles to roadway safety elements are saving lives 

“Someone is always asking, for example, ‘How much 

did you spend for plowing and deicing in last night’s 

snowstorm?’ It is very difficult to calculate that manually. Our Maintenance Management System will do all 

those calculations for you. We will be able to tell people 

they can go to the system and find out the answers 

themselves.”

 — Chris Harris, Maintenance Division, Tennessee Department of Transportation

2

Figure 1. Photograph. Calculating the costs of snow and 

ice removal is a challenge for highway departments.
and money: the two major concerns of any roadoperating agency. More specific benefits are:

■ More rational resource allocation decisions. Asset 

management techniques and tools help transportation agency managers rationally identify priorities for 

resource expenditures for roadside hardware purchase, 

maintenance, and repair. The rationale for expenditure 

decisions can be provided easily to upper management, other decisionmakers, the public, or the media.

■ Simplified cost estimating and budget processes. 

Asset management systems track costs. Cost tracking 

supports the preparation of more detailed and accurate cost estimates and budgets. 

■ Cost savings. Better information, more accurate cost 

data, more timely decisions, and other efficiency 

improvements combine to reduce the costs of acquisition, maintenance, upgrade, and replacement of assets.

■ Timely, accurate, complete data access. Asset management systems create a centralized database that 

can be accessed quickly. The inventory of assets, their 

location, condition assessment, maintenance and 

repair history, and other relevant information can be 

shared in real time and updated continually. 

Responding to inquiries ranging from simple 

questions to complex analyses is easier and 

faster. Easy access to information helps managers, executives, and policymakers.

■ Improved safety through faster response to 

customer service requests. Concerns about 

the safety of signs, signals, pavement markings, and other roadway safety elements 

account for a significant part of the interaction between transportation agencies and 

their customers. Quicker access to data about 

the safety elements facilitates faster customer 

service and makes roads safer.

■ Reduced duplication of effort. Because central and regional offices can share information, duplication of effort (for example, multiple data 

entry) is reduced or eliminated. 

■ Improved data clarity and consistency. Standard 

definitions, measurements, and formats improve the 

accuracy and reliability of data.

■ Simplified report preparation. Asset management 

systems make it easier to produce the asset management reports required under the General Accounting 

Standards Board Statement 34 (“Basic Financial Statements—and Management’s Discussion and Analysis—

for State and Local Governments”) and other financial 

accountability or investment review regulations.

What are the benefits of integrated asset 

management systems?

Even greater benefits—particularly about safety—

can be realized by merging or integrating the data concerning various roadway hardware asset categories into 

a broader database covering most or all of the transportation agency’s assets. Integrated systems: 

■ Support strategic decisionmaking. Integrated 

asset management systems support strategic 

3

Figure 2. Photograph. Information on the cost of maintaining 

guardrails mangled by crashes can be identified through 

highway management systems.
decisionmaking through improved analysis capabilities. Integrated systems make it possible to answer 

a question such as, “If I had $10,000, where would I 

spend it to get the best return on my investment?” 

 Answering such a question involves both examining 

options within each investment area and making tradeoffs across different potential investment areas. The 

definition of “investment areas” is flexible and needs to 

be tailored to how an individual agency does business. 

It may be safety investments compared to other safety 

investments (across the State or its counties, or to 

other types of safety improvements) or safety improvements compared to other types of roadway improvements (preservation, pavement, etc.). Each option 

and tradeoff is evaluated with respect to established 

performance objectives.

■ Simplify tracking of asset locations. With an integrated asset management system, it is easy to locate 

all types of assets using a uniform location reference 

system. 

■ Make comparisons. Integrated asset management 

systems make it possible to compare rates and 

relationships across asset types and within a single 

category.

■ Share data and improve interdepartmental 

cooperation. Integrated systems make it easier to 

share data across departments, divisions, sections, 

and units in various geographic locations across a 

State. Sharing a database can improve communication 

among units with different asset management responsibilities, fostering more cooperative approaches to 

problems and needs. 

■ Improve communication. Integrated systems improve 

analysis, reporting, and display capabilities that make it 

easier to communicate more effectively with decisionmakers, policymakers, and the public.

■ Reduce data discrepancies. Integrated systems eliminate inconsistencies and conflicts among databases.

■ Improve data collection. The development of integrated systems fosters improved data collection, 

including the collection of data on multiple types of 

assets in a single pass, which can save money and 

improve internal data consistency.

■ Support automated data collection. Because of 

economies of scale, automated data collection is more 

cost effective when applied to a broad, integrated 

database system.

■ Support collection of more types of data. Data 

elements that may be only marginally useful to a 

single department may be cost-justified when used 

by the entire agency (for example, road weather 

information system data, toll collection data, or 

electronically collected data on system use, condition, 

and performance).

■ Improve data reliability. Development of uniform 

measurement units and measurement methods improves the reliability of asset attribute measurement.

■ Improve information retrieval capabilities. Because 

all data items concerning the entire system of roads 

and bridges are included in a single, integrated, relational database, retrieval of information spanning two 

or more data items often is faster and more accurate.

■ Support a stronger asset management program. 

Development of a broad, integrated system gains visibility for the asset management program, leading to 

more attention by senior management and policymakers, more consistent and adequate budgetary support, 

and, most importantly, greater accountability by the 

units responsible for the several asset types.

4
that had initiated or implemented any type of roadway 

safety asset management system or automated inventory and monitoring system. 

The following pages present brief overviews of asset 

management systems in New Mexico, Virginia, Florida, 

and Tennessee to illustrate the diversity of approaches 

State highway agencies are taking to the development 

of systems and tools for management of roadway safety 

elements. Table 1 summarizes the concepts, coverage, 

and status of these four asset management systems.

All agencies manage their assets. Recently, State transportation agencies have begun to take 

steps toward the development of business tools and 

processes to support a comprehensive, strategic approach to resource allocation and utilization, based 

on well-defined business objectives. This is particularly true of roadway safety elements.

Pioneering State DOTs have developed fully integrated 

systems to manage all of their roadway safety elements, 

which are linked to other management systems that 

support the agency’s overall business processes. Many 

States have systems that manage or simply store data 

on selected categories of roadside safety hardware. 

Often, State agencies have several inventory systems 

or asset management systems in place that may be 

integrated in the future. 

As with so many other issues involving State transportation agencies, 

there is no “one size fits all” solution; each State’s approach to asset 

management depends on the 

unique budget factors, management styles, needs, and challenges 

in that State. Yet there is no need 

to “reinvent the wheel”; in building their own systems, States can 

learn from experiences elsewhere. 

Guidelines for Roadway Safety Hardware Management Systems provides 

detailed information on actions 

currently underway in some States.1

In that 2005 report, the researchers 

compiled information from States 

C A S E S T U D I E S

States Take Varied Approaches to

Asset Management Systems for

Roadway Safety Elements

5

1

 Hensing, David, and Rowshan, Shahed. FHWA HRT-05-073 

Guidelines for Roadway Safety Hardware Management Systems, 

Federal Highway Administration, McLean, VA, July 2005.

Figure 3. Map. Location of States in the United States with partially integrated 

safety asset management systems as of 2000.

States with partially integrated safety asset management 

systems: California, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, 

Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, 

Virginia, and Wisconsin.
New Mexico Road 

Feature Inventory 

(RFI)

Virginia Random 

Condition 

Assessment (RCA) 

Module

Florida Roadway 

Characteristics 

Inventory (RCI)

Tennessee Road 

Information 

Management 

System (TRIMS) 

and Maintenance 

Management 

System (MMS)

Basic 

Concept

Roadway 

Safety 

Elements 

Included 

Current 

Deployment 

Status

Video image-based 

combined with 

Oracle® database 

system.

Table 1. Comparison of four State asset management systems for roadway safety elements.

Sampling-based 

inventory system.

Continuously 

updated data 

collected 

conventionally from 

traditional sources.

Continuously 

updated data 

collected 

conventionally from 

traditional sources.

All visible roadway 

safety elements 

included except 

lighting and 

detectors.

Roadway safety 

elements included are 

signs, sign supports, 

guardrails, and 

pavement markings.

All roadway safety 

elements included.

Roadway safety 

elements included 

are signs, guardrails, 

and pavement 

markings.

Full deployment 

expected in 2005.

Four of six planned 

modules are now 

complete. Data 

population of the 

RCA Module will take 

place gradually.

RCI fully deployed 

and operational for 

several years.

Although operational 

for several years, TRIMS 

recently converted to 

an Oracle database. 

The MMS is under 

active deployment in 

early 2005.

6

CASE STUDY: NEW MEXICO 

New Mexico’s video-based Integrated Asset 

Management System makes it easier to 

maintain remote highways.

New Mexico Department of Transportation engineers 

(NMDOT) can check the condition of a portion of the 

State roadway in vast remote regions without leaving the offi ce using the “virtual drive” feature of the 

agency’s Road Features Inventory (RFI).

New Mexico’s RFI is a repository for more than fi ve 

million images and a database of information on each 

roadway asset photographed. Video images (such as 

those shown in fi gures 4 and 5) are captured every 

15.24 meters (m) (50 feet (ft)). Because the images 

encompass an area 36.6 m (120 ft) wide, the system 

provides a visual and data record of the entire New 

Mexico State roadway system.

RFI catalogs 31 types of roadway features, including 

roadway safety elements such as small signs, large-
sign supports and 

structures, guardrails 

and barriers, pavement markings, and 

interchanges. Data 

about the roadway 

assets portrayed in 

each image are associated in the RFI 

system. Although the 

type of data collected 

varies by asset, there 

are some common 

data attributes. These 

include the asset’s description and condition, the 

material the asset is made of, the location of the asset 

(by latitude and longitude, roadway start and end mile 

marker, and roadway start and end mile point), the 

elevation of the location of the asset, and the asset’s 

physical dimensions (height and length).

The primary users of RFI are NMDOT district offices, 

including construction personnel, maintenance and 

design engineers, and managers, who use the tool for 

complete asset management throughout the life cycle 

of design, installation, inventory, condition and performance monitoring, maintenance, and repair.

RFI has been online since early 2003 on the department’s Intranet and is used throughout the agency. For 

example, when the legal department needs to investigate whether a route is safely signed or guardrails are 

properly placed, a virtual drive using RFI is a good place 

to start.

Video footage and data are collected and maintained 

at the district level, and identified by the NMDOT patrol 

responsible for maintaining that portion of the district’s 

roadway system. A contractor collected the video data 

using a stereo road surface tester (RST) van (figure 

6) originally developed for pavement management 

system (PMS) inventories, which can be driven at up 

to 88.5 kilometers per hour (km/h) (55 miles per hour 

(mi/h)) running speed.

The State filters the contractor-supplied video and data 

into RFI. The RFI software application and database 

were initially developed in-house by NMDOT’s Highway 

Operations IT development staff.

NMDOT’s highway patrol personnel carry global positioning system- (GPS-) enabled personal digital assistants and digital cameras so they can update, insert, or 

delete asset information while in the field. The changes 

are then recorded when the patrol personnel return 

to the district office. Extensive portions of rural New 

Mexico do not have wireless communications infrastructure, so wireless access to RFI is not an option. The 

total cost of the development of RFI was $2.5 million 

over a 4-year period (2001 to 2005).

RFI is integrated with NMDOT’s Highway Maintenance 

Management System (HMMS), an interactive planning, 

New Mexico RFI

Data Collected

■ Roadway Signs

■ Signals

■ Supports and Structures 

for Signs, Signals, and 

Lighting

■ Guardrails, Barriers

■ Pavement Markings and 

Treatments

7

Figure 4. Screen capture. Sample image 

from New Mexico’s RFI.

Figure 5. Screen capture. Sample image from the 

New Mexico RFI database showing a guardrail.
budgeting, and reporting tool to help maintenance 

supervisors make decisions and to support the routine 

operations of the maintenance department.

“We use HMMS for daily work reports, maintenance activity reports, and patrol reports,” said Ernest Archuleta, 

chairman of the NMDOT committee formed to oversee 

the development of RFI. 

“Crew members can identify their time and track their 

spending. The State uses the system to calculate the 

cost per mile for road maintenance. Another application is to provide cost accountability to the legislators.” 

8

For example, when a district enters a work order for a 

guardrail, the user is directed to the RFI application to 

update the relevant inventory. The RFI application feeds 

HMMS information on maintenance tasks on the roadway. HMMS, in turn, exchanges information with three 

of the department’s other computerized systems: 

■ Financial Management Information System.

■ Equipment Management Information System.

■ Payroll System.

New Technology Makes 

Data Gathering Easier, 

but Cost Is an Issue

Effective management of roadway safety elements 

requires comprehensive data on the asset inventory, its current condition, and its historical performance. By tracking condition and performance 

over time, future condition and performance can 

be predicted, forming the fundamental basis for 

maintenance program decisionmaking.

In the past, developing and maintaining comprehensive, up-to-date asset inventories and 

condition and performance databases was too 

time- and labor-intensive to be practical for State 

transportation agencies.

In the 1990s, new technologies for rapid, nondestructive pavement condition monitoring made it 

possible for States to develop PMS. More recently, 

equipment first developed for PMS applications 

has been adapted for use in cataloging and monitoring the condition and performance of roadway 

safety elements. 

A number of vendors offer vans equipped with 

high-resolution, high-speed digital stereo cameras 

and spatial location technology that can capture 

images of the roadway and its surroundings while 

moving at highway speeds. The equipment provides image databases of roadway infrastructure, 

including GPS locations for each frame. The use of 

multiple cameras produces 360° images.

Figure 6. Photograph. New Mexico’s Department of 

Transportation collected data on its entire roadway 

system using the stereo RST van shown above.
9

Post-processing is often more labor-intensive 

than collecting image databases. Vendors provide 

software to process the images for asset inventory, 

asset management, mapping of centerlines, curve 

and grade analyses, and other applications. 

While cost is still an issue for most States, it is 

reasonable to assume that in the not-too-distant 

future highway agencies may enjoy the benefits of 

image-based, geographic information systems (GIS) 

asset inventory data.

Condition data can be collected at the same time, if 

the van is equipped with condition assessment and 

testing equipment such as: 

■ Retroreflectometers to measure the nighttime 

visibility (retroreflectivity) of signs and pavement markings.

■ Downward-imaging cameras for pavement 

surface condition assessment.

■ Laser cameras, rate gyroscopes, inclinometers, 

and accelerometers to measure pavement 

roughness; rutting; texture; transverse, map, and 

alligator cracking; and roadway geometrics.

■ Profilometers to measure pavement roughness.

The integrated HMMS/RFI system:

■ Supports budget requests and special projects.

■ Helps assess the need for changes in activity planning.

■ Provides managers with information for 

decisionmaking.

HMMS has been in use since 1998 at a cost of approximately $2.5 million.

For more information, contact Ernest D. Archuleta, 

Chief, Bureau of Maintenance and Traffic Services, 

New Mexico Department of Transportation, 

ernest.archuleta@nmshtd.state.nm.us.

CASE STUDY: VIRGINIA

Virginia lowers condition assessment costs 

by random sampling.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) 

maintains more than 

114,585 km (71,200 

mi) of State and 

local roadways—

the third largest 

State-maintained 

highway system in 

the United States. 

In 2002, the Virginia 

General Assembly 

passed legislation 

requiring VDOT to 

incorporate the principles of asset management into its 

maintenance and operations practices. This legislation 

has encouraged VDOT to accelerate efforts to develop 

an integrated asset management system.

VDOT’s new asset management system is in the early 

stages of development. When completed, it will include 

six key modules:

■ RCA Module.

■ Needs-Based Budget Request Module.

■ Planning and Scheduling Module.

■ Work Order and Accomplishment Module.

■ Inventory Module.

■ Analysis Tools Module.

Work on the first two modules of the asset management system—the RCA Module and the Needs-Based 

Budget Request Module—began in 2003. In developing these modules, VDOT followed a formal systems 

development process designed to provide consistency 

among the individual development efforts and to ensure that the data required for the asset management 

system would be fully developed.

Virginia Random 

Condition Assessment 

(RCA) Data Collected

■ Roadway Signs

■ Supports and Structures 

 for Signs, Signals, and 

Lighting

■ Guardrails, Barriers

■ Pavement Markings and 

Treatments

■ Pipes and Drainage
The RCA Module uses a statistically based random sampling technique to manually take inventory of the condition of selected road sections. The sampling rate for 

the RCA Module is approximately 10 to 15 percent of 

the Interstate system, 3 to 4 percent of primary roads, 

and 1 percent of secondary roads. Because most road 

sections do not have signals, no data on signals are 

collected for the RCA Module. Results are extrapolated 

and used to compute an unconstrained, needs-based 

budget for maintenance of infrastructure assets. VDOT 

has the capability to extract cost information from its 

financial management system to support the needsbased budget analysis.

With its focus on roadside assets, pipes and drainage, 

and traffic features, the RCA Module will be integrated 

with the bridge management system (BMS) and PMS. 

Districts collect inventory and condition data on preselected roadway sections. The RCA Module includes 

a built-in help menu with definitions of asset types 

and helpful pictures of assets. For example, the menu 

items for the category of signs include sign type, age, 

and number of panels. The raters may enter other 

information in a comments field associated with each 

data element. 

Field inspectors rate the condition of the assets visually using a drop-down menu of choices. For example, 

for signs, the menu options include “post damage” and 

“panels missing.” Inspectors use either a laptop or a 

hand-held personal computer to download the information daily at their offices. 

VDOT’s Asset Management Division has worked closely 

with VDOT’s IT department in the development of the 

RCA Module. First, the Asset Management Division 

defined the system business application and needs, 

and the IT department then developed the system. All 

work is done in-house. To date (after 2.5 years of work), 

the cost of development of the RCA Module is approximately $1 million.

VDOT is going forward with development of the various database systems, while the details of the more 

integrated Asset Management System are still being 

developed. This strategy gives VDOT the flexibility to 

continue to evolve IT system designs based on organizational requirements, funding availability, and emerging technologies. 

After completing the integrated asset management 

system, VDOT will work to integrate it with the Commonwealth’s statewide geographic information system.

In the meantime, VDOT is making significant progress 

both in the development of individual maintenance 

decision support tools and in the integration of maintenance data.

For more information, contact Charles (Chuck) 

Larson, P.E., Project Manager, Asset Management 

Division, Virginia Department of Transportation, 

chuck.larson@virginiadot.org.

10

Figure 7. Photograph. Transportation asset management 

for safety includes assets such as signs and guardrails. 
the workload required 

to maintain our 

guardrails to our performance standard.”

“Unit prices for 

routine maintenance 

activities are applied 

against the MRP workload to determine the 

funding needed to 

achieve and maintain 

the performance 

standards. FDOT’s 

maintenance cost-accounting system makes it possible to determine unit 

prices, which are based upon the most recent year of 

production and consider the cost of a unit of work, for 

more than 50 routine maintenance activities performed 

by in-house and contracted resources,” Holmes said. 

“FDOT has had a thorough maintenance cost-accounting system for almost 20 years. Because of this, FDOT 

is able to use a zero-based technique for developing 

the statewide maintenance program, although our 

agency is not required to use zero-based budgeting.” 

(Zero-based budgeting requires all expenditures to be 

justified for each new budgeting period, as opposed to 

justifying only the amounts requested in excess of the 

previous funding levels.)

FDOT’s MRP uses a statistical sampling technique to 

monitor the condition of various assets (roadway, 

roadside, traffic services, drainage, and vegetation 

aesthetics) within each maintenance area in the State. 

The statistical validity of the MRP has been independently verified by Florida State University. FDOT 

districts are responsible for collecting the random condition assessment data every 4 months, using assessment techniques outlined in the Maintenance Rating 

Program Handbook.

2

CASE STUDY: FLORIDA

Florida’s Roadway Characteristics Inventory 

System is a tool for zero-based budgeting, 

performance management, and resource 

allocation.

Created in 1975 in response to the need for a tool to 

make it easier to manage asset information, the Florida 

Department of Transportation’s (FDOT’s) Roadway 

Characteristics Inventory (RCI) stores information about 

most of the State’s roadway infrastructure assets. RCI is 

FDOT’s largest database, with more than one million 

records, and is available to users throughout the department through an access-controlled Internet interface.

“The RCI system is fundamental to the mission of the 

department and to the contract maintenance program 

now practiced by the State,” said William Albaugh, 

FDOT’s Director of Operations. Albaugh said RCI is the 

basis for estimating funding needs for the department 

and is the principal management tool for deploying 

and overseeing contract maintenance and other 

operations services.

Florida’s RCI tracks a broad range of highway assets, 

including roadway signs, signals, lighting, supports and 

structures, guardrails and barriers, pavement markings 

and treatments, and detectors. The database records 

data on 29 asset features such as roadway, location, and 

size, which are described by 118 characteristics.

FDOT’s Director of Maintenance, Sharon Holmes, said 

RCI is used by maintenance managers statewide as a 

tool for long-term planning and budgeting, for performance-based management, and for district-office 

decisions on resource allocation.

“We’ve integrated our inventory, workload formulas, 

and our funding requirements with our performance 

standard,” Holmes said. “The inventory data are converted to an annual workload, and ultimately to the 

workload needed to achieve the Maintenance Rating 

Program (MRP) performance standard. Based on longterm experience in maintenance, for example, we know 

Florida RCI

Data Collected

■ Roadway Signs

■ Signals

■ Roadway Lighting

■ Supports and Structures 

for Signs, Signals, and 

Lighting

■ Guardrails, Barriers

■ Pavement Markings and 

Treatments

■ Detectors

11

2

 Maintenance Rating Program Handbook, Florida Department of 

Transportation, State Maintenance Office, Tallahassee, FL, 2003.
The MRP evaluation consists of a visual and mechanical 

evaluation of routine highway maintenance conditions 

in both daytime and nighttime. The State maintenance 

office produces and distributes the randomly selected 

roadway locations to be used for sampling. The maintenance rating field evaluations are done by FDOT district 

MRP teams and contractor MRP teams. At present, the 

maintenance contract program includes four principal 

components: (1) corridor contracts (i.e., significant sections on Interstates, often with parallel roads included); 

(2) contracts for entire counties, including both State 

and county facilities under agreements with participating counties; (3) rest areas and weigh stations, bundled 

into contract packages; and (4) contracts for fixed and 

movable bridges. Albaugh said the State is considering 

adding Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) as a fifth 

area, which would include systems infrastructure and 

equipment including detectors. A complete description 

of FDOT’s MRP is on FDOT’s Web site at http://www.dot.

state.fl.us/statemaintenanceoffice/mrp.htm.

“One of the key responsibilities of our area maintenance managers is to monitor the MRP results and 

actively manage resources to be sure FDOT’s maintenance performance standards are always met,” Holmes 

said. “For example, if sign performance is rated low, but 

mowing (vegetation aesthetics) is rated higher than 

required, district and area maintenance managers may 

redirect resources from mowing to sign inspection and 

maintenance operations.” FDOT posts the MRP results 

on its Web site at http://www.dot.state.fl.us/statemaintenanceoffice/mrp.htm.

Albaugh said that one of the lessons FDOT learned 

was that the change to performance-based contract 

administration requires training and reorientation of 

in-house staff accustomed to performing the maintenance work directly or to directly managing contractor 

work. The recent introduction of a formal contract performance monitoring system helps in training the staff 

to improve administration practices. Albaugh said that 

failure to anticipate the extent of the cultural changes 

at the outset probably complicated the transition to the 

contract maintenance system that Florida uses now.

12

The RCI database is updated daily when the department obtains new or modified information. The database is located at the Transportation Statistics Office 

at headquarters in Tallahassee and is operated and 

maintained by the Office of Information Systems (OIS) 

with the partial assistance of contractors directed by 

OIS staff.

In addition to the maintenance department, primary 

users of the RCI include FDOT’s Traffic Operations, Pavement Management, Work Program, Safety, and Statistics Departments. FDOT consultants are granted limited 

access when authorized by division managers.

For more information, contact Sharon Holmes, Director 

of Maintenance, Florida Department of Transportation, 

sharon.holmes@dot.state.fl.us.

CASE STUDY: TENNESSEE

Tennessee’s map-based roadway asset 

database will integrate with Maintenance 

Management System, other internal 

databases. 

By July 2005, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) plans to implement a Maintenance 

Management System (MMS) that will enable the agency 

to systematically measure and monitor budget and performance, and to develop annual work plans based on 

accurate projections of manpower and equipment needs.

“It’s going to be a huge help for us in determining what 

our budget should be. We will be able to build a zerobased budget based on the assets we need to maintain,” said Chris Harris, manager of the MMS project for 

the TDOT Maintenance Division. “The MMS will increase 

our accountability, which is very, very limited now...we 

currently develop our budgets by adding an inflation 

factor to last year’s.

“The MMS will make information more readily available and easier to get to. Someone is always asking, for 

example, ‘How much did you spend for plowing and 
engineers of operations. Each time there 

was a turnover we had 

to start the buy-in process all over again.”

In 2000, when funding of the new MMS 

project was finally 

authorized, “We were 

lucky that we happened to get the right person in there at the time, who 

said, ‘Let’s give it a shot,’ and our budget situation was 

good,” Harris continued.

The project was funded by TDOT’s IT department, 

and the request for proposal (RFP) was issued from IT. 

Total cost is roughly $3.9 million, including customized 

modules for roadway condition assessment. TDOT uses 

a monthly inspection of random samples to monitor 

conditions, using a maintenance rating index. Inspections are mostly visual, with manual measurements of 

pavement distress and subjective assessments of sign 

and pavement marking retroreflectivity. “Retroreflectometers would be great, but we can’t afford them,” 

Harris said.

MMS will provide TDOT with the capability to:

■ Track inventory more effectively and streamline 

associated costs.

■ Meet service performance and funding goals.

■ Budget equipment and materials based on estimated 

work effort.

■ Track the work effort of maintenance work units.

■ Compare the unit costs of contract versus 

in-house work. 

■ Enter data only once.

■ Respond quickly to administrative queries.

■ Measure the benefits of preventive maintenance.

MMS will automatically transfer information to and 

from other internal databases, including the Tennessee 

Roadway Information Management System (TRIMS) 

database on roadway assets. TRIMS includes data on 

13

Tennessee Road 

Information Management System (TRIMS) 

Data Collected

■ Signs

■ Guardrails, Barriers

■ Pavement Markings 

and Treatments

deicing in last night’s snowstorm?’ It is very difficult to 

calculate that manually. The system will do all those calculations for you. We will be able to tell people they can 

go to the system and find out the answers themselves,” 

Harris said.

“Our system also is going to have an interface with our 

financial system. We’re going to automatically generate 

timesheet information, which will save our clerks some 

time. Now they have to input information from paper 

forms that report each crew’s daily work.”

The new MMS will build on a maintenance management system that TDOT used from the 1970s through 

the early 1990s. The system included work reporting by 

crew days, budget development based on inventory, 

costs, and a level-of-service factor. In 1991, that system 

was abandoned by the agency because it was considered 

out of date; however, remnants have remained in place.

“When our original maintenance management system 

was taken offline in the early 1990s, we were left without a system,” Harris said. “So we added percents based 

on inflation. For the last 12 years, we have based our 

budgets on nothing but expenditures. But some of the 

old system is still out there. Our field staff still uses crewday forms...paper forms to report work done each day. 

The forms report labor, equipment, and materials. But 

they get archived; no one tracks that data. With our new 

MMS, we’ll have a system that can use the data.”

The 2005 launch of the new MMS will be the culmination of a 3-year implementation effort. The initiative 

to develop a new system actually dates back to the 

demise of the old one in the early 1990s, but funding problems stalled development of a replacement 

system. “The original search for the system was spearheaded by the then-manager of the asset management 

section,” Harris said. “Later, Gerald Gregory, Director of 

the Maintenance Division, became the project champion in the department. They were trying to get buy-in 

from the top for a long time...we couldn’t get that 

buy-in until 2000. Buy-in has to come from the top. 

During the time we’ve been promoting this, we’ve gone 

through two chief engineers and four assistant chief 
every public road in Tennessee, including the following 

categories of roadway safety hardware: roadway signs, 

guardrails and barriers, and pavement markings and 

treatments. Signals, lighting, and loop detectors are 

maintained at the local level.

TRIMS was developed and is maintained by TDOT’s 

planning division as a planning tool. It stores inventory 

data, digital photographs, crash data, road mileage, 

documents, digital plans, and scanned documents. A 

graphic interface option, especially useful for planners 

and engineers, offers map-based queries and displays 

information on maps. 

TDOT managers add that TRIMS is a valuable tool to 

support many functions including maintenance management, highway and bridge performance monitoring, and management of locations with frequent 

crashes, railroad grade crossing priority listing, and 

cost accounting. TRIMS has existed for many years as a 

mainframe tool. More recently, it was converted to an 

Oracle database tool.

In addition to TRIMS, MMS was initially designed to 

interface with TDOT’s financial accounting system, the 

TDOT Intranet, the State of Tennessee Web page, GIS, 

the Document Management System, the Executive 

Information System, the Construction Management 

System, and the Program, Project, and Resource Management System. Currently, different levels of integration are being built into the system.

For more information, contact Chris Harris, Maintenance Division, Tennessee Department of Transportation, chris.harris@state.tn.us.

14
movement toward change. New ideas need champions: people with the interest and the influence to make 

changes happen. A common factor among States with 

successful systems is that both users and providers are 

enthusiastic and committed.

Find interested asset managers. Identify those who are 

responsible for managing an asset category and who 

have a strong interest in and enthusiasm for developing a better asset management approach. 

Identify interested system users. Talk to planning, budget, and maintenance managers—anyone who might 

use the application. By demonstrating how the system 

can meet their needs and benefit the performance of 

their units, they, too, can become champions within 

their departments. 

Develop a team of champions. When personnel 

changes occur, champions may leave, so develop 

“successor champions” to ensure continuity.

Involve everyone.

As early as possible, involve everyone who will be 

affected by the program in the planning process in 

order to design a more useful system, build support, 

and pave the way for smooth implementation. When 

developing any integrated system, it is important to 

have all data collectors, administrators, and users work 

as a closely coordinated team.

Define user requirements.

Work closely with data and report users to develop a 

system that best serves their needs. State transportation agencies often oversee a given asset using a small 

staff with considerable knowledge and expertise about 

Several action steps may be considered by a State just starting to add roadway safety elements to its 

asset management program or by a State that wishes 

to build on its existing system.

Start small and build.

Even with full funding and approval for a deluxe 

system, it would still take several years to plan, design, 

build, and implement. Start with simple steps, create 

reasonable expectations, include short-term goals, and 

have an achievable timetable for implementation. An 

early success can build team cohesion and project support and lay the groundwork to realize a larger vision.

Consider nonintegrated database systems first. Starting small, with an eye toward an integrated future, has 

a practical advantage when responsibility for various 

roadway safety hardware assets is dispersed or funding 

is limited. Many States have developed one or more 

systems based on independent inventory databases. 

Keep an eye on system architecture from the start to 

facilitate subsequent systems integration. 

Identify current needs in the department. Show how 

stated management objectives are linked to roadway 

safety element maintenance and performance. For 

example, if reducing highway fatalities is a key performance goal, consider starting with improvements 

to pavement markings and guardrail maintenance 

because roadway departure crashes accounted for 

59.4 percent of all fatalities in 2003.

Identify champions.

Like all large organizations, State transportation agencies often suffer from institutional inertia. Things will 

tend to stay the same unless a strong force creates a 

G U I D A N C E

Initial Action Steps for Building a

Roadway Safety Asset Management System

15
that asset. Working closely with that group, respecting their knowledge, and supplementing it with asset 

management and IT expertise from outside the group, 

seems to be a recipe for success.

Coordinate collection and maintenance activities and 

share the database throughout the maintenance, 

safety, and IT departments.

Develop a system architecture that will serve the 

agency over time and make it possible to continue adding functionality and integration. 

Avoid duplication and work with others in the agency 

who have already developed asset management systems. Find out how the pavement management system 

or the bridge management system was built. Determine whether there are opportunities to integrate and 

to build on previous experiences.

Develop multiyear funding strategies.

Accurate multiyear project budget forecasting is crucial. 

Failure to account for the impact of recessions has led 

more than one State to end up with “data-less” systems. 

They lack adequate resources to populate their systems 

with accurate and complete data. In one case, data 

may be entered in the course of day-to-day operations, 

meaning that many of the benefits of the system will be 

deferred for several years at least. In another case, even 

this approach may not be considered practical. In still 

another State, a limited pilot effort may conclude that 

costs are too high, and a lower-cost approach based on 

a sampling technique may be chosen. As noted earlier, 

agencies also need achievable short-term goals.

Constantly seek integration opportunities.

Strive for a “network of information networks.” Networking and wireless technologies that are now available 

make it possible to build a “networks of networks” and 

to share not only text, but voice, image, and video data 

wirelessly among headquarters, field, and partner organizations. By constantly seeking integration opportunities and monitoring system architecture, your agency 

may gain a head start on the network of the future.

Meet the information needs of 

policymakers, senior managers, and the 

general public.

When determining what data your system will gather 

and what reports it will produce, do not forget to focus 

on the information needs of senior headquarters management, legislative policymakers, and the news media 

and general public. All of these audiences need information about how your agency’s expenditures benefit 

the public. If your system can quickly produce reports 

that tell the public how expenditures relate to measurable performance (e.g., rates of signal failure reduced, 

crash rates reduced), the system’s usefulness will be 

apparent to top decisionmakers.

Promote national strategies for 

advancing roadside safety hardware asset 

management.

Work with other States to raise the national standard 

of practice. By pooling their knowledge and resources, 

States can make progress more rapidly. National associations can be helpful by encouraging States to 

include asset management tools in their work plans or 

to pool funds to develop asset management systems 

that everyone can use. The development of national 

strategies needs to be based on coordinated efforts to 

develop standard architectures, software tools, system effectiveness evaluation tools, and links to other 

systems (e.g. crash data, traffic data, and workforce 

management systems).

16
Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No. 

HRT-05-077 

2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient’s Catalog No.

5. Report Date 

November 2005 

4. Title and Subtitle 

Why Your Agency Should Consider 

Asset Management Systems for Roadway Safety 6. Performing Organization Code

7. Author(s) Karen Haas and David Hensing 8. Performing Organization Report No.

9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No.

Manifest Inc.

1095 Larkspur Terrace 

Rockville, MD 20850 as subcontractor to 

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) 

Transportation Division 

1710 SAIC Drive 

McLean, VA 22102 

11. Contract or Grant No. 

DTFH61-01-C-00180

13. Type of Report and Period Covered 

Final Report, April 2005 

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 

Office of Safety Research and Development 

Federal Highway Administration 

6300 Georgetown Pike

McLean, VA 22101-2296 

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

15. Supplementary Notes 

Contract Officer’s Technical Representative for this project was Kerry Perrillo Childress, HRDS-05. 

16. Abstract

This primer provides a general overview of asset management systems for roadway safety elements, and 

initial guidance for agencies beginning to consider them. Asset Management is a strategic approach to 

managing transportation infrastructure elements. It provides a systematic process for maintaining, 

upgrading and operating physical assets cost effectively. 

Information in the primer can help State departments of transportation (DOT) increase their use of state-ofthe practice techniques on roadway safety hardware management systems. The primer was developed for 

State DOT personnel, particularly chief engineers and other top management, involved with the planning, 

funding, and execution of roadway safety hardware management systems. 

17. Key Words

Roadway safety elements, roadway safety 

hardware, asset management 

18. Distribution Statement 

No restrictions. This document is available to the 

public through the National Technical Information 

Service, Springfield, VA 22161. 

19. Security Classif. (of this report) 

Unclassified 

20. Security Classif. (of this 

page) Unclassified 

21. No of 

Pages

16

22. Price

 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed pages authorized 
November 2005

FHWA-HRT-05-077

HRDS-05/11-05(1.5M)E