JUNE 2012

Risk-Based Transportation

Asset Management:

Evaluating Threats, 

Capitalizing on Opportunities

RepoRT 1: Overview Of risk ManageMent
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Notice 

this document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.s. 

Department of transportation in the interest of information 

exchange. the U.s. government assumes no liability for the use 

of the information contained in this document. 

the U.s. government does not endorse products or manufactur 

ers. trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report 

only because they are considered essential to the objective of 

the document. 

Quality Assurance Statement 

the federal Highway administration (fHwa) provides highquality information to serve government, industry, and the public 

in a manner that promotes public understanding. standards and 

policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, 

utility, and integrity of its information. fHwa periodically reviews 

quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure 

continuous quality improvement. 
 

NotE from thE DirEctor 

the federal Highway administration (fHwa) continuously 

seeks innovative ways to improve the management of the 

nation’s highway infrastructure. the Office of asset Management offers this series of reports on risk management as 

another means by which transportation agencies can better 

understand and manage their highway assets. 

the use of risk management among U.s. transportation 

agencies largely is limited to managing risk at the project 

level generally focused during construction. risk management at the project level helps to identify threats and opportunities to projects’ cost, scope and schedule. However, we at 

the fHwa along with our partners at state and local transportation agencies recognize the growing need for a better 

understanding of risk management at program and 

organizational levels. 

today, the leading international transportation, banking and 

insurance organizations have explored the benefits of risk 

management at the program and enterprise level and use it 

as a tool to protect their investments. Based on those practices, the Office of asset Management is offering this series 

of reports on how risk management can be scaled up to 

asset management programs, and to the entire enterprise 

of a transportation agency. 

it’s important for highway agency officials to consider 

incorporating risk management in the decision-making 

process for several reasons. first, they have seen the benefits of risk management at the project level. second, they 

have heard from their international colleagues that risk 

management can pay dividends when used at the broader 

program and enterprise level, particularly when agencies 

don’t have enough funding to address their priorities. third, 
 ii Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

managing risk is an integral step in following a comprehensive asset management framework as described in the 

AASHTO Asset Management Guide—A Focus on Implementation. finally, the U.s. Congress has proposed that states 

develop “risk-based transportation asset management 

plans.” these factors convinced the Office of asset 

Management to offer this series of reports. 

we believe you will find these reports helpful as you develop 

your asset management program and make investment 

decisions. this series of reports will help the transportation 

agencies to meet the increasingly complex challenges 

involved in making decisions and communicating them 

effectively to the public. 

sincerely, 

Butch wlaschin 

Director of the Office of asset Management 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management iii 

Contents 

Background......................................... iv

 

introduction ......................................... 1

 

what is risk and risk Management? .................... 2

 

assessing negative threats, Positive Opportunities ....... 3

 

Moving from Project to enterprise risk .................. 5

 

Basic steps of risk Management ...................... 6

 

why Manage risks?.................................. 10

 

where Does risk Management fit? .................... 13

 

identifying threats to a taM Program.................. 15

 

who Manages these risks? ........................... 17

 

Communicating and Monitoring risks .................. 19

 

tailoring risk Management ........................... 21

 

simple tools for Managing risk....................... 22

 

Managing risk is not new, formalizing it is ............ 26

 

Managing risks to assets............................ 29

 

summary and Conclusions........................... 33

 
 iv Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

Background 

as the United states considers developing risk-based 

transportation asset management (taM) plans, agencies will 

need to understand risk and how it can be used to improve 

decision making in asset management programs. this is the 

first of five reports that define risk, explain risk management 

and examine their application to taM both in the U.s. 

and abroad. this first report provides an overview of risk 

management as applied to managing physical assets. 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 1 

introduction 

Understanding risk and how to manage it is emerging 

as another core competency expected of transportation 

agencies. in the United states, inclusion of risk-based asset 

management plans in the 2012 proposed transportation bill 

drew the attention of transportation decision makers to this 

topic. the international Organization of standardization 

(isO) issued a new standard on risk management that 

describes it as a fundamental component of modern 

management. transportation agencies in england, scotland, 

australia, new Zealand and europe are incorporating risk 

as a major component of their management frameworks. 

Professional standards in fields such as finance, health care, 

construction and information technology demand that risk 

management be incorporated into governance. transportation agencies increasingly will face expectations that they 

embrace risk management to demonstrate competency, 

responsiveness, stewardship and transparency. 

the federal Highway administration (fHwa) Office of 

asset Management offers this report as the first of five that 

will explore what risk management is and how it can be 

applied to transportation asset management. the use of risk 

management among U.s. transportation agencies largely is 

limited to managing risk during construction. these five 

brief reports will describe how the benefits of risk management can be expanded to programs that manage existing 

highway assets. 

these reports will: 

◗◗◗Define risk and risk management; 

◗◗◗illustrate how they can be applied to managing
 
 

infrastructure assets;
 
 
 2 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

◗◗◗Delineate how risk management differs from, but also 

complements, performance management and asset 

management; 

◗◗◗Provide a brief step-by-step outline for how agencies 

can begin managing risks; 

◗◗◗elaborate on how risk management is being used by 

transportation professionals in the U.s. and internationally to improve decision-making, demonstrate accountability and increase transparency; 

◗◗◗illustrate how risk management can improve programs, 

and; 

◗◗◗Discuss how risk management helps agencies prepare 

for and respond to natural and man-made disasters. 

what is risk and 

risk Management? 

Different industries use many different definitions of risk 

and risk management. some industries define risks narrowly 

and equate them to hazards or threats. this usage reflects 

the common, every-day definitions of risks as threats or 

dangers. Others, however, increasingly use a much broader 

definition of risk. Many consider risks to include both possible threats and possible opportunities. isO defines risk as 

“the effect of uncertainty on objectives”(1) and it notes that 

uncertainty could be positive or negative. Other definitions 

equate risk to variability or to the chance that desired 

outcomes won’t be achieved. the new Zealand transportation agency is an international leader in risk and asset 

management and its defines risk as “the chance of 

something happening that will have an impact on 

objectives. it is measured in terms of a combination 

of the likelihood of an event and its consequence.” 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 3 

this expansive application of risk is evident in the definition 

of risk management used by the new south wales (australia) 

government asset Management Committee. it defines risk 

management as a systematic process to identify risks that 

may impact on the organization’s objectives, analyze their 

consequences and develop ongoing measures to treat them. 

these broader definitions of risk expand risk management to 

an enterprise-wide framework for setting priorities, assigning 

resources and ensuring organizational success. 

assessing negative threats, 

Positive Opportunities 

the broader definitions of risk emphasize that risks are not 

always negative. if risks equate with uncertainty or variability 

they hold promise that they could be positive, as well as 

negative. the world road association says that risk management could be called “opportunity management.” the field 

of financial management has long understood this implication. “no risk, no reward” is a basic investment premise. a 

financial advisor who only offers clients no-risk investments 

is unlikely to earn them a substantial return. therefore, risk 

management is more than barricading an organization 

against all threats. Modern risk management involves protecting against excessive risk while capitalizing upon opportunities that have acceptable risk levels. the english Highways agency notes that its risk management obligation is 

twofold. it must protect the public from hazards and threats 

to desired transportation outcomes but it must also ensure 

that it identifies, evaluates and capitalizes upon all reasonable opportunities. 

a simple illustration could be the following. an agency has a 

well-crafted pavement program. the program relies on sound 

inventory data, good forecasting, methodical preventive 
 4 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

maintenance, timely reactive treatments and a well-balanced 

mix of pavement preservation, rehabilitation and replacement. the agency has forecasted its program for the next five 

years and is confident it has developed a sound short-term 

and long-term pavement program that will achieve its shortand-long-term performance targets. However, the risk of 

volatile construction prices creates a major program risk. 

if prices rise, the agency’s purchasing power will decrease 

and it will not be able to afford all the treatments it needs. 

if prices fall, it faces new opportunities to increase investments or achieve a higher level of service. a balanced 

risk-management program would hedge against rising prices 

by methodically trying lower-cost treatment innovations 

while closely monitoring construction prices. the degree 

of risk or uncertainty caused by price volatility would be 

documented, reported to stakeholders and tracked as a 

risk to the department’s pavement objectives. 

another real-world example is how the washington state 

Department of transportation uses video technology to 

manage risk and capitalize on opportunities for bridge deck 

inspection. some of its decks are known to be in good condition yet have high traffic volumes and narrow shoulders. it is 

unsafe for inspectors to visually inspect the deck without 

closing lanes. Lane closures are expensive to the agency and 

disruptive to the public. the agency selectively uses pavement profiling vans’ video equipment to take images of 

decks which are then reviewed for cracking. if no cracking is 

seen, no manual deck inspection is required. this avoids risk 

to inspectors and inconvenience to the public. to minimize 

risk that the video won’t identify fine cracks, a manual inspection occurs at least once every three inspection cycles. 

also, the technology is not used on any deck likely to have 

substantial cracking or which can be easily inspected manually. with this balanced approach, the agency reduces risk to 

its inspectors and to the public while rationally capitalizing 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 5 

on the opportunity provided by a new application of technology to deck inspection. resources saved can be devoted to 

additional inspection of high-risk bridge components. 

this background context of how risk can be both positive 

and negative leads to the definition of risk that will be used 

in these reports. risk is the positive or negative effects of 

uncertainty or variability upon agency objectives. Building 

from this definition of risk, these reports will use as the 

definition of risk management the one adopted by the new 

Zealand transport agency. risk management is the cultures, 

processes and structures that are directed towards the 

effective management of potential opportunities and threats. 

this definition of risk management is broader than many 

used in the U.s. including the one used in the transportation 

asset Management guide, a focus on implementation. 

these risk-Based asset Management reports recognize that 

different agencies can use different definitions. the one 

used in these reports supports a broad approach to risk 

management and includes managing threats and capitalizing on opportunities. some agencies may choose to adopt 

a narrower approach that focuses only on threats. Both 

approaches are valid. agencies can adopt the one best 

serving their needs. 

Moving from Project to 

enterprise risk 

U.s. transportation agencies regularly use risk management 

at the project level to control cost, scope and schedule. 

However, the emerging use of risk management is to apply 

it at the program and enterprise levels. these reports will 

explain how the tools of risk management that are used 

effectively at the project level can be scaled up to the 
 6 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

RiSk DefiNeD 

risk is the positive or negative effects of uncertainty 

or variability upon agency objectives. 

RiSk MANAgeMeNT DefiNeD 

risk management is the cultures, processes and 

structures that are directed towards the effective 

management of potential opportunities and threats. 

program or enterprise level as agencies implement and 

advance their asset management programs. 

One risk management author (2) notes that to apply risk 

management at the program level, one needs to differentiate 

it from risk measurement. risk measurement is a technical 

discipline in which actuarial specialists model the probabilities of investment risks to insurance providers or investors. 

when risk management is confused with risk measurement, 

it often is relegated to an isolated, technical function.(3) 

risk management requires the active, anticipatory managing 

of threats, variability, uncertainty and opportunities by 

leaders and managers at all levels of the organization. a 

simple way of thinking about risk management is to ask, 

“what could stop us from reaching our objectives and how 

can we deal with it? How we can turn uncertainty or change 

into opportunity?” By applying these questions to the program and enterprise level, leaders can escalate the benefits 

of project risk management to the program and enterprise. 

Basic steps of risk Management 

illustrating the steps of risk management can help to clarify 

its application. Most guides to risk management follow steps 

similar to those used in the isO standard. these include: 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 7 

establishing the Context—this involves understanding and 

documenting the social, cultural, legal, regulatory, economic 

and natural environment to which the agency is sensitive. 

the context allows risk management to be tailored to the 

agency’s needs and circumstances. included in this step is 

the development of the agency’s risk policy designed around 

the agency’s unique objectives. these objectives can include 

issues such as improving network reliability by reducing the 

need for frequent maintenance and repair, or providing the 

lowest reasonable whole-life costs for assets. also, included 

is creation of the agency’s internal and external risk management communication process. this allows information to 

flow up and down through the agency and externally with 

key stakeholders. 

Risk identification—in this step, the agency formally identifies the risks that could affect its objectives. these can be 

external such as price changes, legislative actions, economic 

changes, climatic events, seismic events or malevolent acts. 

risks also can be internal such as operational failures, data 

failures, conflicting internal program objectives or a lack 

of trained personnel for key tasks. all risks are generally 

recorded in a formal risk register as shown in figure 1 

(see next page). 

Risk Analysis—this step evaluates the probability of risk 

with its consequence. the calculation can be qualitative and 

based upon expert judgment. Or it can be quantified simply 

in a 1 to 10 scale, or it can be subject to complex mathematical modeling. Most such analysis is relatively simple. Despite 

the method used, the intent of this step is to understand the 

risks and their magnitude. 

Risk evaluation—this step supports decision making by 

comparing the magnitude of the risks identified in the 

preceding two steps with the agency’s risk tolerance. 
 8 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management ASSeT MANAgeMeNT RiSk RegiSTeR risk category risk Event risk mitigation Strategy/treatment enterprise/strategic funding changes 4 4 16 Monitor budget process; inform legislators enterprise/strategic Material price changes 3 4 12 Monitor prices, prepare investment scenarios enterprise/strategic Lack of staff acceptance of taM 2 5 10 emphasize agency adoption of taM Programmatic risk Model forecasts 3 4 12 Calibrate, validate model outputs Programmatic risk taM staff turnover 4 3 12 Conduct training, succession planning Programmatic risk Lack of staff acceptance of taM 3 3 9 emphasize agency adoption of taM Project/activity Districts’ completion of preven­ tive maintenance activities 3 2 6 Monitor PM program activities Project/activity condition data timely collection of asset 3 2 6 Provide more resources for data collection Project/activity structures flooding degrading drainage 2 3 6 Monitor events, prepare to respond Likelihood impact r=rare 1 1 n=negligible U=Unlikely 2 2 L=Low P=Possible 3 3 M=Medium L=Likely 4 4 v=very High a=almost Certain 5 5 e=extreme figure 1. This is a stylized risk register for an asset management program. It illustrates risks that can occur at the 

and consequence, and color-coded by rank. enterprise or strategic level, the program level or the project/activity level. The risks are ranked by their likelihood 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 9 

Risk Treatment—this decision-making step applies what one 

guide calls the five ts. these are to treat, tolerate, terminate, 

transfer or take advantage of the risk. 

although the steps are described as being distinct and 

separate, most guides note they tend to overlap and blend 

into each other. they also occur within a context that is 

illustrated in figure 2. this figure from the isO standard is 

cited extensively in risk management guidance from north 

america to new Zealand. it notes that the steps of risk 

management occur within the context of continuous communication and consultation and continuous monitoring and 

establish Context 

identify Risks 

Analyze Risks 

evaluate Risks 

Treat Risks 

Communication and Consultation

Monitoring and Review 

figure 2. ISO’s risk management framework. 
 10 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

review. the communication flows up and down the organization and into and out of it with stakeholders. in addition, the 

monitoring occurs within the agency, as well as outside from 

oversight bodies, legislators, the media and the public. 

why Manage risks? 

initially, one could argue that many risks are external and 

beyond an agency’s ability to control. therefore, why try 

to manage what can’t be controlled? 

Legal frameworks such as the sarbanes Oxley act in the 

United states or the Local government act in australia argue 

just the opposite. they infer that because risks are inevitable 

that it is incumbent on every steward of shared resources to 

anticipate risk, strategize how to mitigate it or capitalize 

upon it and be prepared to act when it arises. assumed in 

risk management frameworks is not the question of whether 

risks will occur. rather, the question is whether the agency 

has prepared to blunt the effect of negative risks and 

prepared to quickly capitalize on positive ones? 

threats in these frameworks are not considered to be only 

physical threats, but also threat of program failure. failure 

includes failing to achieve organizational objectives or 

achieving desired asset condition levels. as such, risk 

management is a tool to address external risks but also 

to increase the agency’s likelihood of success. 

the lines between good risk management and overall good 

management are blurring, according to an edition of the 

Harvard Business review dedicated to risk management.(4) 

risk management used to be more of a specialty discipline 

in industry, much like human resources. today, financial and 

environmental regulations create pressures on executives 

to ensure that their organizations are anticipating and 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 11 

responding to risks. now, risk management is a core 

discipline and one that executives need to embrace as a 

personal and corporate responsibility. the modern executive 

must understand risks but not be paralyzed by them. a 

credible manager of risk is also a risk taker. He or she should 

weigh the risks and returns, then document that the organization has made a well-analyzed decision. in the world of 

corporate governance, many concerns of running a large 

organization are being reframed in terms of risk, which 

means that the role of risk managers and their tools will be 

increasingly important. an example is the sarbanes-Oxley 

act that creates criminal penalties for corporate officers 

who fail to perform due diligence to prevent financial fraud 

or malfeasance in publicly traded corporations. similarly, 

U.s. transportation agencies who fail to manage risks to 

public safety can be held liable in court. the emergence of 

federal risk-based asset management plans expands the 

requirements that transportation agencies incorporate risk 

in their basic decision-making processes and would be a 

means of showing due diligence. 

the benefits of risk management are enumerated in several 

principle documents such as the isO standards and national 

legislation in countries that require formal risk management 

plans. these benefits include: 

protecting public safety—Mitigating threats to public safety 

and health is one of the best understood reasons for risk 

management. in the asset management context, examples 

of risk to the public include loss of pavement friction, diminished reflectivity or visibility of signs and pavement markings, poor drainage that creates standing water on roadways, 

pavement rutting that can contribute to hydroplaning and 

increased stopping distances, or guardrail that is no longer 

crashworthy. addressing these issues also protects the 

agency from liability claims. 
 12 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

protecting public value—in many contexts, protecting 

public value is a prime focus of risk management. for 

transportation agencies in great Britain, australia and 

elsewhere a key focus of risk management is protecting the 

value of transportation assets. risks come from excessive 

loadings, missed maintenance treatments, faulty modeling, 

sub-standard materials, poor construction, inadequate 

condition data, inadequate preventive maintenance 

programs and what the asset Management guide calls 

the “unrelenting deterioration” caused by traffic, weather 

and environmental conditions. 

Achieving public objectives—Program risk management 

seeks to identify risks to achieving program goals, which 

almost always are driven by important societal objectives. 

risks to programs can be external such as costs or funding. 

However, they also can be internal such as operational failure 

or conflicts between programs. 

Complying with public regulations—a need to comply with 

regulation commonly drives program risk management. 

failing to meet regulatory compliance can be viewed as 

indifference or unresponsiveness to key public concerns, 

such as environmental quality. 

increasing public trust—if risks are inevitable, an agency that 

does not anticipate them and prepare for them is less likely 

to win public confidence. 

identifying opportunities—a well-balanced risk approach 

capitalizes on low-risk, high-return opportunities. a risk 

management approach can ensure that new opportunities to 

protect public safety, increase public value and serve public 

interests are identified. 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 13 

improving decision-making—systematically ranking risks 

and evaluating opportunities leads to improved agency 

decision-making. 

where Does risk Management fit? 

figure 2 and the preceding discussion could prompt the 

question of whether risk management is a comprehensive 

framework that replaces performance management or asset 

management. it is not. a review of the literature and interviews with key risk practitioners uncover no examples where 

risk management has replaced transportation asset management or performance management. rather it is a complementary discipline that supports both as shown in figure 3. 

figure 3 represents a visualization developed by a fHwa 

international technology scanning Program team that 

Strategic 

objectives 

Risk 

Management 

Asset 

Management 

performance 

Management 

figure 3. Risk management complements other 

management frameworks. 
 14 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

studied risk management practices. the team concluded that 

risk management is a process that works with asset management and performance management to help an agency 

achieve its strategic objectives. although figure 3 shows clear 

boundaries between the three disciplines, in reality, the three 

are likely to blend somewhat when applied concurrently. 

the definitions of risk management, asset management and 

performance management help to clarify their complementary roles. 

transportation asset Management is a strategic and 

systematic process of operating, maintaining, upgrading 

and expanding physical assets effectively throughout their 

lifecycle. it focuses on business and engineering practices 

for resource allocation and utilization, with the objective of 

better decision-making based upon quality information and 

well defined objectives.(5) 

a Performance Management system can be defined as an 

on-going process that sets strategic policy priorities using 

performance trend data and performance forecasts to 

guide development of the capital program and operational 

activities.(6) 

to clarify the roles of asset management and performance 

management, they have a similar set of core principles 

that include: 

◗◗◗both are strategic and systematic; 

◗◗◗they rely on sound data and information; 

◗◗◗they are focused on investments. 

the differences are that asset Management focuses 

on managing physical assets for the lowest reasonable 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 15 

whole-life costs which drives it to focus upon long-term 

performance and metrics and not only upon current or 

short-term performance. to achieve the lowest reasonable 

whole-life costs, some activities are emphasized, such as 

preservation and preventive-maintenance, that do not 

provide immediate, short-term benefits. 

fHwa and the aasHtO subcommittee on asset 

Management have said that asset management refers to 

the management of transportation physical assets while 

performance management refers to applying these same 

principles to all aspects of the system, including operations, 

safety, congestion relief/reliability, environmental concerns, 

and to key aspects of organizational performance such as 

project delivery and customer service. 

risk management mitigates threats and identifies opportunities that could affect either the asset management or 

performance management objectives. 

identifying threats to a 

taM Program 

what are threats to an asset management program? if 

threats are events or occurrences that could impede asset 

management objectives then they could come in many 

forms, both internal and external including: 

◗◗◗Premature asset failures caused by faulty construction 

or materials; 

◗◗◗Chance failures caused by unpredicted events such as 

barges striking bridges or truck fires weakening beams; 

◗◗◗abrupt failures caused by climatic or seismic events 

such as flooding, landslides or seismic activity; 
 16 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

“Creeping failure” caused by gradual degradation spurred by 

traffic, environmental factors, corrosion and climate. 

those threats tend to be project or asset-specific failures, or 

isolated externally caused failures. also creating uncertainty 

for assets are programmatic threats such as: 

◗◗◗wear-out failures caused by inadequate maintenance 

programs; 

◗◗◗Decision failures caused by inaccurate data or models; 

◗◗◗resource failures caused by reductions in appropriations or increases in prices; 

◗◗◗Operational failures caused by process breakdowns; 

◗◗◗Demand failures caused by unanticipated vehicle 

loadings. 

senior executives “own” or are responsible for the policy or 

strategic threats that can include: 

◗◗◗failure to manage their physical assets for the longterm as official policy; 

◗◗◗Legislative mandates such as “worst first” that could 

detract from sound asset management; 

◗◗◗substantial reductions in asset management funding, or; 

◗◗◗internal bureaucratic resistance to asset management 

that can be addressed only by senior leadership. 

for many agencies hard pressed by higher prices, aging 

infrastructure and inadequate budgets, the margin of error 

in their asset management plans is small. Many miles of 

pavement may be in marginal condition and at the point 

of rapid decline down the pavement deterioration curve. 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 17 

Or, substantial number of bridges could be on the verge of 

structural deficiency. the occurrence of any of these failures 

could result in failure to meet asset-condition targets for the 

at-risk pavements and bridges. failure to meet some targets, 

such as achievement of preservation and preventive maintenance programs, leads to higher costs later. Or, they can lead 

to lower margins of highway safety and other diminished 

levels of service to the public. Because risks to assets are 

inevitable, failure to properly anticipate them increases the 

probability of failure of the asset management program. 

therefore, modern frameworks of asset management are 

increasingly likely to view risk management as an essential 

component of success. 

who Manages these risks? 

the lists of risks to asset management success cuts across 

many disciplines, many functions, many responsibilities both 

within and outside of a transportation agency. How are 

these risks assigned? who monitors them? Manages them? 

Capitalizes on them? 

Most risk management practitioners and guides stratify risk 

between at least three and no more than five levels. the 

most common divisions are: 

enterprise Risks—these would be risks that affect more than 

one major program or major objective of the organization. 

these risks generally are “owned” by the chief executive, 

executive team or governing body. they tend be external 

risks such as those related to budgets, legislative requirements, regulatory reforms, public sentiment, or significant 

internal personnel or managerial decisions. they tend to be 

“make or break” risks that can determine the success or 

failure of major departmental objectives and which cannot 

be controlled by one program manager. 
 18 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

One author says(7) that senior executives either engage in 

enterprise risk management or they regularly engage in crisis 

management. the best laid plans are subject to unpredictability of both internal and external factors. adopting an 

enterprise-wide view of risk allows the senior leadership to 

constantly scan the horizon for what could impede its 

organization-wide objectives. 

Later in this report, the process to prioritize risks by their 

probability and potential impacts will be described. this 

prioritization identifies the risk factors that senior executives 

will own. High-risk items may require constant attention 

while low-risks ones require only occasional monitoring. the 

risks assigned to the executive level almost always are ones 

that are too broad to be encompassed within one program 

or organizational division. they also tend to influence core 

activities, or activities mandated by the political process. 

program Risks—Programs generally are defined as 

collections of related projects or on-going efforts to ensure 

achievement of specific organizational objectives. as such, 

a program could be a collection of construction projects, 

or a set of related activities such as managing pavements, 

bridges or roadway appurtenances. Programs can focus on 

capital items, operational activities, regulatory functions, 

organizational intelligence and other related activities. some 

international agencies even consider entire roadway functional class networks to be programs. their logic is that the 

functional class network provides specific programmatic 

benefits at the national, regional or local levels. risks at 

the program level can be numerous. a series of project 

cost estimate failures at the project level can create risk to 

an entire construction program. Or, program risks can be 

caused by conflicts within the agency that impede program 

effectiveness. Breakdowns in information systems or data 

quality can threaten the quality of an entire program. 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 19 

Changing the objectives or management of a program 

creates risk and uncertainty. 

generally, program risk is assigned to the program managers. 

within the program, risks can be further subdivided to the 

program managers within offices or geographic districts. 

project or Activity Risk—Obviously, project risk is assigned 

to the individual project manager, such as the one managing 

a construction project, or the creation of a new product such 

as a new information system. activity risks are assigned to 

activity owners, such as those who manage the individual 

preventive maintenance activities at a district, or the pavement data collection activities or the modeling activities. 

generally, guidance recommends creation of a departmentwide risk management plan that cascades responsibility from 

the chief executives down to front-line managers. a typical 

framework would be for there to be an enterprise risk management plan that incorporates the separate risk management plans from the programs, projects and enterprise. 

Communicating and 

Monitoring risks 

risks are dynamic. they can rise and fall with changing 

conditions. their dynamic nature requires a continuous 

reporting and monitoring process as illustrated in figure 2. 

Practitioners of risk Management such as transLink in British 

Columbia, or the Highways agency in england or the new 

Zealand transport agency keep abreast of risk through 

regular updates and through required reports. transLink 

officials report that the risk management update is a central 

component of their board meetings and agency governance. 

references to risk management appear 187 times in the 
 20 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

2010-2011 annual report of the new south wales (australia) 

roads and traffic authority. it communicates risk in dozens 

of areas such a traffic safety, the licensing of young drivers, 

regulatory compliance, financial management, construction, 

culvert management, slope maintenance, bridge inspection, 

pavement rehabilitation and permitting of oversized vehicles. 

Multiple risk management plans and “risk registers” exist at 

these different programs and they are monitored and 

adjusted periodically. 

the risk management standards set by isO, the Project 

Management institute (PMi) and the institute of risk 

Management and insurance (irMi) say that establishing 

the communication framework is essential to successful 

risk management. Because risk factors are dynamic, they 

may require prompt response or adjustment, both to avoid 

threats but to also capitalize on opportunities. enterprise 

and program threats also can occur because of internal 

operational failures or because of conflicting priorities 

between divisions. Prompt reporting of these conflicts 

and breakdowns allow them to be escalated and resolved 

more quickly. 

Communication also is important because veteran practitioners say that the entire discipline could be considered as a 

verb, not a noun. it may be more accurate to discuss managing risks, which connotes a very active and dynamic process, 

than to discuss risk management which sounds more like a 

static discipline. the active nature of managing risks requires 

effective communication mechanisms between the diverse 

participants. the communication network generally includes 

inputs and outputs to external groups such as legislators and 

the public. Changing circumstances can be communicated 

from the outside to the agency, or from the agency to the 

external stakeholders. 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 21 

tailoring risk Management 

to keep it relevant, risk management guidance generally 

recommends establishing the “agency context.” this step 

involves identifying the objectives of the organization, the 

environment in which it operates, and the stakeholders with 

whom it interacts. Most guidance says risk management 

should serve the agency, its stakeholders and their objectives. as such, the risks managed should be those most 

important to the agency and its stakeholders. 

this attuning of risks with agency priorities makes risk 

management a strategic tool that helps the agency achieve 

its objectives and prioritize scarce resources. 

risk management is about striking the balance between risk 

and opportunity or finding the “sweet spot” between the 

two. any person or organization operating in a fiduciary 

role for stakeholders faces a responsibility to reduce risk, to 

manage volatility, maximize value and promote continuity. 

increasingly, organizations recognize that risk comes in new 

forms, such as risk of failing to comply with regulation, risk to 

reputation, and risk from changing external conditions. in an 

age of widespread and nearly instantaneous news media and 

social media reaction, these risks quickly can affect an 

organization’s operations. an enterprise-wide assessment 

of all risks to success can prepare an organization to prevent 

negative events, and can improve its credibility if one occurs. 

risk management is similar to a sound investment strategy. 

it assigns resources to areas of high returns and relatively 

low risks, and it diminishes investment of resources into 

high-risk, low-return areas. By having a formal risk-management framework an organization can increase its credibility 

with shareholders by documenting that it has rationally 

anticipated risk and plans to address its negative 

implications while capitalizing upon opportunities. 
 22 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

the situational nature of risks indicate that they can change 

over time or they can vary between geographic areas within 

the same agency. Different traffic volumes, climate, geology, 

or environmental resources can cause risks to vary between 

regions. some activities such as compiling pavement inventory data may be routine and low risk until a new pavementdata-collection system is deployed. Until the system is tested 

and de-bugged it may remain as a high-risk asset management activity. as it matures, its risk profile falls. 

simple tools for Managing risk 

although the practitioners of risk management describe its 

effects as important, they tend to describe its tools as simple. 

the “risk register” is a primary tool of many transportation 

agency risk management programs. the register is a simple 

excel spreadsheet that lists the risks that have been considered. it includes their rankings, to whom they are assigned 

and what response actions are under way. Color coding the 

risk registers to resemble “heat maps” is commonly used as 

seen in figure 4. this example comes from the international 

infrastructure Management Manual (iiMM) and illustrates 

the typical logic of a risk register. risks are ranked by their 

likelihood based on an a to f or similar scale. then, the 

consequence of the risk is calculated. the risks are then 

computed to be low, medium, or high and color-coded 

accordingly. appropriate responses are assigned to the 

appropriate risk owners. although figure 4 represents the 

simplest type of risk calculation, the logic it contains is 

universal to all risk registers and represents the relative 

simplicity of the basic risk management tool. 

One risk management author advocates for a “modesty of 

tools and a boldness of goals.”(8) By this, he means that it 

is more important for executives to actively manage their 

known risks than to acquire complex risk tools. Complex 
 

Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 23 

LikeLihooD CoNSeQueNCe 

1 2 3 4 5 

A L L L m S 

B L L m S h 

c L m S h h 

D m m S h h 

E m S h h h 

f S h h h h 

SCALE: Low, Moderate, Significant, High 

figure 4. The IIMM example of a risk scale. 

tools are used in the worlds of wall street finance and 

insurance for risk measurement but not generally for corporate, enterprise risk management. enterprise risk managers 

are more likely to rely on the judgment of veteran staff to 

qualitatively weigh common enterprise risks than they are to 

invest in complex software systems in an attempt to quantify 

hard-to-measure risk factors. in later reports, more complex 

means of weighing risks will be discussed. they typically 

include Delphi tools for identifying risk weights and using 

Monte Carlo routines for calculating the probability of different risks occurring. However, the use of these tools is more 

common at the project level, where risks are more readily 

quantified. these types of tools are much less common at 

the enterprise and program risk management levels. 

the advice to simplify tools is similar to that provided by the 

U.s. international study tour team whose major recommendation after reviewing successful risk management practices 

abroad is to “keep it simple.” 
 24 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

The study tour’s team’s summary emphasizes 

that although they found impressive and 

mature enterprise risk managements systems 

in the visited countries, the systems featured 

simple, easily understood analyses. 

the study tour team’s unpublished summary emphasizes 

that although they found impressive and mature enterprise 

risk managements systems in the visited countries, the 

systems featured simple, easily understood analyses. 

a few of the agency officials interviewed emphasized 

that they preferred simple spread-sheet based risk registers 

and risk plans over complex, proprietary and highly 

quantified software. the more complex outputs are less 

transparent to stakeholders. they also require agency 

officials to spend their time managing software instead 

of managing risks. spreadsheets, heat maps and simple 

graphics were used primarily to illustrate the outcomes 

of the risk analyses. 

the study tour team concluded that one of the greatest 

benefits of the risk management process is the ability 

to communicate information simply to decision makers 

throughout the organization and externally to stakeholders. 

an analysis may be more statistically rigorous if produced 

by a probabilistic model but if it is wrapped in jargon it is 

of little value to stakeholders. 

new Zealand law requires agencies to use risk management 

but it emphasizes common-sense application as well. One 

study of how risk(9) is used by local governments in new 

Zealand said, “there should not be undue effort applied to 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 25 

scoring risk beyond the expertise of the staff contributing 

to the scoring.” 

a major private-sector organization, the international risk 

Management institute (irMi), makes a similar point. “while 

(risk management) seems intimidating to many businesspeople—possibly because of the unique vocabulary that 

risk and insurance professionals use—the risk management 

process is not really difficult to understand. it is simply a 

common-sense approach to using a number of readily 

available tools to handle an organization’s risk in the 

most cost-efficient manner possible.” (10) 

to simplify managing risk, some of the international guides 

not only use simple tools, but also simple language. the 

official guidance to transportation agency staff in scotland, 

england and australia is peppered with plain-spoken 

advice and examples. the australian state of victoria’s 

risk management guide emphasizes embedding risk 

management into its culture, which it defines as “the way 

we work around here.” transport scotland describes risk 

as “the chance of something happening that will impact 

on safety or service.” transport scotland describes risk 

management as addressing complex external issues but 

also emphasizing basic, core services such as ensuring 

damaged signs are quickly replaced. the english Highways 

agency uses simple acronyms and alliterations. its manual 

for rating risks relies on a Brag scale, or Black for critical, 

red for high, amber for medium and green for low. when 

risks are found, risk owners must remember and apply the 

5ts. they are to treat the risk, tolerate the risk, transfer 

the risk, terminate the risk or take advantage of the risk. 

the guide advises that Highway agency workers should 

not fear taking a well-considered risk, rather they 

should be encouraged to take risks that can 

improve public safety or service. 
 26 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

Managing risk is not new, 

formalizing it is 

Once risk and risk management are described, it is apparent 

they are not new to Us transportation officials. agencies 

have for many decades used risk-based approaches even 

if they have not described them as such. Us transportation 

agencies invest more resources into maintaining highvolume, high-risk roadways than they do in low-volume, 

low-risk ones. Bridge engineers invest more resources into 

inspecting and monitoring high-risk bridges than they do 

with low-risk ones. High-risk assets such as traffic signal 

controllers receive far more attention than do low-risk assets 

such as isolated maintenance sheds. safety analysts scour 

statewide crash data to identify high-risk locations for safety 

improvements. the identification of risk and the mitigation 

of it permeate U.s. transportation practices. 

what is missing in Us transportation agencies that is 

evident abroad is formal, policy-based, comprehensive 

documentation of risk management. what the U.s. scan 

team found when visiting the international risk management 

leaders was the explicit, formal embrace of risk management that allowed them to communicate to stakeholders 

that they had identified, measured and managed risks to 

the public. these agencies could demonstrate their policies, 

their risk registers, their risk responses and how they had 

prioritized their resources to reduce the greatest threats. 

the risks they identified also were not only safety threats. 

they also included programmatic risks that could prevent 

the agency from achieving important public objectives. 

these included compliance with environmental standards, 

achievement of agency programs and the protection of 

public value. a formal risk management approach brings 

with it policies, processes and results that can be explained 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 27 

to stakeholders. figure 5 from the transLink agency in 

British Columbia illustrates the comprehensive nature with 

which it manages risks and reports them to its board. it 

identifies risks in many areas from its strategic priorities 

to its regulatory requirements. it measures the probability 

and impact of each risk and reports on them regularly 

to its board and stakeholders. as a result, risk is a major 

tool for prioritizing its efforts and for communicating with 

its stakeholders. 

as the scan team members wrote after viewing the risk 

management systems abroad, “transportation agencies 

manage some of the largest public assets and budgets in 

federal, state and local governments. it is their corporate 

responsibility to set clear strategic objectives to manage 

these assets in a manner that improves the economic growth 

and livability of their regions. risks can affect an agency’s 

Likelihood 

(36 months) Likelihood risk map 

> 90% almost 

Certain 5 M h e e 

> 70% to 

> 90% Likely 4 M M h e 

> 25% to 

< 70% Possible 3 L M M h 

> 1% to 

> 25% Unlikely 2 L L M h 

< 1% rare 1 L L L M 

impact impact 1 2 3 4 

Minor Moderate Major extreme 

Strategic political Reputation • financial • human Resources
 
 

Business effectiveness • Safety • environmental
 
 

Reporting • Regulatory
 
 

figure 5. Framework Tools. 
 28 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

ability to meet its strategic goals. as network and delivery 

managers, it is incumbent upon these agencies to identify 

risks, assess the possible impacts, develop plans to manage 

the risks and monitor the effectiveness of their actions.” 

the isO risk management standard makes a similar point that 

the hallmark of a mature organization today is that its risk 

management is comprehensive, recordable and transparent. 

the international infrastructure Management Manual 

describes risk management as a visible, core business 

driver and not an isolated function. in england, treasury 

Department guidance says, “government will be open and 

transparent about its understanding of the nature of risks to 

the public and about the process it is following in handling 

them. government will make available its assessments of risks 

that affect the public, how it has reached its decisions, and 

how it will handle the risk.” the english Highways agency 

says risk management is a high-profile component of good 

stewardship of assets along with other formal and recordable 

processes such as life-cycle costing, long-term strategies, and 

performance monitoring. the new south wales roads and 

traffic authority rates risk management among its key 

governance drivers along with performance management, 

and high-quality planning. for the rta, risk is well 

documented and widely referenced. 

also less common in the U.s. than in the agencies abroad 

or among the private sector here, is the degree to which risk 

management cascades across an agency. risk management 

at the project level in the United states is generally assigned 

to project managers, or to program managers at most. what 

is likely to change in the U.s. is the degree to which risk 

management responsibilities expand across more programs, 

such as asset management ones. the irMi says risk management is more successful if widely integrated. “to be truly 

successful, however, risk management must permeate an 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 29 

organization. a risk manager or even a department full of 

risk managers cannot maximize the benefits of the process 

without the understanding, cooperation, and active support 

of others within the organization.” 

Managing risks to assets 

with both chambers of Congress and the administration 

proposing that state transportation agencies adopt riskbased asset management plans, it is likely that the emphasis 

upon risk management will grow. state transportation 

officials are likely to begin emulating their counterparts 

in the private sector and abroad and begin to incorporate 

risk into their asset management processes. 

How might a risk-based asset management program look? 

this report only will touch briefly upon how the concepts 

explained so far may be applied to transportation asset 

management. the second risk-Based asset Management 

report will examine those concepts in much greater detail. 

in summary, the application of risk management to managing assets is likely to include the following developments. 

Strengthening program risk management: transportation 

agencies likely will become more experienced at program 

and enterprise risk management as opposed to only 

project risk management. Managing risks to an entire 

asset management program probably will require a program 

risk management approach, such as that described by the 

Project Management institute. asset management risks 

would be considered as ones that transcend most individual 

projects and activities and could influence all asset management activities, goals and processes. the types of risks to 

assets would include those articulated on pages 15 and 16. 

the management of those risks is likely to be sensitive to 

the following types of strategies. 
 30 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

Adopting sound asset management practices: a fundamental risk management approach will be to have a sound asset 

management approach. an agency’s assets are more likely to 

be at risk if they are not managed within a clearly articulated 

and understood asset management framework. asset 

management applies systematic economic and engineering 

principles to a broad range of assets over all phases of their 

lifecycle. Coordinating such complex activities within a large 

transportation agency begins with clear asset management 

policies, procedures and practices. a programmatic approach 

to managing risks to agency assets is likely to begin with the 

establishment of a sound asset management program. 

Coordinating program and project Activities: internal risks 

to asset management can involve a lack of coordination 

between the many decision makers who identify asset treatments. Often, the individuals who decide on maintenance 

treatments are different from those who make rehabilitation 

or replacement decisions. ineffective internal coordination 

of all asset-treatment decisions during the assets’ lifecycles 

can be a risk, while improving the coordination can be a 

major opportunity. 

evaluating Asset Data: sound asset data lies at the heart 

of sound asset management decision-making. significant 

research has documented shortcomings in asset inventories. 

Many agencies struggle with incomplete asset inventories or 

disjointed inventories that do not link to common referencing 

systems. as agencies consider threats to the achievement of 

their asset management objectives, poor quality data is likely 

to be a consideration. 

improving models: inadequate forecasts of traffic loadings 

and material performance have been identified as one of 

the primary causes of premature pavement failures at the 

project level.(11) the importance of sound modeling grows 
 

Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 31 

even greater at the network level when agencies base 

multi-year pavement and bridge programs upon the outputs 

of network pavement and bridge models. One source(12) 

said that modern decision makers are like pilots who must 

fly by instrument. Modern organizations are so complex 

that decision makers must rely on models but if they are 

inaccurate, it is like flying blind. as agencies develop multiyear, performance driven and risk-based asset management 

plans, they increasingly will rely on models, or at least 

forecasts. it is likely that the quality of these models and 

forecasts will be viewed as both a threat and an opportunity 

for asset managers. 

Managing Risks to knowledge: risks to asset management 

knowledge comes from attrition, retirements and agency 

downsizing. when knowledge is viewed as a key asset, its 

loss through turnover can be viewed as an asset management threat. Just as physical assets need renewal, so do 

the knowledge assets of an organization. 

identifying preservation opportunities: Preserving assets 

is almost always less expensive than repairing or replacing 

them. However, research has indicated that preservation 

treatments are not always consistently applied across entire 

highway networks. Developing the internal procedures to 

ensure that preservation occurs is likely to become an 

identified risk. Most funding sources were established for 

repair or replacement treatments and may not be eligible 

for preservation. Capitalizing upon the long-term benefits 

of preservation may become a widely recognized threat 

and opportunity. 

identifying high-Risk Assets: in a risk-based framework, the 

assets most at risk probably would be identified, at least by 

category. some assets such as high-volume, fracture-critical 

bridges are likely to be included as critical assets. Others 
 32 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

could be pavement sections and bridges on the verge of 

declining into substandard condition and requiring preventive treatment. Others could be high-impact safety assets 

such as traffic signals, lighting elements, pavement markings 

or signage. Many agencies have heterogeneous asset 

conditions. some asset classes or some areas of a state 

may have disproportionately at-risk assets. these are 

likely to be identified and monitored programmatically. 

Managing Asset Budgets: Lack of adequate investment is 

probably the most universally identified threat to achieving 

asset management goals. although funding may be beyond 

the entire control of an asset management program manager, the monitoring of investment levels will be important. 

Monitoring Construction prices: Price escalation has 

moderated somewhat in recent years but the price increases 

between 2005 and 2008 illustrated how significantly material costs can reduce effective investment levels. Purchasing 

power was seriously eroded in those years and has not 

returned completely. Cost increases are likely to be a 

significant asset management uncertainty. 

the identification and management of these risks would 

provide a significant new component to the agency’s 

asset-management framework. risks such as these would 

be identified in the asset management risk register and they 

would be prioritized based upon their probability and their 

potential impact. the potential impacts of these risks to 

asset management goals would be articulated, as would be 

the strategies for addressing them. some would be tolerated 

as not significant and only requiring monitoring. Others, 

could be treated, such as strengthening agency data systems 

or models, improving asset management practices or 

increasing coordination among asset owners. Others may 

be avoided altogether by eliminating their underlying cause. 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 33 

some could represent major opportunities that the agency 

seeks to capitalize upon. in a risk-based asset management 

program, these uncertainties would no longer be confined to 

the internal considerations of the agency but are likely to be 

clearly expressed to stakeholders as issues that could affect 

asset management objectives. 

summary and Conclusions 

as states focus on advancing their transportation asset 

management program, they are likely to place an increased 

emphasis on becoming competent in not only project 

risk management, but also program and enterprise risk 

management. Congressional calls for states to develop 

risk-based asset management plans for the national 

Highway system probably will be a major impetus to 

the spread of risk considerations into asset management 

programs. this will require new skills in transportation 

agencies. this also will give those agencies new means 

to allocate resources and to communicate effectively 

with stakeholders. threats that could imperil success will 

be identified, and the rational risks that agencies take in 

order to overcome those threats can be explained. 

agencies already are dealing with risks, they just often are 

not formally documenting it. agencies are struggling to keep 

abreast of rising material prices, inadequate budgets, antiquated data systems, aging highway assets, and rising public 

expectations. agency officials are well-aware of these risks 

but without a programmatic risk management approach they 

lack the means to effectively articulate the magnitude of 

these risks and how these risks can impede agency goals. 

agencies already take well-considered risks in order to 

capitalize upon opportunities, or to preserve scarce resources. However, the decision-making process when taking these 
 34 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

risks may not always be documented or easily explained later 

to stakeholders. 

risk management provides a comprehensive framework 

for explaining risks, documenting decisions and identifying 

new opportunities. risk management can be a logical 

complement to existing frameworks of performance and 

asset management. Both performance and asset management focus upon achieving internal objectives by maximizing internal resources. in many ways, performance and asset 

management seek to ensure reliability and optimized use of 

agency resources. risk management specifically addresses 

variability, uncertainty and issues that are often beyond an 

agency’s control. risk management does not eliminate 

threats to performance or asset management goals but 

it provides a logical, transparent framework for dealing 

with them. 
Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 35 

eNDNoTeS 

1. international Organization for standardization, risk 

Management—Principles and guidelines, isO 3100:2009(e) p. 1. 

2. Coleman, thomas, a Practical guide to risk Management,
 
 

the research foundation of the Cfa institute, 2011.
 
 

3. Coleman. 

4. kaplan, robert, et al, Managing risk in the new world, Harvard 

Business review, Oct. 2009, pp. 69-75. 

5. aasHtO, asset Management guide a focus on implementation, 

executive summary, May, 2010, p. 3. 

6. Proctor, gordon, “Performance Management: a system for
 
 

improving Performance and Documenting results,” part of the
 
 

curriculum of the national transportation Leadership institute
 
 

for aasHtO.
 
 

7. Lam, James, enterprise risk Management” John wiley and sons, 

Hoboken, n.J. 2003. 

8. Coleman, thomas, a Practical guide to risk Management,
 
 

the research foundation of the Cfa institute, 2011, p. 3.
 
 

9. Case studies and best-practices guideline for risk management 

on road-networks, september 2010, Hill gHD Limited, auckland, 

tfP Henning, University of auckland, B smith, Brian smith 

advisory services, Christchurch and k Dever-tod, national 

asset Management steering (naMs) group, wellington. 

10. Head, george, “risk Management why and How” institute of 

risk Management and insurance, 12222 Merit Drive, suite 1450, 

Dallas, texas, 2009 p. 3. 

11. Haas, ralph, w. ronald, Hudson, John Zaniewski, Modern 

Pavement Management, kreiger Publishing Company, Malabar, 

fla., 1994, p. 295. 

12. Crouhy, Michel, Dan galai, robert Mark, the essentials of risk 

Management, Mcgraw-Hill, 2006, p. 397. 
 36 Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management 

Additional information is available from the following: 

Nastaran Saadatmand 

asset Management Program Manager 

Office of asset Management 

federal Highway administration 

1200 new Jersey avenue, se 

washington, DC, 20590 

(202) 366-1337 

nastaran.saadatmand@dot.gov 

or 

Steven Gaj 

Leader, system Management & Monitoring team 

Office of asset Management 

federal Highway administration 

1200 new Jersey avenue, se 

washington, DC 20590 

(202) 366-1336 

stephen.gaj@dot.gov 

Office of asset Management 

federal Highway administration 

Prepared by: 

gordon Proctor
 
 

gordon Proctor & associates, inc.
 
 

in association with:
 
 

shobna varma
 
 

starisis Corporation
 
 

Office of asset Management 

federal Highway administration 

1200 new Jersey avenue, se 

washington, DC 20590 

fhWA-hif-12-035