Life-cycle approach to collecting, managing, and sharing transportation infrastructure asset data

Transportation asset management (TAM) demands a data-driven decision-making process to proactively maintain, preserve, and extend the long-term service life of transportation assets. State highway agencies (SHAs) typically wait to inventory their assets according to their locations, dimensions, and material types and properties after they are constructed and open to traffic. However, the construction phase is the best time to collect asset data because access is easier and safer, and more importantly, the data needed for operation and maintenance (O&M) inventory already are being collected during the construction inspection and documentation process. Thus, finding a way to facilitate the flow of the asset data collected during construction to asset management information systems would not only eliminate the waste caused by the duplicate data collection efforts, but also ensure the safety of data collectors. Specifically, a linkage mechanism is needed to connect the planned assets in the design phase to the construction activities and then to the assets in the asset management systems for future use. Therefore, this paper introduces the framework for such a mechanism, which uses the construction pay items (i.e., measurable and specific construction work items for transportation assets). This proposed mechanism will enable sharing the construction records and as-built data of transportation infrastructure assets during construction and then sharing them with the downstream O&M applications. Four typical asset types (underdrains, guardrails, attenuators, and culverts) in a transportation project in Indiana were used to demonstrate its application. The results confirmed that the newly developed mechanism successfully integrated the asset data collection and documentation process into the current construction inspection process. It also eliminated the duplicate data collection efforts, which resulted in reducing asset inventory expenses in the short term and more effective asset management in the long term.