U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
Three of the sites visited represented asset management experience at the local government level. Such governments, more than those at other levels, have many types of assets to care for, so the scan team was particularly interested in learning how tradeoffs were made among these different categories, if at all. Three local government experiences with asset management included those for Brisbane, Edmonton, and London.
Transportation Infrastructure Managed
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With a population close to 900,000 and an area of 1,327 km²2 (512 mi²2), Brisbane is the largest local government authority in Australia. As such, it is responsible for providing a large number of public services, ranging from water and sewerage to public transit. Not surprisingly, the Brisbane City Council considers infrastructure delivery and asset management one of its major responsibilities. Since 1994, given the growth in population, the amount of paved road surface (measured in square meters) has grown 2.4 percent per year. With Brisbane expected to be one of the fastest-growing cities in Australia in the next several decades, road surface and public transit infrastructure are likely to continue to grow at a fast rate.
Brisbane's transportation plan emphasizes not only efficient management of the road network, but also renewed investment in public transportation and the use of demand management strategies to reduce transport demand. Similar to other Australian cities, Brisbane is placing greater emphasis on tolls or user charges for major investments in the transportation network. The preferred model is privately owned toll roads under a 30-year franchise. If a suitable project offer does not emerge from the tender process, the proposed ownership model is reviewed. An example of a proposed public-private partnership is TransApex, a plan for major investment in new river crossings, connecting major arterials with new roads and tunnels, and enhancing public transportation services developed in response to several transportation challenges facing Brisbane. Increasing congestion, limited general revenue funding, public perceptions of little or no progress in solving transportation problem, and aging of the infrastructure have led city officials to consider innovative funding strategies and develop a comprehensive asset management approach to city assets.
Several factors have led Brisbane officials to embrace asset management as part of their stewardship of city resources. First, as noted in the Queensland case, state government has adopted asset management principles as part of its basic approach to infrastructure provision, and has expected (and for some activities required) local authorities to do the same. Second, Brisbane is proud of its innovative and cutting-edge image among Australian and world cities. Indeed, Brisbane actively markets many of its services to other cities as part of its governmental business plan. The asset management approach in Brisbane, which has received national awards, is part of the general philosophy of governmental stewardship of city resources. It is viewed as a natural evolution toward effective and efficient provision of services.
The defined purposes of asset management in Brisbane perhaps best explain this philosophy and the driving influence behind its adoption in city government. According to city officials, asset management does the following:
In essence, asset management is considered part of good government. Finally, officials pointed to the rapid growth in population and employment as strains on the city's infrastructure and budgets. Asset management was viewed as a way to provide the best value in infrastructure improvement for the limited funds available.
Brisbane created an asset steering committee in 1998 under the direction of the mayor and other top division managers that coordinates the provision and preservation of infrastructure in the city. About 10 people serve on this committee, including the key asset management officials in four major city divisions—urban management, community and economic development, city governance, and information technology. According to Brisbane officials, the focus of this committee has evolved from asset management as a financial accounting technique to asset management as a stewardship strategy.
The Traffic and Streets Department in city government is responsible for the road network, and is a major player in the city's asset management program.
The adopted vision for Brisbane's asset management effort is “enhancing community outcomes through excellence in physical asset management.” According to this vision, expected to be accomplished by 2010, the city's assets will 1) be financially, environmentally, and socially sustainable, and 2) enable the delivery of agreed-on services at optimal cost. The vision statement also says that “in 2010, Brisbane's asset management will be a paragon for local government throughout the region and the world; and be innovative, collaborative, flexible and fully integrated with other city functions.”
The strategy on how Brisbane plans to develop this asset management approach shows quite well how asset management links to decisionmaking. The themes associated with the steps in this strategy include the following:
Step 1: The community is a key stakeholder and valued participant in strategic decisionmaking. Involvement will occur by educating, collaborating, building relationships, and formulating a community plan for asset management.
Step 2: Asset management solutions are based on a best-for-region approach. The city will continue to work with a Southeast Queensland working group on infrastructure coordination, help develop a regional asset management plan (especially for shared services), and use a whole-of-government approach.
Step 3: Asset strategic plans provide a reliable basis for effective planning and service delivery. An integrated approach for related assets will be developed with stakeholder participation. Scenario planning will examine service-level tradeoffs.
Step 4: Agreed service standards define the composition of the asset portfolio. This might entail looking at just-in-time asset creation, flexible assets, nonasset solutions, and ownership options.
Step 5: Financial, environmental, and social responsibility will be the foundation of asset management. Stable funding, positive environmental impacts, and assets that help build social capital will be major objectives of the management approach.
Step 6: Enhanced organizational capability is critical for successful asset management. This will entail appropriate assignment of responsibilities, the most efficient arrangements for asset management, and assumed leadership.
Step 7: High-quality outcomes will be achieved in an environment of continuous improvement. Basic characteristics of achievement will include quality assurance efforts, research and development, improved skills and manager knowledge, and public-private partnerships.
Step 8: An asset management program will be streamlined, cost effective, and based on a low-risk information support network. This will require clear organizational rules, accessible and complete information, and integrated support systems.
Infrastructure provision, preservation, and maintenance decisions are strongly founded on several plans developed to guide these decisions (see figure 42). Asset strategic plans have been developed for all major asset classes, varying in time horizons depending on the useful life of the asset. Information technologies, for example, have very short time horizons, while road pavement is assumed to last between 10 to 20 years and bridges more than 100 years. The asset management plan for roads and streets is typical of how these plans are organized and the types of information needed to support decisionmaking. The asset management plan includes sections on levels of service, future demand, condition assessment, life cycle management, asset risk management, a financial summary, asset management practices, and plan improvement/monitoring.
Figure 42.Asset management model in Brisbane.
The table of contents for the traffic signals and electronic control devices asset management plan provides another illustration of what is included in such a plan. The plan is organized in the following manner:
INTRODUCTION |
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Background |
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Goals and objectives of ownership |
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Plan framework |
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LEVELS OF SERVICE |
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Customer research and expectation |
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Legislative requirements |
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Strategic and Corporate goals |
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Current levels of service |
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Desired level of service |
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FUTURE DEMAND |
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Demand forecast |
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Changes in technology |
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Demand management plan |
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LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT PLAN |
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Background data |
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Routine asset maintenance |
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Renewal replacement plan |
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Asset creation |
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Asset disposal |
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ASSET RISK MANAGEMENT |
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FINANCIAL SUMMARY |
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Financial statements and projections |
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ASSET MANAGEMENT PRACTICES |
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Accounting/financial systems |
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Asset management systems |
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PLAN IMPROVEMENT AND MONITORING |
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Improvements |
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Monitoring |
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The 4-year asset management plans are part of the strategic-planning process and focus on operations, maintenance, and rehabilitation needs. Key considerations in the plans (described as key challenges in any asset management effort) included the consideration of desired-versus-actual (measured) standards of service, how to reduce the level of backlog, planned-versus-reactive maintenance, how to anticipate growth in demand and unit costs, changes in technology, and alternative service delivery options (i.e., demand management). Asset needs are matched to city infrastructure strategies, which are to invest, maintain, or divest.[33]
The importance of having an asset management plan to support decisionmaking was illustrated in a recent example where the City Council rejected a requested budget for city traffic signals maintenance because a strategic asset management plan for signals did not exist.
Road infrastructure managers monitor measures of pavement condition and quality. In addition, given the challenges of growing transportation demand, they monitor and report measures relating to congestion/delay and public transportation system performance. The annual report of the Roads and Streets Division to the City Council best indicates the asset management-related performance measures that elected officials consider most important:
Given the concern about congestion and public transportation, other measures relating to road level of service and transit ridership are also reported.
“We have evolved away from a focus on financial accounting to a more central role for asset management.”
—Brisbane city official
Data are collected and displayed on several other measures used for operational decisionmaking. For example, figure 43 shows rutting and roughness data that are important inputs into the pavement resurfacing program.
Brisbane officials also identified bridge durability and heritage designation as important concerns for those involved with structures.
The foundation for Brisbane's transportation asset management program is the Total Asset Management (TAM) system (see figure 44), based on 16 classes of assets. The TAM framework, available on Brisbane's Web site, is an asset planning tool that can examine asset performance over variable time horizons, including annually, 10-plus years, and 30-plus years. TAM supports decisions on capital investment planning, strategic and operational planning, maintenance planning, and disposal planning. According to Brisbane officials, top elected officials are very interested in TAM and how it leads to the most cost-effective budget decisions for the city. As a result, TAM has a lot of political support for its use.
According to city guidelines, TAM should provide several functionalities in its role as a decision support system. In particular, it should do the following:
Figure 43.Rutting and roughness data for Brisbane.
Figure 44.Asset management systems in Brisbane.
In the near future, TAM is expected to have the capability to issue work orders, act as an auditing tool, and incorporate an asset valuation module. Now, the value of pavement is determined through the use of the pavement management system, while all other assets use a straight-line depreciation approach.
Brisbane's South East BuswayThe Queensland government decided in 1996 to plan a busway network for the Brisbane metropolitan area. The first part of the network, the South East Busway that opened in 2000, now extends for 16.5 km (10.3 mi), with a planned overall length of 72 km (45 mi). Brisbane Transport operates many of the bus services on the busway, with a 2- to 3-minute headway during peak periods and 7- to 8-minute headways during offpeak periods. On an average day, about 3,300 bus trips occur on the busway, serving just over 60,000 passengers. The government viewed the busway as a showcase for the application of ITS technologies, both for vehicle operations and passenger information. The control center houses staff from Brisbane Transport, Main Roads, and police agencies. Queensland Transport has had responsibility for the maintenance and capital renewal of the busway, but it has agreed to transfer this responsibility to Main Roads because of its experience in maintaining roads. Queensland has entered into a level-of-service agreement with Main Roads that will provide a ride quality and pavement condition equal to the best motorway under its jurisdiction. However, maintenance and upgrading of ITS technologies will remain with the transit agency because transit officials believe they have a better understanding of the service needs of the technology applications. |
The asset management approach in Brisbane is based on whole-of-life costing with special attention given to asset durability. The asset preservation program, which includes maintenance and rehabilitation options, is based on standards of service, expected future needs, and identification of risk. Pavement degradation curves calibrated to Brisbane data are used to determine future condition. Risk assessment and comparing current asset condition to engineering standards are the primary means of identifying priorities. TAM is used to conduct scenario analysis on such policy questions as the following: What is the condition of the road network if the city continues spending at existing funding levels? What amount of funding is necessary if the city wants to maintain today's network condition? Figure 40 illustrates this scenario approach. This figure shows what would happen if 2005/2006 funding levels were continued for 10 years. Network condition (denoted on the y-axis as percentage of pavement sections over intervention standard) not unexpectedly would deteriorate.
This scenario approach was used to develop a 4-year funding program for operations, maintenance, and rehabilitation requirements for all of the city's assets. Assets were considered by class, and funding categories for operations, maintenance, and rehabilitation were defined. This was the first time maintenance and rehabilitation had been included in such an analysis as separate funding categories. In the final analysis, funding for transportation and traffic had the highest budget allocation, A$229 million (US$173 million) out of a proposed A$593 million (US$448 million) budget.
Some of the issues faced in this analysis were typical of those found elsewhere. They included considering desired levels of service versus actual levels of service, defining the magnitude of maintenance backlog, estimating planned versus reactive maintenance, considering changes in technology, and identifying alternative service delivery options and the costs associated with them.
Figure 45.Scenario analysis in Brisbane.
Figure 46.Brisbane has devoted considerable resources to an asset management program for its sidewalks.
To value Brisbane's pavement assets, the concepts of useful life, remaining life, replacement cost, and depreciation are used. The estimated replacement cost of the road network is A$2.47 billion (US$1.87 billion). Budget recommendations are based on life cycle cost projections.
The types of atypical road asset management strategies considered as part of the city's program include improving asphalt-laying tolerances, developing advanced asphalt mixes, implementing alternative rehabilitation methodologies, improving materials and techniques, developing alternative uses for road pavement, developing light-emitting strips, and using fiber-reinforced concrete curb and channel.
Brisbane is a good example of a fast-growing city that gives attention not only to expansion of the transportation network (which it is doing in a dramatic and impressive way), but also to preserving the massive investment that has already occurred in the transportation system. Its award-winning total asset management (TAM) approach has laid the groundwork for making the most cost-effective decisions possible given budget constraints. Several aspects of the asset management approach in Brisbane are noteworthy.
Asset strategic plans have been prepared for all asset categories. These plans have not only laid out the technical aspects of asset management for each type of asset, but they have also become important decision-support tools—a good example being the Brisbane City Council's refusal to pass a budget request for traffic signals because no signal asset management plan existed. These plans are an important part of the institutional decisionmaking process and guide technical analysis and prioritization.
Brisbane's asset management program leads to a process of prioritization based on tradeoff analysis. This analysis relies on risk assessments and deficiency analysis for desired levels of service. Although still in its infancy, the approach Brisbane adopted appears to provide sufficient information for city officials to determine the right mix of investment across all of its assets. In particular, the approach has promoted the importance of assets that often do not receive much attention, such as signs, signals, and markings, or what was called the “winks-and-blinks” appurtenances. The credence of this approach is enhanced by having an asset steering committee that provides overall guidance to this process.
Given the very public process of transportation planning in Brisbane, city officials have structured the asset management program to be informed by public input. Public presentations and focus groups have been used to seek input from the public on its desires on system condition and performance.
Similar to Edmonton (see next case), Brisbane has thought carefully about how to portray asset management issues in an easy-to-understand manner. Brisbane staff used figure 47, for example, to convey to elected officials and the general public the extent of the infrastructure challenge facing the city. If nothing else, the equivalent straight line kilometer-to-kilometer extent of Brisbane's road and storm water network conveys the scale of the asset stewardship challenge.
Figure 47.Portrayal of the extent of the infrastructure challenge in Brisbane.
[33] One issue the city council faces is a recent recommendation from a management consultant to divest its fleet resources and three other asset groups.
