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Strategic Objective
MAINTAIN OR IMPROVE OPERATING CONDITIONS
Strategic Objective
Overview
Recent reports on the condition of our roadways, bridges, transit assets, and passenger rail facilities reveal that many fall short of state of good repair. As a result, they compromise the safety, capacity, and efficiency of the U.S. transportation network. As a Nation, we have not adequately maintained our major roadway, transit, and rail systems. However, the federal role in achieving state of good repair varies from mode to mode. We influence the condition of Federally-funded roadway, transit and airport infrastructure through program guidance and technical assistance provided to State departments of transportation, transit agencies, and airport authorities; through research and development we produce the knowledge, guidance and innovations needed to more effectively address the Nation’s infrastructure challenges. Public transportation systems provide service to tens of millions of Americans daily, especially in our Nation’s largest metropolitan areas. These major transit systems, some of which are over one hundred years old, suffer from chronic under-investment and less than optimal application of asset management practices. As a Nation, we need to meet an increasing demand for public transportation and bring transit infrastructure into a state of good repair. We will work in partnership with State departments of transportation, local transit agencies, and other grant recipients to administer Federal transit programs. We will provide financial assistance, policy direction, technical expertise, and grant compliance oversight aimed at improving transit and rail assets. We will work with Amtrak to eliminate the backlog of projects in the U.S. Northeast corridor.
Read Less...Progress Update
DOT measures transportation asset conditions on roadways, transit and rail systems, and at airports.
The 2013 DOT Condition and Performance Report for highways and transit systems reported that the Nation continues to struggle with keeping its transportation infrastructure in good condition. Limited resources coupled with a lack of good information about inventories and conditions combined to make this effort extremely challenging.
Despite these challenges, in FY 2015, DOT and its governmental partners met all of the goals for Maintaining and Improving Operating Conditions.
Key progress in FY 2015:
- FHWA established new measures for bridge condition and published a final rule to ensure uniform standards for inspecting tunnels.
- FTA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking toward developing a standard definition of "state of good repair" for transit systems and expanding the National Transit Database to include maintenance data.
