Evidence-Based Decision Making for Transportation Asset Management: Enhancing the Practice with Quality Evidence and Systematic Documentation

Recent emphasis on performance-based approaches, reflected, for example, in the mandates of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, provides opportunities for more rigorous approaches to collecting and using “evidence” in transportation asset management (TAM). A strong evidence-based approach was founded on well-documented studies demonstrating failure or success following the implementation of an intervention. This study explored the use of evidence in TAM and performance-based decision making. The study's methodology included a review of evidence-based approaches from various fields, an “evidence exchange” between transportation practitioners, and case studies providing examples of evidence in TAM. The study identified attributes of evidence-based approaches that could lend themselves to enhancing AASHTO's existing framework for TAM program advancement and asset management decision making. These attributes were used to (a) develop a formal hierarchy of evidence to be used in evidence-based decision making for TAM and (b) develop a documentation framework for TAM that can be applied at the project and program levels to ensure evidence-based decisions. The results of this work demonstrate for TAM practitioners what constitutes quality evidence, how it is gathered, and how it can be interpreted and used.