Evaluation of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Maintenance Rating Program

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) relies on its Maintenance Rating Program (MRP) to systematically measure conditions on state-owned roads and rights of way. Every year, the Cabinet evaluates 300-400 road segments in each of its highway districts. Segments receive aggregate scores ranging from 0 to 100, with the target score being 80. This report appraises the MRP and discusses potential strategies for its improvement. Compared to asset management programs established at other state transportation agencies, KYTC’s performs quite well. Between 1999 and 2019, MRP data show that scores improved across all road types. In 2011, the average score for all roads eclipsed 80 and has remained above this threshold since (albeit with some fluctuation). Currently, the category of rural secondary roads is the only one with an average score below 80, although it exceeded this threshold in 2015, 2016, and 2018. KYTC maintenance staff participated in a survey that gauged whether the components evaluated as part of the MRP are relevant and useful. The component which the highest percentage of respondents said is not useful is Right-of-Way Fence (62%). Smaller but still a considerable number of respondents said Striping components lack utility (31%), followed by General Aesthetics and Regulatory/Warning Sign Assemblies (about 27%). Despite the low ranking, staff will continue inspecting right-of-way fences because of their presence on divided highways and due to funding allocations. Additional guidance could be issued to mitigate the subjectivity of aesthetic judgments. Moving forward, the Cabinet will benefit from offering robust training to MRP data collectors to ensure scoring is consistent between districts and staff

Fiscal Year 2019 FHWA-536 Report for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) requires state transportation agencies to submit a biennial report on local highway finances. The purpose of these reports is to provide FHWA with the data it needs to capture the financing of highway activities at the local level. Based on this information, it can identify trends in revenue, expenditures, investments, and program development, and in turn make decisions about future investments. The report, FHWA-536, asks agencies to report on four areas of local highway finance: 1) disposition of highway-user revenues; 2) revenues used for roads and streets identified by source and funding type; 3) road and street expenditures identified by purpose of activity; and 4) local highway debt status. This document summarizes data submitted to fulfill the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s FHWA-536 obligations in FY 2019. The table below presents itemized revenues and expenditures in each of the four areas of local highway finance listed above. Total receipts were $572,773,641, an increase of$128,136,745 over FY 2017. Total disbursements were $660,285,943, an increase of$115,307,524 over FY 2017

Audit Template for Inland Port Sustainability

This report serves as an assessment of port sustainability and its potential applications for the inland river ports of Kentucky and the surrounding region. The report discusses and defines sustainability, both generally as it relates to business and industry and specifically as it relates to the port industry. Given the unique nature of the inland port industry, the report reviews lessons learned from 11 port site visits conducted by Kentucky Transportation Center in 2012, primarily at major U.S. coastal ports but also representative inland ports. KTC’s analysis identifies the sustainability challenges facing various domestic and international ports, and what policy and operating initiatives are being undertaken to meet these challenges. This report then discusses KTC’s progress in tailoring the sustainability process identified during these visits to the inland port industry. Field visits to 13 public ports along the Ohio River were conducted in order to develop a sustainability self‐assessment tool, which took the lessons learned at coastal ports and large‐scale inland ports and applied them to the inland ports of Kentucky and the surrounding region. From these visits and the associated research, an audit template has been developed that allows inland port operators to assess and improve sustainability levels. The wealth of information compiled in this report, along with the associated appendices, will prove invaluable to the inland port industry. The research relayed to the industry has already proven to be a boon to the ports that participated in the project. The preliminary results indicate that ports along the region’s inland waterways would have little difficulty improving their sustainability profiles at low expense, so long as they follow the advice laid out by this report and the audit template

Review of Project Development Practices and Project Management Resources at State Transportation Agencies

At the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) Department of Highways, project development encompasses all the work activities needed to move a transportation project from concept and project initiation to construction letting. Developing projects efficiently requires the adoption of sound project management practices. And having recourse to validated project development practices is critical for helping KYTC project managers negotiate the variety of tasks and processes leading up to project implementation and delivery. For a project manager to be successful, they must possess a holistic understanding of how the complex interplay of engineering, environmental, and economic issues affect different stages and facets of project development. Without an expansive knowledge of these variables, project managers risk privileging one area over another, which leads to the development of subject-matter silos that impede efforts to develop a big-picture understanding of a project. Although KYTC has a long track record of executing complex transportation projects, doing so is becoming increasingly challenging due to staff attrition and the attendant loss of institutional knowledge. Today, entry- and mid-level project managers have more project development responsibilities than ever but lack a dependable source of guidance they can turn to that will help them champion projects from the development stage and through to completion. Given staffing and budget constraints, it is more important than ever that KYTC project managers be equipped with all the tools necessary to successfully develop and deliver the construction program. As part of this project to develop A Guidebook for Project Development, the research team has reviewed literature on project management organizational structure and state transportation agency (STA) organizational structures, particularly those that have explicit project development and management components

Best Practices for Performance Measurement in Transportation Operations and Maintenance

Public agencies benefit from measuring their performance as it helps to focus employee and organizational activities. State departments of transportation have become more performance-oriented over the past two decades and routinely collect data on highway safety, infrastructure condition, system operations, project delivery, winter maintenance, transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and customer service. While the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) use performance measures in a variety of areas, the agency wants to adopt new metrics related to mobility and the responsiveness of maintenance operations. This report documents performance measurement strategies used at state transportation agencies throughout the country and proposes new performance measures in these areas for KYTC. Among the performance measures put forward to the Cabinet, the following ones ranked most highly: (1) response times for complaints and potholes, (2) contract response time, (3) percentage of time and money spent on routine and emergency maintenance of drainage, guardrail, and cable median barriers, (4) response time to repair guardrail and cable median barriers, and (5) winter maintenance operations. As KYTC further integrates performance measures into its operations, it is critical to clearly communicate performance information to the public using tools such as online dashboards and reports

Initial Project Estimates for Design, Right of Way, Utilities, and Construction

Estimating the cost of highway construction projects is among the more challenging tasks state transportation agencies routinely deal with. Developing accurate estimates is a particularly fraught exercise during the planning and scoping phases, when projects have not been thoroughly defined and information on specifics is in short supply. While the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has used several methodologies to generate initial cost estimates for design, right of way, utilities, and construction (DRUC), approaches vary between the agency’s districts. This report proposes a framework for estimating DRUC-related expenses that can be adopted throughout the state. Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) researchers developed the framework after investigating the Cabinet’s current approaches to estimation and the limitation of those methods. In addition to the challenges introduced by incomplete project scopes, often staff have insufficient access to historical information, property records, and utility inventories. In many cases they also have too little time to prepare estimates. The proposed framework draws on best practices used at other state transportation agencies as well as those documented in research publications from AASHTO and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program. To speed adoption of the proposed estimation process, researchers helped KYTC set up and implement the AASHTOWare Project PreConstruction software package. Additionally, a comprehensive user manual and video tutorial were completed to help project managers transition to the new estimation framework and AASHTOWare Project Estimation

Training Curricula for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Department of Highways

Most state departments of transportation (DOTs) offer their employees professional development opportunities (e.g., training courses) so they can build their expertise and in doing so facilitate agency efforts to fulfill their business mandates. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is no different in this regard. While professional development opportunities are invaluable, and while the Cabinet offers a number of trainings to its staff, currently there exists no comprehensive training curricula to help professionals and paraprofessionals systematically grow their knowledge and skills and ensure KYTC maintains a robust portfolio of technical competencies across the organization. The inconsistent and ad hoc manner in which trainings are made available in turn produces unevenness in the distribution of knowledge and skills across the Cabinet. To address the challenge, researchers at the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) were asked to develop training curricula for different subject-matter areas. Before devising these curricula, researchers examined practices and programs in place at other state DOTs which are designed to improve professional development as well as the trainings currently available from at or through the Cabinet. Additionally, previous course offerings and attendance figures were analyzed to understand which trainings have proven the most valuable. Based on these analyses, researchers prepared training curricula for five categories: construction, maintenance, roadway design, project management, and section engineers. Within each category, curricula identify training opportunities for personnel classified as entry, mid-level, and advanced. Undoubtedly, the curricula outlined in this report serve only as a starting point; they will need to undergo refinement as the needs of both KYTC and its employees continue to evolve

Bridge Project Prioritization

Kentucky’s 14,000+ bridges are key nodes within the state’s surface transportation network. They facilitate the movement of freight, commercial vehicles, and personal vehicles alike. Historically, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has prioritized bridge maintenance projects using sufficiency ratings. These ratings are based on three factors — structural adequacy and safety, design obsolescence, and an asset’s importance within the roadway network. Although useful, sufficiency ratings do not account for factors that should be considered during the prioritization process (e.g., condition factors, risk). To address the shortcomings associated with using sufficiency ratings, KYTC — with the assistance of the Kentucky Transportation Center — has developed and implemented a new Enhanced Bridge Prioritization Index. Sixteen factors distributed across three categories (Condition, Mobility, and Risk) are used to calculate index scores for each structure. Each factor is weighted in proportion to its contribution to the overall index. The Condition category makes up the largest part of the index, accounting for 68% of the overall score. Scores range between 0 and 1. A bridge that receives a score of 0 is the lowest priority, while a bridge that earns a score of 1 ranks as the highest priority. Following successful testing, over the next few budget cycles KYTC intends to use the Enhanced Bridge Prioritization Index. As part of this effort, the agency will evaluate the index’s performance and make revisions as needed

Project Management Research Support

Like many state transportation agencies, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) faces unprecedented challenges related to project development and management. Staff losses due to attrition and retirements have resulted in the loss of institutional knowledge. Early- to mid-career project managers (PMs) shoulder more responsibilities than ever while being expected to deliver over 600 successful projects each year. To improve the efficiency of project management, PMs must be able to access effective project management concepts, tools, and strategies which are field validated. Recognizing the importance of strengthening its project management capabilities, the Cabinet asked the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) to provide ongoing support in this area. This report presents a high-level summary of the support delivered over a three-year period, including a review of project management practices at 11 state transportation agencies, a peer exchange convened with key stakeholders at the Utah Department of Transportation, the development and delivery of multiple Project Manager’s Boot Camp (PMBC) trainings, creating articles on project time management, assistance with software implementation (PDP-Precon and AASHTOWare Estimation), the selection and implementation of division-specific performance measures, and building a database which describes and links to administrative regulations and statues with a transportation focus. Recommendations are advanced to help KYTC deepen its commitment to effective project management