Dye Management Group, Inc.
Project: Maintenance Accountability Process
Category: Maintenance Management
Project Summary
The Purpose:
Dye Management Group, Inc. developed the Maintenance Accountability Process (MAP) to address both the Washington State Legislature’s concerns about obtaining information regarding maintenance policies, procedures, and expenditures from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT); and to dramatically improve WSDOT’s management and accountability of maintenance activities. This fundamentally new approach to maintenance management provided WSDOT with a clear, measurable link between maintenance objectives, activities, level-of-service (LOS) standards, budgeting, implementation, and evaluation. MAP’s inherent flexibility allows WSDOT to continually enhance the process by updating performance measures, tracking maintenance conditions, improving LOS calculation methods, etc. MAP sets a standard for maintenance management across the country and is emulated by many other states.
The Process:
MAP is a system of highway maintenance performance measures that provides WSDOT’s maintenance department with the tools to clearly communicate to legislators and policymakers the outcomes of investments in the maintenance program. It links performance to budget levels and incorporates citizens’ LOS opinions.
The premise of MAP is that as investment in the maintenance program increases, the effectiveness in program delivery improves. Increased funding leads toward several things including:
- A preventive maintenance program rather than one that focuses on correcting deficiencies after the condition of highway system features significantly deteriorate
- Lower lifecycle costs of managing highway system features
- The ability for maintenance managers to target funding to higher priorities (i.e., safety) rather than lower program priorities (i.e., activities related to comfort and aesthetics)
- Better understanding of citizens’ priorities and desired LOS for maintenance
The primary components of the MAP are:
- An easily-understood breakdown of the highway maintenance function into thirty-eight distinct activities
- A systematic and relative prioritization of maintenance activities
- Outcome-based performance measures and LOS rating criteria for maintenance activities
- Visual representations of varying LOS ratings for different groups of maintenance activities
- Cost threshold criteria for maintenance activities that project LOS ratings at various funding levels
- A process for conducting condition assessment field surveys of highway system features
- Reports that show LOS targets and actual LOS delivered
- Citizen attitude surveys
The Outcome:
MAP provides WSDOT maintenance with the tools to clearly communicate to legislators and other policymakers the outcomes of investments in the maintenance program. This leads to a more stable, and in some years, an increased highway maintenance budget. MAP improves performance and provides maintenance managers throughout the state with tangible goals toward which they can focus program delivery. To the public, MAP offers greater assurance that their needs and priorities will be met. It also provides a way for WSDOT to communicate to the public about how their tax dollars translate into their desired maintenance LOS.