Transportation Asset Management

CDOT's Asset Management Program develops and implements risk-based strategies to ensure the Department's limited funding is applied to the right assets at the right time.

The federal transportation act, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), requires that each state develop a transportation asset management plan for the National Highway System (NHS) to improve or preserve the condition of the assets and the performance of the system.

FHWA defines asset management as “a strategic and systematic process of operating, maintaining, and improving physical assets, with a focus on engineering and economic analysis based upon quality information, to identify a structured sequence of maintenance, preservation, repair, rehabilitation, and replacement actions that will achieve and sustain a desired state of good repair over the lifecycle of the assets at minimum practicable cost.” FHWA defines risk as “the positive or negative effects of uncertainty or variability upon agency objectives.”

CDOT maintains more than 9,100 miles of highways and about 3,500 bridges statewide as part of its mission to provide the best multi-modal transportation system that most effectively and safely moves people, goods, and information. Due to increased demand and diminishing funding, previous approaches to maintaining the transportation system are no longer sufficient. As a result, CDOT has developed its Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) to define a framework for implementing asset management strategies.

The asset programs managed by CDOT include:

  • Surface Treatment
  • Bridges
  • Maintenance
  • Buildings
  • Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
  • Road Equipment
  • Culverts
  • Geohazards
  • Tunnels
  • Traffic Signals
  • Walls
  • Rest Areas