RD100 - Virginia Department of Transportation Annual Report 2015 Pursuant to Code of Virginia § 33.2-232


Executive Summary:
Code of Virginia § 33.2-232 directs that by November 30 of each year the Commissioner of Highways (Commissioner) is to report in writing to the Governor, the General Assembly, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, and the Commonwealth Transportation Board.The content of such report shall be specified by the Board and shall contain, at a minimum:

1. The condition of existing transportation assets, using asset management methodology pursuant to § 33.2-352;

2. The methodology used to determine maintenance needs, including an explanation of the transparent methodology used for the allocation of funds from the Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund (HMOF) pursuant to subsection A of § 33.2-352;

3. Beginning with the November 2015 report through the November 2019 report, the allocations to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of functionally obsolete or structurally deficient bridges and to the reconstruction of pavements determined to have a combined condition index of less than 60 and beginning with the November 2020 report, the methodology used to determine allocations of construction funds for state of good repair purposes as defined in § 33.2-369 and any waiver of the cap provided for in subsection B of § 33.2-369;

4. The performance targets and outcomes for (i) the current two-year period starting July 1 of even-numbered years and (ii) the following two-year period starting July 1 of the next evennumbered year. The targets and outcomes shall state what is expected to be achieved, based on funding identified for maintenance and state of good repair purposes, over each two-year period;

5. Beginning with the November 2016 report, a listing of prioritized pavement and bridge needs based on the priority ranking system developed by the Board pursuant to § 33.2-369 and a description of the priority ranking system;

6. The Department's (i) strategies for improving safety and security and (ii) strategies and activities to improve highway operations within the Commonwealth, including the use of funds in the Innovation and Technology Transportation Fund established pursuant to § 33.2-1531 and improved incident management; and

7. A review of the Department's collaboration with the private sector in delivering services.

The Virginia Department of Transportation 2015 Annual Report is submitted in response to § 33.2-232. Generally, the VDOT Annual Report presents a snapshot of the Agency’s activities and programs including the Commonwealth’s road system for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015, including unless indicated otherwise, information presented herein is based on FY 2015.

For the reader’s reference, the Code of Virginia § 33.2-232, Annual Report by the Commissioner of Highways requires the Commonwealth Transportation Board to specify (or approve) the content of this report. The link to the Commonwealth Transportation Board (approved in September 2015) resolution is as follows:

http://www.ctb.virginia.gov/resources/2015/sept/reso/Resolution_Agenda_Item_11.pdf

The body of the Annual Report is comprised of four chapters.

Chapter I reports on the requirements set out in 1 through 4, above. With the third largest state maintained network of highways and roads in the United States, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) uses an asset management process(*1) (see Figure 14) along with industry recognized practices to determine the condition of asset inventories and determine funding required to maintain and operate the state maintained assets. While Chapter I discusses performance, condition and the funding needed to maintain these assets, Appendix A, gives a more detailed and technical discussion of the needs methodology within the context of VDOT’s asset management processes.

Performance metrics are key components of the process and provide one mechanism for setting benchmarks and quantifying success. VDOT’s performance metrics are also useful when VDOT is developing recommendations for areas of emphasis going forward.

Chapter I also discusses asset management and performance for assets other than pavements and bridges. Examples include tunnels, ferries, safety rest areas, as well as traffic and safety items.

In accordance with the statute’s instructions, the Commissioner will begin reporting on the requirements of item 5 in the 2016 report.

VDOT assesses the needs(*2) of the asset inventory it maintains annually. To give the reader context on the cost if the VDOT maintained assets were built today, the cost would be approximately $300 billion.

When reviewing this report the reader should be aware of the following related to the VDOT maintained assets:

• VDOT is focused on the performance of core assets (pavements and bridges).

• The costs required to bring the Commonwealth’s pavements and bridges to a performance measure of 100% is over $11 billion, the achievement of which is not feasible.

• The assets are aging and most were built over 50 years ago.

• VDOT has set performance targets following asset management practice and industry standards (discussed later in the Condition of Existing Assets portion of the report).

• Based on the current performance targets set by VDOT, the cost to fund the annual needs of pavements and bridges alone is about $1.7 billion.

• VDOT costs to keep the core assets at a steady state after reaching VDOT’s current performance targets would be over $1 billion annually.

• VDOT has only been able to fund a portion of needs required for pavement and bridge assets to achieve performance targets described later in the Summary of VDOT Needs vs. Anticipated Funding section.

Chapter II responds to those items set out in item 6, to include VDOT’s efforts to improve the safety of the motoring and non-motoring public along with an overview of the agency’s security programs and protocols. Safety is paramount when developing and implementing any transportation project or program.

VDOT continues work to ensure Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funds are applied to the highest priority safety needs. VDOT’s goal is to apply HSIP funds to projects with the potential to reduce severe injuries and fatalities.

This chapter also discusses VDOT’s strategies and activities to improve highway operations, including the use of funds in the Innovation and Technology Transportation Fund. The final section of this chapter looks at VDOT’s efforts to improve incident management.

Chapter III reports on VDOT’s efforts in working with the private sector.
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(*1) Asset management process is a systematic process based on economic, engineering and business principles that monitors the performance of transportation assets and aides in making informed decisions about managing the network over the assets entire lifecycle. More details about VDOT’s asset management process may be found in Appendix A of the report.
(*2) In this report “needs” refer to the costs for existing assets to achieve and/or sustain a state of good repair over time, where “state of good repair” is defined in Code of Virginia § 33.2-369.