2.3.2 Prioritize Assets for TAM Advancement

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How-To

Prioritize Assets for TAM Advancement

There are several ways to prioritize assets for advancement in TAM. Agencies can adopt analytical prioritization approaches, such as multi-criteria decision-making, or a more informal approach based on best judgment. In either case, the following How-To can guide the selection of assets to prioritize. Priorities should be periodically evaluated to phase in new assets and capabilities over time.

  1. Understand the existing approach for each asset

    A gap assessment process enables definition of an existing position with regard to assets, ownership, condition, management approach and risks and the most appropriate next steps in advancing TAM practice.

  2. Determine the assets to prioritize

    Consider the following questions when deciding which assets should be advanced:

    • Which assets merit the greatest level of management attention? What are the current priority areas?
    • Which assets, if they fail, would present the greatest risk to the service provided by the network? Which assets represent a significant percentage of the total replacement cost of the portfolio? Which assets consume most the O&M budget or have the greatest impact on network availability/reliability?
    • Which assets would involve the least effort to advance? Where is the most readily available data?

  3. Determine how much of each asset to consider

    Road users travel on routes/corridors rather than specific assets. Consider how the asset-class priorities translate to network priorities. To do this, consider the following:

    • Are the most critical end-to-end routes/strategic corridors covered? Are the most critical paths through the network and the assets on these routes covered?
    • Are the appropriate road classifications (Interstate highways/National Highway System/state/primary) covered?

  4. Communicate priorities

    A TAM improvement or implementation plan defines an agency’s next priorities for advancement and the actions to be taken. This should be widely understood by all relevant stakeholders in the organization to help foster buy-in and leverage the contributions of those able to help advance the plan.