Data Integration
The Michigan Experience

Was It Worth It?

The decision to invest in the development of TMS has dramatically changed the face and internal operation of MDOT. Not only has the new system met the day-to-day business needs of the department and many of its partners, but it has also been the catalyst for changing the way MDOT is organized, how it is staffed to deliver its products, and how it relates to its various constituents. TMS has established the baseline for data quality and timeliness and for asset condition and service levels to use in program and project decision making and strategic asset investment targets. Many specific benefits flow from these capabilities:

Better Data Management and Utilization

• Substantial elimination of the duplication of data collection activities.
• Improved understanding of the criticality of quality data in the program and project decision-making and priority determination processes.
• Substantial agreement among the users on a single definition of key data elements.
• Extensive sharing of data and analysis tools among all internal and external users.
• Agreement on a common referencing system to locate transportation elements and facilitate GIS/GPS compatibility with the statewide effort.

A New Approach to Systems Management

• TMS enables MDOT to establish long-range condition targets for freeway and nonfreeway pavements and bridges.
• The condition of the total system has gone from 64 percent "good" to 75 percent "good" since 1996, and the remaining service life of the pavements has increased by 21 percent over the same time.
• Feedback from system condition information has allowed strategies to be adjusted based on actual extension of pavement life and project costs, resulting in a "mix of fixes."
• Using the integrated TMS and the Asset Management philosophy, MDOT has developed a corridor programming approach that emphasizes coordinated pavement and bridge activities.
• MDOT's Capital Preventive Maintenance Program has reduced routine maintenance costs and stretched reconstruction dollars by extending pavement life.

Stabilized Program Development and Project Delivery

• Road condition forecasts helped support the 1997 user fee increase, which generated over $200 million in new State money for road work.
• The availability of consistent and timely condition information provided by TMS ensures consistent involvement of the regions in recommending projects for the Five Year Plan.
• TMS is used to produce more predictable construction plans, with beneficial results:
  • MDOT can analyze annually how its pavement strategies are meeting system condition goals.
  • Contractors and suppliers can plan with greater certainty for each construction season.
  • MDOT's designers can deliver plans in a way that allows over 90 percent of all contracts to be let by March, which enables those contracts to be completed in one construction season.