Publication Number: FHWA-RD-03-015
Date: March 2003

Transportation Asset Management: Join the Community

Informative, comprehensive, and easy to use: the new Transportation Asset Management Today Web site is all of this and more, bringing together people and information in a virtual community of practice. Open to all, the site (assetmanagement.transportation.org) is dedicated to the exchange of information and knowledge about transportation asset management (TAM). The community of practice (COP) is sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), with support from the Federal Highway Administration and the Transportation Research Board.

Users can look up reference documents, initiate a discussion or join one already underway, or comment on a work-in-progress document that has been posted. "I encourage site users to create new discussion items by asking questions or sharing their experiences, respond to existing discussion items, and email suggestions for reference library additions to each topic area facilitator," says site Webmaster Lou Adams of the New York State Department of Transportation. Topic areas include:

• Asset Management 101
• Pavement Management Systems
• Bridge Management Systems
• Engineering Economic Analysis Tools
• Integration of Data and Management Systems
• Research
• GASB 34 (Financial Valuation of Assets)
• Tunnel Management Systems
• Roadway Hardware Management Systems
• Maintenance Management Systems
• AASHTO Asset Management Task Force
• Asset Management at the Transportation Research Board
• Public Transportation
• Performance Measures
• Local Government Perspectives
• Education.

"Each topic area is hosted by a volunteer facilitator who is a subject matter expert for the topic and who assures that site users receive timely and noteworthy content," says Adams. Each of the various topics also offers a directory section, which lists names and contact information for those who have joined the COP.

Other site features include an events calendar and a notification service, which allows users to receive daily email notification that new items falling under their particular interest areas have been posted.

For more information on the COP, contact Lou Adams at 518-457-1716 (email: ladams@dot.state.ny.us).

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