Infrastructure

OKI establishes targets to keep infrastructure in a state of good repair

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) requires that all states and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) measure bridge and roadway pavement conditions to establish performance targets to keep roadway infrastructure in a state of good repair.

Bridge Condition

Maintaining the safety and functionality of the more than 2,000 bridges and 350 culverts within the OKI region is critical to keeping people and goods moving. A bridge is in good condition if its deck, superstructure, and substructure were rated in good, very good, or excellent condition. Culverts are considered to be in good condition if they are determined to have no shrinkage cracks, no noticeable deficiencies, or no deficiencies.

Fifty nine percent of the 490 bridges and 51 percent of the 43 culverts located on the NHS were in good condition in 2018. Between 2017 and 2018, the number of bridges and culverts on the NHS rated in good condition increased by 2.1 and 2.3 percent, respectively, while over the four-year period (2015-2018), both the number of bridges and culverts rated in good condition increased by 16 percent.

Roadway Pavement Condition

Performance ratings of good, fair, or poor condition for pavement are determined by FHWA using a combination of several metrics derived from data elements collected by state DOTs and reported to the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS). These metrics collectively provide a way to quantify pavement condition in terms of roughness and cracking for all pavement types, rutting for asphalt pavement surfaces, and faulting (misalignment between slabs) for jointed concrete pavement surfaces. Roughness affects users’ travel speeds, safety, comfort, and transportation costs. Cracking, rutting and faulting are considered surface indicators of structural deterioration in different pavement types.

Within the OKI region, more than 2,200 centerline miles of pavement were rated based on roughness, faulting, cracking, and rutting, in 2018. Of the 2,200 centerline miles, 930 were located on the NHS, of which less than half (45 percent) were rated in good condition and two percent were rated as poor. A breakdown by functional class revealed 60 percent of the interstate system pavement on the NHS was in good condition, while only 24 percent of US routes and 33 percent of state routes were rated in good condition.