WMSRDC also participates, in partnership with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and local road agencies, in the Transportation Asset Management Program. The program involves the development of an annual data base of road conditions of federal aid eligible roads in Michigan. Asset Management is a concept in the transportation industry that is emerging as an important planning tool for public officials, planners, engineers, and others that see data collection as a useful tool.
Each year, WMSRDC staff, along with MDOT and a county road commission employee, collects data for approximately half of all the federal aid roads within the Region. The data collection effort requires the collection of three items: PASER rating, surface type, and the number of lanes. PASER is a visual rating assessment system that rates the road surface condition for a given segment on a scale of 1-10. These ratings are the first step in the planning process known as Asset Management. Asset Management is based on an inventory of each local road network within each of the municipalities and then applying the correct fix or maintenance based on the rating.
Once rating is completed, WMSRDC converts the data into a format that can be used with a Geographic Information System so the communities can analyze their data and track year-to-year progress in upgrading their road systems.
