In 1997, Governor John Kitzhaber and the Oregon Legislature established The Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds aimed at restoring Oregon’s dwindling wild salmon and trout populations and improving watershed health statewide.  Read More...

Did you know there are nine tunnels on the state highway system? It may not seem like a big deal to "manage" them until you realize five were built in the 1930s and the newest tunnels, at Vista Ridge on U.S. 26, were built nearly 40 years ago, in 1970.  Read More...

Road rage! We’ve all been there: stuck in stop-and-go traffic, drivers slowing down, crossing lanes and turning to enter or exit adjacent land. It can be very frustrating. When driveways

and road intersections are allowed to proliferate, it disrupts the smooth flow of traffic and can cause major safety problems.  Read More...

Ever wondered how many cameras there are on TripCheck? Several hundred, in fact, and they are the single most popular feature of our road condition Web site. In 2008, total visits to Trip-

It seems the powerful global positioning system — more commonly known as GPS — does everything else these days; why not use it to help ODOT better manage geographic data? Sure!  Read More...

ODOT’s new State of the System report aims to increase understanding of the state’s valuable transportation assets, along with the trends and challenges the system is facing statewide. Every two years, the report will provide key information about how the transportation system is performing in relation to the seven goals of the Oregon Transportation Plan.  Read More...

ODOT maintains approximately 7,400 miles of state highway and 600 miles of frontage roads and connector routes. The pavement surface and structural components make up one of the largest investments in our state highway system in terms of asset value, with an estimated total replacement value over $10 billion. ODOT spends approximately $140 million annually on

pavement resurfacing, reconstruction, and related maintenance activities.  Read More...

All across the country, the deteriorating highway culvert infrastructure is a major challenge threatening our transportation system. Culverts have traditionally received less attention compared to other more visible infrastructure along the highways. While more importance usually is given to

pavements and bridges, the maintenance of culverts has commonly been overlooked.  Read More...

ODOT staff often voice concerns about the availability and trustworthiness of asset information on state highways. Historically, the most reliable data has been found in pavements, bridges and ITS equipment. But having access to accurate information is critical for everything ODOT does:

planning, STIP development, scoping, design, construction, maintenance, and more. Reliable information on signs, traffic barriers, and culverts, for example, could help the finance

office, biologists and safety staff, just to name a few. But in most cases in ODOT’s past experience, data collection efforts had to start anew each time someone needed to know something about these and other assets.  Read More...

ODOT’s GeoEnvironmental and Engineering and Asset Management units have begun a multiyear effort to inventory retaining walls. It’s another step in the department’s growing and increasingly

valuable asset management program. This particular effort involves collecting existing design file information and field data, organizing it into a database structure, and using the information to

scope the project and develop policy for short and long term planning.  Read More...

Compare selling bonds as an agency to using your own personal credit. Your credit rating impacts your ability to obtain credit, right? It’s the same at ODOT when we’re trying to obtain credit through the sale of bonds. In the case of the Bridge Program, when the time comes to pay back OTIA bonds, the funding available for future projects will be reduced by the amount that must be

paid back – again, just like your own budget would be impacted by the need to repay what you owe.  Read More...

Many of us drive by traffic barriers without paying them much attention, only to learn of their importance when they prevent us, or one of our family members, from serious injury. These metal guardrail, concrete and cable barriers re-direct errant vehicles that have left the roadway and prevent them from hitting roadside obstacles such as trees or large rocks, going down steep terrain, or colliding with oncoming traffic.   Read More...

ODOT’s Pavement Services Unit is exploring new technologies to make collecting pavement data faster, easier and more reliable. John Coplantz, Pavement Management engineer, has contracted with Pathway Services Inc. for automated data collection services, which includes:   Read more...

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Program’s experience in reporting its outcomes provides a good illustration of ODOT’s ongoing challenges to meet program expectations without having reliable data on-hand. Fortunately, those experiences are over. The program’s staff recently built upon lessons from the Asset Management pilot and compiled up-to-date, reliable statewide information about Oregon’s bicycle and pedestrian facilities.   Read more...

It just makes good sense for ODOT to manage public infrastructure based on appropriately  informed decisions. That’s what ODOT’s Asset Management program is all about. But proactive

Asset Management offers even more benefits.   Read more...

Earlier this year, Region 2, District 3 participated in an Asset Management pilot project. The results confirmed that having current and reliable data is critical to successfully managing transportation assets. The pilot also identified gaps in the available data, in the consistency of data collection efforts, and in the lack of an integrated, usable database to store asset data.   Read more...

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Program’s experience in reporting its outcomes provides a good illustration of ODOT’s ongoing challenges to meet program expectations without having reliable data on-hand. Fortunately, those experiences are over.  The program’s staff recently built upon lessons from the Asset Management pilot and compiled up-to-date, reliable statewide information about Oregon’s bicycle and pedestrian facilities.   Read more...