Asset management at PBOT

Overview

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) manages transportation assets worth $19.7 billion. Portland’s transportation system helps move people, goods, freight and emergency response vehicles through the city. Motor vehicles, mass transit, bicyclists and pedestrians all benefit from the development, operations, and maintenance of Portland’s infrastructure. Portland’s transportation system is a network of streets, sidewalks, bike lanes, bridges, traffic control devices, parking facilities, streetcars and an aerial tram. These combined assets make Portland one of the most livable cities in the country.

Policy statement

PBOT utilizes our Asset Management Policy Statement as a way to effectively and efficiently allocate resources, measure performance, and track infrastructure needs. PBOT’s Asset Management Advisory Committee (which includes engineers and operations staff as well as maintenance, finance, and information technology managers) sets the priorities for asset management within the bureau and helps implement those priorities into business practices.

Reporting

PBOT's Pavement Management System (PMS) enables reporting on condition of streets based upon a new visual inspection methodology. With this system, PBOT can determine maintenance timing and needs on all arterial, collector and local streets that PBOT owns and maintains. The PMS will help PBOT effectively and efficiently prioritize the allocation of revenue to address pavement needs.

PBOT currently conducts condition monitoring on pavement, bridges, structures, street lights, and traffic signal infrastructure. PBOT is working with engineers and technology staff to expand condition monitoring to guardrail and warning and regulatory signs. Condition monitoring will allow PBOT to plan for appropriate preventive maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement needs and budget accordingly.

The Asset Status and Condition report is an asset management tool for tracking the physical assets owned by PBOT – specifically, their condition, any unmet funding needs for proper maintenance, and the major accomplishments that were completed in each asset category in the previous fiscal year.

Risk assessment

PBOT is in the process of conducting a risk assessment for failure of assets. Criteria for assessing consequences and likelihood of failure have been created and are being applied to transportation assets. A risk registry, identifying failure modes and assigning risk of failure, will be created.

Assets at a glance

A large transportation system has many elements. Some, like our streetcar and roads, are large-scale pieces of infrastructure valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Others, like our street signs or sidewalk corners, support a mobile and connected city in smaller, but no less vital ways. The number and variety of the assets that PBOT is responsible for help to explain the wide-ranging and multifaceted nature of our work. We are proud of the fact that, by maintaining and operating these assets, we can contribute to the high quality of life in Portland.

Download our most recent PBOT Assets graphic below:

Here is a list of PBOT assets displayed graphically in the above chart, alphabetical by asset category:

*Centerline miles refers to the length of the road; lane miles is a term for measuring pavement (1 lane mile = 1 mile of road x 1 standard lane width)