Public Opinions of Roadway Assets

Abstract

In October 2011, the North Carolina Department of Transportation conducted a roadway review with a randomly recruited sample of North Carolina residents and community leaders. More than 300 people from 61 communities participated in the surveys, which were held in six locations: Asheville, Burlington, Charlotte, Jonesville, Rocky Mount, and Wilmington. The purpose of the roadway review was twofold: to determine the expectations for the condition of North Carolina highways and to identify the features that North Carolinians believe are most important on different types of highways. Surveys were completed during both daytime and nighttime hours and covered many roadway maintenance aspects, such as pavement, landscaping and mowing practices, signage, retroreflectivity, and shoulders. Regression equations are also provided to predict the overall satisfaction of condition, safety, and appearance by each individual roadway type.

Relating Public Opinions of Roadway Assets to Field Data with Survey and Focus Groups

“…Consequently, the study outlined in this paper was developed to enhance asset management decisions by objectively determining the expectations that residents have of North Carolina's roadways and identifying the assets that residents believe are the most important on different types of roadways. This study, which builds on a method first used by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) in 2011, specifically relates quantifiable asset conditions to respondent perceptions in a way that allows them to be integrated into the performance management of transportation assets (2).…”