2017 AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

Transcription

1 2017 AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

2 AASHTO Executive Committee The AASHTO Executive Committee is comprised of the association president; vice president; secretary-treasurer; eight regional representatives and the immediate past-president. John Schroer President; Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Transportation Carlos Braceras Vice President; Executive Director, Utah Department of Transportation Scott Bennett Secretary/Treasurer, Director, Arkansas Department of Transportation MAASTO SASHTO Patrick McKenna Director, Missouri Department of Transportation Joe McGuinness Commissioner, Indiana Department of Transportation James Bass Executive Director, Texas Department of Transportation Russell McMurry Commissioner, Georgia Department of Transportation WASHTO NASTO Mike Tooley Director, Montana Department of Transportation Roger Millar Secretary, Washington State Department of Transportation Jennifer Cohan Secretary, Delaware Department of Transportation Pete Rahn Secretary, Maryland Department of Transportation AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

3 AASHTO Leadership Bud Wright Executive Director Jim Tymon Chief Operating Officer/Director of Policy and Management Joung Lee Policy Director Jenet Adem Director of Finance and Administration King Gee Director of Engineering and Technical Services Erin Grady Director of Publications Production Lloyd Brown Director of Communications Monica Russell Director of Meetings and Member Services Jim McDonnell Program Director for Engineering Jan Edwards AASHTOWare Project Director Steve Lenker Director, Construction Materials Reference Labs 2017 AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT 3

4 Letter from AASHTO s Executive Director To the members of our board: It is my honor to share with you the accomplishments of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The 2017 AASHTO Annual Report is very much an association report card. It also shows our organization-wide commitment to the priorities and needs of our members. There were many highlights in 2017 and perhaps chief among them was the association s successful implementation of the new AASHTO committee structure one of the most dramatic shifts of organizational structure in its more than 100-year history. The effort touched every area of the association and involved a thorough update of the AASHTO Governing Documents. While the new committee implementation was a primary focus, AASHTO remained a vibrant and diverse organization throughout 2017, playing a key role in supporting the national transportation system and our state departments of transportation. Thank you for taking the time to review this annual report. Sincerely, Bud Wright Executive Director Vision Statement The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials supports members in the development of transportation solutions that create economic prosperity, enhance quality of life and improve transportation safety in our communities, states and the nation as a whole. Mission Statement The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials supports its members through policy development, advocacy, technical services and leadership development, and through advancing partnerships and promoting innovation AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

5 STRATEGIC GOALS In many ways, 2017 was a year that saw the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials undergo radical changes that were not obvious from outside, but which promise to have long-term impacts on how the 103-year-old organization conducts its business. The AASHTO Board of Directors, comprised of state department of transportation CEOs, approved new governing documents to finalize a 12-month implementation process for a new committee structure. That structure prioritizes two key insights from the AASHTO Strategic Plan that AASHTO should be more nimble in its response to changes in technologies and policies affecting transportation, and that AASHTO should ensure a multimodal approach to transportation. In that five-year plan, the board established four main goals to guide the organization in this period. They are: Provide value to members. Provide innovative technical and professional services and products. Lead in development of national transportation policy. Communicate the value of transportation. The first two are in many ways inwardly focused, as we make sure the association meets the needs of its member DOTs while those agencies fulfill the public trust to carefully manage their resources to deliver the transportation systems the public needs to the extent their budgets allow. By meeting those inward goals, AASHTO supports the various transportation departments across the nation as they work to improve the infrastructure they build and maintain. And by helping strengthen our member departments, the association can also build on their strengths to meet the two outwardly focused goals the board set for us. AASHTO s member CEOs, their state DOT professionals who labor on our committees, and our professional staff use every opportunity to lead in the development of national transportation policy, a goal that also requires careful and ongoing communication to target audiences about the needs and value of the mobility systems that allow America to flourish AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT 5

6 IN FOCUS AASHTO Expands Leadership Program Offerings One of AASHTO s ongoing commitments is to support the development of transportation leaders. In 2017 the association, in partnership with the Executive Education Program at the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, offered a new and unique senior executive management experience April in Washington, D.C. Participants in the AASHTO National Transportation Advanced Leadership Institute were exposed to lectures, discussions and hands-on experiences related to emerging national policy insights and enhanced organizational and executive leadership skills. More than 20 participants took part in the immersive experience. In addition to that advanced leadership institute, AASHTO continued to offer a twoweek training for emerging and top organizational leaders. The intensive program takes place each June in Indianapolis, in another partnership with the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs. AASHTO in 2017 also sponsored the 62nd annual National Transportation Management Conferences a series of four-day workshops that focus on critical issues for mid-level managers. Topics include leading change, team building, managing people in today s world and improving communication skills. It held workshops in Wisconsin, Florida, Washington state and Maryland. The 2017 National Transportation Advance Leadership Training cohort visits the Senate Commerce Committee hearing room to meet with congressional staff. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, shares some thoughts with 2017 NTALI participants. NTALI participants listen as Georgia DOT Commissioner Russell McMurry shares his experiences leading GDOT through the recovery from a major 2017 freeway disaster in the Atlanta metro area AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

7 GOAL Provide Value to Members A Major Restructuring For the internal goals, 2017 was nothing short of a landmark year, as we moved in stages to implement a major restructuring of the AASHTO committee system that brings state experts together to shape policy and research across the full range of multimodal transportation issues. Throughout every year, these committees perform an immense amount of work to set infrastructure standards, develop and spread best practices, create software and explore the fast-developing implications of emerging technologies that can change the way people use our transportation networks. To overhaul the committee structure required strong justification, careful planning and skillful implementation. The board had set the stage for this in prior years, first with a comprehensive review of the committee structure and then voting late in 2016 to approve the proposed changes. The new structure in some ways maintains existing relationships and focus areas, while in others it breaks new ground and sheds past labels to better reflect the needs of the 21st century. After the board approved the new structure, AASHTO s strategic management committee and staff executed a careful choreography to put the changes in effect. Existing committees had to be maintained even as they transitioned, new ones were planned and had to be staffed, and all of this had to be done in a shortened association year that saw the 2017 Annual Meeting falling earlier on the calendar than usual. The many AASHTO staff who serve as committee liaisons are helping members make the transition. For some committees the new structure offers both a name change and a new 2017 AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT 7

8 Provide Value to Members role, as various groups that previously operated as subcommittees shifted to hold higher positions that better spotlight their focus areas. Some are new groups altogether, requiring intensive staff planning for how they will operate. Along the way, AASHTO staff also overhauled the wide-ranging AASHTO website, improving the look and feel while moving away from a number of outdated pages that committees were no longer maintaining. The restructuring also required staff to conduct a thorough update of AASHTO s extensive member database, the computer program that allows access to the widespread network of committee participants. At the conclusion of the 2017 Annual Meeting, the new committee structure was largely in place, on schedule. The board finalized it by adopting an updated set of governing documents. Former Utah DOT Executive Director and AASHTO President John Njord (center) received the Thomas H. MacDonald Award at the 2017 AASHTO Annual Meeting. Officials handed out several significant awards during the Annual Meeting. AASHTO presented John Njord, former Utah DOT executive director and AASHTO president, with the Thomas H. MacDonald Award that recognizes a state transportation professional who has rendered continuous outstanding service over an extended period or has made an exceptional contribution to the art and science of highway engineering. Susan Shaw of the Virginia DOT was presented the Alfred E. Johnson Achievement Award for outstanding contribution in the field of highway engineering or management. Since joining VDOT in 1997, it said, Shaw has been leading projects that depend on innovation and collaboration, and as director of VDOT s Megaprojects Office in northern Virginia, Shaw oversees projects worth more than $3 billion. And, the Utah DOT s Moab Peer-to- Peer Adaptive Signal Control System received the Francis B. Francois Award for Innovation. UDOT signal engineers developed that traffic control system using the latest technology, it said, to allow for the most efficient signal timing in the heavily congested center of Moab a city located near the Arches National Park that sees more than 450,000 visitors annually. Utah DOT received the Francis B. Francois Award for Innovation at the 2017 AASHTO Annual Meeting AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

9 It was a significant year as well for the annual President s Transportation Awards. AASHTO members increased the number of award nominations in 2017, aided by a new online awards management software that makes the overall process easier and more efficient for state DOTs. Provide Value to Members The association introduced additional technology improvements during major AASHTO meetings, which allowed for a smoother and more rapid check in experience for meeting attendees. Attendance rose at the major AASHTO meetings, including the Washington Briefing in February, the Spring Meeting in May and the Annual Meeting in September. The Annual Meeting saw a total of 788 attendees with 47 CEOs or designees, compared with 746 attendees with 38 CEOs or designees in The 2017 Washington Briefing featured a luncheon address from U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, member of the Senate Environment and Public Works and Commerce committees. Administration A key part of providing value to members is showing proper stewardship of the resources that member DOTs entrust in the association. AASHTO derives a small portion of its revenue from member dues, with other sources of income including sales of products and services, contracts with federal agencies and sponsor support. The vast majority of association revenue is derived from fee for service member investment in subject-specific technical service programs. We can again report to our members that the AASHTO budget is sound. An independent auditor completed an audit of association for the 2017 fiscal year (July 2016 through June 2017), and gave AASHTO an unqualified opinion that signifies a clean result. AASHTO closed out fiscal 2017 in June with $77.6 million in revenue and $74.6 million in expenses, ending the year $3 million in the black. The current budget for fiscal 2018 projects that the organization will again finish the fiscal year next June more than $2 million in the black (with $82.96 million in revenues and $80.6 million in expenses). In an era when computer systems are regularly under attack from around the world, we have improved AASHTO s information technology security and the IT disaster recovery system. We have also added financial safeguards by implementing a new system to improve the security of how AASHTO makes payments to vendors and processes checks. In an effort to cut costs, AASHTO was successful in negotiating a new credit card processing agreement with a vendor that has generated more than $52,000 in savings through lower annual processing fees. We also negotiated a new investment service fee with our financial advisory firm that saves more than $40,000 in annual fees. AASHTO was able to renew our employee benefit package with little or no increase in cost to the organization or 2017 AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT 9

10 Provide Value to Members employees and transitioned to an online system that made the administration of benefits more efficient. In 2017, AASHTO contracted with a new partnership outreach manager, which resulted in an additional 35 organizational partnerships and a revenue increase of $169,125. IN FOCUS AASHTO s Active Transportation Council Takes Off The newly created AASHTO Council on Active Transportation held its first meeting September 26, 2017 during the association s annual meeting in Phoenix. This is a new group, but the issues it plans to address are familiar to everyone and important to our communities both rural and urban, said Leslie Richards, council chair and secretary of the Pennsylvania DOT. Richards said the council plans to address issues related to bicycle, pedestrian and other active transportation modes, including non-motorized access to the multimodal network. It also will provide input on related policy issues and cross-cutting/multimodal issues to the new AASHTO Transportation Policy Forum, which is populated by representatives of each member DOT, as well as the heads of the six modal councils. The Council on Active Transportation was created by the AASHTO Board of Directors as part of the new committee structure the board approved at its 2016 meeting. AASHTO staff and committee volunteers worked throughout 2017 to implement the new structure. In addition, two more new committees one on Data Management and Analytics, the other on Knowledge Management plan to meet for the first time in 2018 after they finalize their membership late in AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

11 GOAL Provide Innovative Technical and Professional Services and Products AASHTO continues to strengthen its array of technical service programs for our state members. AASHTO and member DOTs develop these value-added programs for agencies that choose to financially support them in order to meet a specific need or function, and to serve as resources specifically customized to meet unique needs of state DOTs. Among their past-year highlights: AASHTOWare, the branded suite of specialized transportation program software products developed by and for state DOT professionals, was already the association s largest source of revenue even as it provided members with tools they need at lower costs than custom solutions. In 2017, AASHTOWare expanded its marketing, setting the stage for potential growth ahead. A new marketing manager oversaw an update of the program s website, expanded its presence on social media and helped revise product-specific marketing materials. Working with state DOT experts, the program released an updated Bridge Management product with significant enhancements including a new asset category, for tunnels, and tracking/reporting of FHWA s 23 metrics that enable agencies to be fully compliant with recent changes in federal surface transportation law. It also updated and released AASHTOWare Project 3.01 on time and on budget. AASHTO re:source (formerly known as the AASHTO Materials Reference Laboratory) manages the AASHTO Accreditation Program and provides laboratory assessment and proficiency sample testing services that supports the AASHTO 2017 AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT 11

12 Provide Innovative Technical and Professional Services and Products Accreditation Program, meeting the assurance needs of the transportation and construction materials laboratories used by the industry. In 2017 AASHTO re:- source held its first technical exchange on best practices, an event that drew 180 participants from 43 states and four countries to Annapolis, Maryland. It was so successful that AASHTO re:source has scheduled another technical exchange for 2018 to be held on the West Coast. And the AASHTO Accreditation Program through AASHTO re:source remains the largest U.S. accreditor of construction materials testing labs with more than 1,900 participating. The association s Publications division continued its shift toward digital Bookstore products. Out of 23 products published since the 2016 annual meeting, 20 were in PDF or website-access format while only three were in print. And the division launched a monthly Publications Update newsletter that it s to all members, committees and DOT librarians. In 2017, AASHTO re:source held its first technical exchange in Annapolis, Maryland. Past-year efforts included publishing the 2017 Materials Book in its second entirely digital edition, a 2017 Bridge package with 11 titles and documents for more than 20 meeting events. The association is also in the process of redesigning the 11-year-old infrastructure of AASHTO s online Bookstore, which will now be a one-stop shopping experience for both Publications and AASHTO TC3 (Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council) Training materials. Implementation of the second Strategic Highway Research Program jointly administered by AASHTO and the Federal Highway Administration continued to flourish in To date, SHRP 2 has provided more than 430 transportation projects with more than $155 million in implementation assistance funding to deploy 63 research products, spreading that assistance to all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The program has also engaged about 304,400 participants in various forms of technical assistance and outreach activities (such as training, peer exchanges, demonstrations, etc.). Through this activity, AASHTO has also strengthened relationships with its state and federal partners AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

13 The National Transportation Product Evaluation Program continued to grow as a resource for state DOTs and industry. This is a public-private partnership that helps avoid duplication of efforts among the 52 member DOTs, by providing single-source testing of common products used by DOTs manufactured to industry standards, and audits of manufacturing for products made to AASHTO and ASTM standards and specifications. In 2017, NTPEP added three new audit programs guardrail/guiderail, elastomeric bridge bearing pads, and corrugated metal pipe and handled record volume in product submittals of pavement marking test deck and sign sheeting materials. The program also made more user-friendly the way it makes NTPEP test results available to the user community, through an improved NTPEP DataMine website that includes several new navigation tools. Provide Innovative Technical and Professional Services and Products The youth educational programs, TRAC and RIDES, enjoyed a busy year with 25 states participating. TRAC and RIDES are designed for use in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) classes in elementary school through high school. TRAC made significant updates to all of its modules, with the upgrades provided by the Michigan DOT. The programs sold more than $1 million of TRAC and RIDES modules during the 2017 fiscal year, drew almost $95,000 in corporate sponsorships and supported the largest number of school teams in the annual TRAC Bridge Building Competition at the AASHTO Spring Meeting. At 18 teams, participation was twice the level of many prior years. Finally, AASHTO continues to work closely with federal agencies and other industry associations on federal contracts and cooperative agreements that provide value to member State DOTs. In 2017, AASHTO oversaw the administration of 15 such agreements. It signed new contracts or agreements with the Federal Highway Administration that include $5 million in support over five years for the Center for Environmental Excellence by AASHTO, which promotes states environmental stewardship and encourages innovative ways to streamline the transportation delivery process, and $1.9 million over five years for the transportation systems operations contract. The FHWA provided $1 million New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (center) and DOT Commissioner Victoria Sheehan (right) recognizes TRAC and RIDES bridge building teams from Kearsarge Regional High School in North Sutton AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT 13

14 over five years to support the Innovative Partnership with the States, which will allow the AASHTO Innovation Initiative to deploy selected Every Day Counts innovations to help accelerate infrastructure projects. The USDOT also exercised a $1.3 million option year for the BATIC Institute at AASHTO, which provides educational and technical support for the federal Build America Transportation Investment Center that the USDOT also calls the Build America Bureau. The BATIC Institute will continue providing technical assistance, information-sharing of best practices and training in the use of tools and decision-making processes that help state DOTs and other stakeholders use the USDOT s credit and funding options. AASHTO received a $1.1 million, two-year contract to support the State Amtrak Intercity Passenger Rail Committee authorized by Congress. The committee consists of state-based entities, representatives from Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration. Mandated by recent surface transportation legislation, it oversees states growing investment in passenger rail and promotes cooperation and mutual planning related to Amtrak s rail operations on state-supported routes AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

15 GOAL Lead in Development of National Transportation Policy AASHTO had worked during 2016 to draw urgency to the need for increasing federal investment in transportation infrastructure, and closing the ever-growing revenue gap in the Highway Trust Fund that supports highway and transit grant programs upon which all states rely. When 2017 began with the inauguration of a president who had vowed to invest an extra $1 trillion over 10 years to broadly improve the quality of U.S. roads, bridges, airports, ports, railways and other infrastructure, AASHTO was well positioned to help build the case for an investment program and offer to help the new Trump administration and Congress shape its infrastructure policies. AASHTO and its member state DOTs have worked closely with senior staff at the White House, U.S. DOT, the Council on Environmental Quality and House and Senate committees to develop proposals to streamline the project delivery process, eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic red tape and focus investments on projects and programs that will have a real impact in improving our nation s transportation system. Throughout this process, AASHTO and its member state DOTs have been seen as the go-to source for innovative ideas and detailed technical analysis. In June, President Donald Trump visited the U.S. Department of Transportation to talk about cutting project permitting times before an audience that included a number of chief executives of state DOTs, congressional leaders and transportation industry stakeholders. Earlier in the day, state DOT leaders participated in a private roundtable meeting with the president, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and other senior administration officials AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT 15

16 Lead in Development of National Transportation Policy A few months later, the Trump administration s key infrastructure officials met Aug. 30 at the White House complex with various infrastructure stakeholders, including executives from 27 state departments of transportation, as the president s team continued to develop plans for a major investment proposal. We have already seen the benefits of those interactions in administrative and regulatory changes made by the administration and in a handful of pieces of legislation proposed by members of Congress. While we have yet to see a detailed infrastructure investment proposal from the administration or Congress, we remain hopeful that many of ideas and priorities promoted by AASHTO and our member state DOTs will be included. But throughout the year AASHTO has also had to push back when Congress and the administration put forth proposals that would set state DOTs back. The administration and some in Congress have proposed major cuts to USDOT s TIGER infrastructure grants program, Essential Air Service subsidies that bring commercial air travel to many small, rural airports, and grants that fund major capital projects for transit systems. They have also proposed to rescind Highway Trust Fund dollars authorized under recent surface transportation bills and eliminate private activity bonds that help finance public-private partnerships. In this environment, filled with both challenges and opportunities, AASHTO and the leaders of its member DOTs worked steadily to help head off funding threats while U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao was the keynote speaker at the 2017 AASHTO Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

17 advising on what they see as the best ways to invest in transportation systems. They also aggressively pushed back against the view of some in the nation s capital that federal highway programs help states and local governments avoid taking responsibility for increasing their own investment levels. AASHTO and member CEOs often with staff support in helping prepare testimony and briefing materials repeatedly told Congress that federal programs provide an essential piece of total highway and transit investment, but that states and local governments fund by far most of the new projects and system maintenance costs throughout the nation. Furthermore, AASHTO s board urged its federal partner to step up to its own funding responsibility in order to stabilize the Highway Trust Fund for the long term and to inject new funding through established formula funding methods that states use to put money for mobility improvements where it is most needed. AASHTO continued to press for congressional appropriators to honor full funding levels that Congress in 2015 had authorized in the Fixing America s Surface Transportation Act, and repeatedly made federal officials and the public aware of the harmful effects of rescissions of highway program contract authority, which continues to be proposed as a budgetary gimmick. And the association continued to provide technical assistance to Congress on various revenue options that could help ensure Highway Trust Fund solvency for the long term. AASHTO forcefully pushed back against the administration and leaders of both House and Senate for their failure to use major tax reform legislation to address the Highway Trust Fund s shortfall and identify fiscal resources that could be dedicated to the pending infrastructure investment package. AASHTO has also been active in developments related to the fast-emerging technologies to develop connected and automated vehicles. The association co-convened with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators a roundtable of 25 industry associations to explore cross-cutting policy issues related to such vehicles. This led to the launch of four inter-association working groups to deliberate on specific policy issues, to better inform each association s own internal work on the challenges and opportunities these technologies offer. Lead in Development of National Transportation Policy Maine DOT Commissioner and AASHTO President David Bernhardt testified in March 2017 before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that under the continued 2016 funding levels state DOTs and local agencies are unable to deploy about $1 billion in this year's scheduled highway program increase. Given significant movement in Congress towards enacting a formal federal policy on automated vehicles, AASHTO collaborated very closely with peer associations representing state and local governments to provide consensus input to both the House and Senate on state perspectives regarding the Federal oversight and preemption of state prerogatives on overseeing the safe and efficient operation of automated vehicles on state and local roads and streets. This engagement led to positive changes in the draft legislative bills pending congressional action. Additionally, AASHTO weighed in with USDOT Secretary Chao on the importance of federal support for communications technology available today for connected vehicles to improve traffic safety AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT 17

18 IN FOCUS Operations and TransComm Committees Collaborate for Solar Eclipse Prep State departments of transportation throughout the country launched intensive communications and planning efforts ahead of the August 21 st daytime solar eclipse that totally blocked the sun across parts of 14 states. It was the first total solar eclipse seen in the United States since 1979, and the first visible from coast to coast since While there were a few major traffic jams, states did not suffer some of the more significant disruptions they anticipated from State DOT staffs take time out from the TransComm annual meeting in Denver to watch the 2017 solar eclipse. Well in advance, state communications experts worked with their operations counterparts to ensure that the traveling public had all the information it needed to make good decisions about where and how to witness the eclipse. the eclipse. That was largely due to their intensive public awareness campaigns, much of which resulted from special collaboration efforts among state DOT communications and operations professionals ahead of the event. Months in advance, the Committee on Transportation Communications TransComm set up a special task force to plan a coordinated messaging strategy. Transportation often isn t the first thing that comes to mind when you mention the eclipse, said Matt Hiebert, assistant director of communications at the Missouri DOT. But when you think about the number of people traveling to witness the event, maybe it should be. Hiebert headed the multistate, eclipse-focused task force for TransComm that worked with AASHTO s Transportation System Operations committee members with the goal of establishing a unifying messaging and to make sure states have the resources they need to communicate the transportation impact of the event. State DOTs are experienced at managing isolated special events in a specific area, but the 2017 eclipse was a fast-moving event that went across all kinds of jurisdictional boundaries cities, counties, states and regions, making it a unique event. Hiebert said the TransComm task force first met in April and found a wide variation of state preparations. Some had been talking about the eclipse since last fall, while others were just getting off the ground, he said. States shared messaging tools including social media graphics, a prototype press release, a draft communications plan, potential language for on-highway message boards and general talking points for state DOT officials. The task force worked with the Federal Highway Administration and the Society of Broadcast Journalists on the effort. TransComm also worked closely with the National Operations Center for Excellence which built an online resource for agencies across the country based on the information and resources shared by TransComm hosted two webinars featuring TransComm committee members and participated in a NASA press event to increase awareness on transportation issues during the event. Good communications is a critically important component of any emergency response situation, said Lloyd Brown, AASHTO s director of communications. It was a pleasure to see so many agency resources working together to ensure the traveling public had all the information it needed to make good decisions about where and how to witness the eclipse AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

19 GOAL Communicate the Value of Transportation While much of what AASHTO staff and its members undertake is out of the public eye, the association board and staff leadership know that communicating about its goals and activities helps amplify the messages they want to convey. During 2017, AASHTO took a number of actions to communicate the value of transportation to various audiences the general public, industry professionals, national policymakers and AASHTO s own internal audience of staff and members. The association uses daily and weekly newsletters, video news reports, social media and an active program of interviews with senior staff by outside news agencies to spread word of what is happening in the various states and to tell our readers/viewers what is happening at the national level that can affect the transportation industry. Readership for the Daily Transportation Update and the weekly AASHTO Journal held steady at around 18,000 recipients, while additional readers continued to visit AASH- TO s websites in order to receive the daily headlines and weekly news stories. And during 2017 AASHTO introduced a new look and feel of those news sites, making them easier to view on desktop computers and mobile devices. More broadly, all of AASHTO s web site properties combined on average received more than 85,000 site visitors a month in 2017, up 20 percent over 2016 levels. During 2017, both the AASHTO Annual Report and the AASHTO web site redesign received gold level awards in the national Hermes marketing awards program AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT 19

20 Communicate the Value of Transportation Our media relations effort not only responds to reporters requests for comments or interviews, but periodically schedules time for groups of reporters to visit with top AASHTO staff to discuss national policy issues. Outside reporters also often check our staff-written AASHTO Journal stories for fresh comments on news developments from our executive director, chief operating officer and policy director. Idaho DOT received the America s Transportation Awards People s Choice These efforts were particularly Award for its US 20 Thornton Interchange project, collecting nearly half of the important in 2017, as a new administration quickly made regulatory more than 75,000 online votes cast. changes and proposed hefty budget cuts in federal programs used by AASHTO members, while holding a series of meetings to gauge the views of state transportation agencies on a possible major infrastructure program. AASHTO utilized its various news operations and media contacts to help spread the word on what state DOTs need. AASHTO also reports on testimony its state CEOs deliver to Congress, plus policy letters or regulatory comments the association submits to congressional committees or federal agencies. Transportation TV provides feature stories that include on-camera comments by state agency CEOs, and periodic news reports. The communications team regularly saw some of its news stories and press releases picked up and reported by outside media. AASHTO saw additional growth in its social media footprint in 2017, and used those outlets to further spread news that other association products were highlighting. By late 2017 AASHTO had more than 19,000 followers on Twitter and more than 11,000 on Facebook. AASHTO s YouTube channel now has more than 1,400 subscribers, and its videos there have garnered more than 1 million views since AASHTO established that channel in An example of special efforts in 2017 came in the run-up to the historic solar eclipse on Aug. 21, which in some parts of the nation produce a total eclipse. TransComm AASHTO s transportation communications committee created an eclipse task force with up to 15 states participating. Those on the task force coordinated with their operations counterparts and federal officials, helping spread news stories warning motorists how to prepare for the impact to regional transportation patterns and for driving conditions during the eclipse itself. The association has for a decade used its America s Transportation Awards competition to give state DOTs a way to highlight the quality of mobility projects and programs in which they invest. AASHTO s state members show a high level of interest in these awards, and they in turn make sure their state news outlets know when their projects win at either the regional or national levels. For 2017, members nominated a record 92 projects from 40 state DOTs. The Colorado DOT earned the Grand Prize from a panel of judges for its US 36 Express Lanes project, while the Idaho Transportation Department s US 20 Thornton Interchange project garnered the People s Choice award and collected nearly half of the more than 75,000 online votes cast for all finalists AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

21 AASHTO launched its first internal newsletter The Inside Lane in 2017, as part of an ongoing effort to increase engagement with AASHTO staff. During 2017, This Day in Transportation History moved beyond its traditional use as an AASHTO feature on social media to become a standalone blog at And AASHTO developed a related 2018 desktop calendar with daily tear-off pages highlighting transportation events in history. Communicate the Value of Transportation Among other communications efforts, association staff acting on the AASHTO board s policy guidance, interacted frequently and continuously with officials at the White House, the USDOT and in Congress. The Center for Environmental Excellence continued its weekly news updates. Staff of AASHTO technical service programs modified their member-interest websites, marketing programs and launched weekly s of specialized news. Publications worked with Transportation TV on a range of videos explaining both individual book products and the broader range of Bookstore offerings. IN FOCUS Association Sells 2018 Calendar Highlighting Today in Transportation History AASHTO s extensive collection of Today in Transportation History social media posts were reborn as a daily tear-off 2018 calendar, with each of the 365 pages describing and illustrating a significant event for that day in U.S. transportation history. THIS DAY IN TRANSPORTATION HISTORY 2018 CALENDAR Showcasing daily transportation highlights from the past The calendar was made available for purchase through the AASHTO online Bookstore. The United States has been shaped, strengthened and sustained by various means of mobility on land, at sea and in the air, says the description on the AASHTO Bookstore website, where it is available at both member and non-member prices. In highlighting that vital legacy, this calendar provides a day-by-day chronicle of key events and individuals, record-setting developments and many other noteworthy milestones in transportation. This was the first time the association has produced such a calendar, although it has been reminding followers for years about events in the past that helped produce the complex transportation networks we use today. We have been generating daily transportation history items on our social media outlets for nearly a decade, and consistently we had good viewer response to them, said Communications Director Lloyd Brown. So we decided to use them to build a daily tear-off calendar for The final product was a collaboration between the AASHTO Communications and Publications divisions, as Information Resource Coordinator Robert Cullen researched the daily historical references and Senior Graphic Designer Belinda Bates pulled together images and other graphic design elements. The calendar spices its historical references with trivia-mastery facts that would interest readers steeped in transportation infrastructure and logistics. This calendar is a reminder that transportation has always played a key role in our national quality of life and economic vitality, said Brown AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT 21

22 AASHTO BUDGET/ADMINISTRATION AASHTO continues to be committed to serving state DOTs through policy development, technical services and leadership development in a fiscally responsible manner. AASHTO finished fiscal year 2017 in the black, showing $2.7 million in net revenue for the year. At the 2017 AASHTO Spring Meeting in Portland, Maine, the Executive Committee approved AASHTO s fiscal year 2018 budget. That budget assumes $80.6 million in expenses and approximately $83 million in revenue, for a net revenue gain of $2.3 million for fiscal year ending on June 30, The FY2018 budget is outlined in three categories: Technical Service Programs, AASHTOWare and Operations. Currently, more than 80 percent of AASHTO s budget is dedicated to delivery and maintenance of the AASHTOWare suite of software products, technical service programs and the execution of federal contracts, which are all fully supported on a fee-for-service basis or through pooled funds. The cost for a state DOT to participate in each technical service program is set by the AASHTO Board of Directors at a level intended to cover expenses associated with running that program. Similarly, the fee for each AASHTOWare software product is determined by the cost to support and maintain that program, allowing agencies to pool their resources to produce software at a significant cost savings. AASHTO also partners with the USDOT on several federal contracts that produce deliverables that provide value to state DOTs. The largest of these contracts is the Strategic Highway Research Program 2, or SHRP2. The Core Operations category (seen in the chart), which makes up 20 percent of the budget, includes the following subcategories: Publications, Communications, Committee Support, Policy and Legislative Support, Meetings, Administration and Special Projects AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT

23 Revenue from dues, sponsorships, publications and investment income is used to cover Core Operations budget expenses associated with personnel costs, meetings, overhead and the cost to produce publications. AASHTO currently holds approximately $41 million in reserves. However, it is important to note that nearly $28 million of that total is designated to be used for technical service programs and AASHTOWare future activities, for which the revenue was originally collected. Another $7 million is dedicated to a reserve fund that the AASHTO Executive Committee established in This reserve fund was established as a budgetary safeguard and is only to be accessed if the association encounters unanticipated financial liabilities. AASHTO Budget/ Administration AASHTO Budget Summary Audited Actual FY 2016 Audited Actual FY 2017 Approved Budget FY 2018 Core Operations Revenue 14,716,459 14,548,373 15,651,176 Core Operations Expense 13,425,636 14,055,550 14,710,181 Revenue Gain/(Loss) 1,290, , ,995 AASHTOWare Revenue 41,436,768 32,310,899 33,579,565 AASHTOWare Expense 41,436,768 32,310,899 33,579,565 Revenue Gain/(Loss) Technical Services Revenue 31,709,212 30,706,613 33,735,374 Technical Services Expense 27,741,504 28,460,687 32,330,044 Revenue Gain/(Loss) 3,967,708 2,245,926 1,405,330 Total Net Revenue Gain/(Loss) 5,258,537 2,738,749 2,346,324 Unrealized Gain/(Loss) (8,114,423) 9,088,692 Total Net Revenue Gain/(Loss) (2,855,885) 11,827,441 2,346,324 AASHTO Reserves: Undesignated Operations (6,373,800) 5,998,411 7,941,956 Designated Reserve Fund 6,718,813 7,000,000 7,000,000 Designated AASHTOWare 15,292,527 15,292,527 15,292,527 Designated Tech. Service Programs 13,779,690 12,460,912 12,863,690 Total Net Assets 29,417,231 40,751,850 43,098, AASHTO ANNUAL REPORT 23

24 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials 444 North Capitol Street, N.W.; Suite 249 Washington, DC transportation.org