NCHRP Research Report 1146: Risk Management at State DOTs: Building Momentum and Sustaining the Practice provides guidelines for state departments of transportation (DOTs) to establish and maintain a risk management culture and practice. Included in the report are a detailed summary of relevant literature, the contents and results of a practitioner survey and industry workshop, a risk management maturity assessment checklist, and four agency case studies illustrating successful practices for establishing and maintaining risk management in practice. The report will be useful to state DOT executives and agency practitioners seeking to develop and sustain risk management cultures and practices at their organizations.

The transportation industry continues to face a range of unforeseen and evolving challenges to transportation assets and operations that affect the performance and resilience of transportation systems and networks. For example, significant disruptions to supply chains and traffic patterns were outcomes of the unanticipated collapse of the Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland. These disruptions substantially affected the performance of the region’s transportation network as well as the regional economy, local communities, and international goods movement. The frequency and significance of such unexpected events have led transportation agencies to seek strategies for creating and sustaining a risk-resilient state DOT culture and set of practices.  

Under NCHRP Project 08-151, “Building Risk-Management Momentum in Agencies,” Jacobs Engineering was asked to develop content on how to implement and sustain the use of formal risk management at state DOTs. Research included extensive stakeholder engagement to develop content responsive to industry challenges and opportunities for building a risk management culture and practice at state DOTs. A concept was also developed for organizing and posting the report recommendations on the AASHTO Transportation Management Hub. 

In addition to NCHRP Research Report 1146, the following supplemental materials are available on the National Academies Press website (nap.nationalacadmies.org) by searching NCHRP Research Report 1146: Risk Management at State DOTs: Building Momentum and Sustaining the Practice.

·       NCHRP Research Report 1146 Executive Summary

·       A PowerPoint presentation prepared to support implementation by state DOT staff

·       A Risk Management Checklist for assessing agency maturity in risk management

·       Risk Management Case Studies