The Office of Inspector General (OIG) was asked to carry out an audit to assess FHWA’s efforts to improve bridge safety, including addressing earlier recommendations and new bridge safety provisions introduced in 2012 under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21).
OIG said that it had issued three reports since 2006, with 16 recommendations for FHWA to improve oversight of states’ bridge programmes but that four remain open. These focus on collecting bridge expenditure data, reporting on states’ actions to improve the condition of deficient bridges and collecting more detailed condition data so that FHWA can better monitor nationwide bridge conditions and identify safety risks.
OIG found that FHWA had completed 12 of 24 actions identified to implement MAP-21 bridge safety and funding provisions. It said that two rules regarding asset management and performance management are behind schedule and may delay states’ implementation of key performance and accountability requirements by at least a year later than specified in MAP-21.
OIG is also making new recommendations to update or clarify guidance.
