Colorado Department of Transportation Statewide NPS Tunnel Inspection

Colorado’s landscape spans world-renowned mountains, gold-medal waters, and miles of open range. To make travel to, from, and across this landscape safer and more efficient, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has spent tremendous time and resources becoming a national leader in public safety, innovation, and infrastructure asset management. The result of this dedication? Safer infrastructure system.

Since 2014, our team of specialists has supported the development of CDOT’s first statewide tunnel inspection and management program in full compliance with National Tunnel Inspection Standards (NTIS). CDOT’s tunnel inventory consists of 20 state-owned and 11 locally-owned tunnels including five complex tunnels, two of which are the Eisenhower and Johnson Memorial Tunnels on I-70 sitting at 11,000 feet in elevation and nearly 9,000 feet long. The inspection program includes a full review of all available maintenance records, constant communication with tunnel staff, operational tests, and in-depth International Electrical Testing Association (NETA) review of electrical and mechanical systems including vibration analysis of rotational equipment.

Based on the scalable program and inspection criteria we developed, we helped CDOT create the asset management logic to project deterioration, actions, and benefits-costs in accordance with the CDOT Risk Based Asset Management Plan. This logic was built to be incorporated into CDOT’s existing software, the Asset Investment Management System (AIMS), in order to project service levels, meet performance metrics, and project funding need based on benefit-cost analysis.