Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Results — Continued

Goal 2: B.C. is provided with a safe and reliable highway system.

Core Business Area:

Highway Operations.

Objective 1:

Contractors maintain the provincial highway system to a high standard.

Strategy:

1. By October 2004, tender and award all road and bridge maintenance contracts under the new process established in 2002/03.

What is being measured: Maintenance costs make up a substantial portion of the ministry's budget, and the cost per lane kilometre helps measure how well the ministry is containing these costs. These figures include the cost of road and bridge maintenance contracts, and an estimate of the cost of other maintenance activities performed by ministry staff. The target decreases in the first year, reflecting the savings achieved in the new contracts, and increases afterwards due to the maintenance agreement provision for inflation adjustments (based on indices for labour, fuel and construction costs).

Strategy:

1. Fully implement and review the Contractor Assessment Program, a new procedure for auditing how well highway maintenance contractors are delivering their services.

What is being measured: The Contractor Assessment Program measures the performance of road and bridge maintenance contractors. The process examines how well contractors are meeting the standards set out in the maintenance contracts, and is regularly reviewed to ensure highway users receive good value and service. Contractors are assessed based on the results of local and regional audits, and road user satisfaction ratings obtained through stakeholder assessments, where key stakeholders such as the RCMP, emergency response providers, major trucking firms and bus lines in each service area are asked to rate their level of satisfaction with road maintenance activities such as snow removal, mowing, painting and sign maintenance.

Objective 2:

The existing main highway system is systematically preserved and replaced at the least life-cycle cost.

Strategies:

1. Maintain the current condition of our highways and prevent any onset of deterioration.

2. Regularly assess the condition of the main highways to determine which needs should take priority in the annual resurfacing program.

What is being measured: Pavement condition is measured by surface distress, which is a true engineering measure of the pavement deterioration, and pavement roughness which measures the riding comfort experienced by the road user. Combined, both types of information provide a Pavement Condition Rating, which is the basis for the ministry to determine highway rehabilitation needs. A life cycle costing evaluation is performed to determine the appropriate road surface type.

What is being measured: The Bridge Condition Index is a measure of the average condition of a bridge and its components. Factors affecting bridge performance are related to condition as well as function, and are addressed in the rehabilitation program, including the condition of all bridge elements, horizontal and vertical clearances, live load capacity, and horizontal and/or vertical alignments of bridges or approaches. Bridges not currently in good or excellent condition are those needing rehabilitation. Bridges are monitored regularly and repaired in order of vulnerability according to urgency rating, operation, safety and the live load capacity index.

Strategy:

1. Rehabilitate the main highways according to the long-term strategy and using the most cost-effective methods.

What is being measured: Rehabilitation restores roads and bridges to their original condition and extends their useful lives at minimal cost if it is done before deterioration has progressed too far. Rehabilitation needs must be met every year if the highway system is to continue to support economic development and community growth. The number of lane kilometres treated for improvements will include all roadways that are resurfaced within a fiscal year. Typical resurfacing treatments include asphalt overlays, hot-in-place recycle, milling, reclamation, micro-surfacing, sealcoat applications and first time hard surfacing of gravel roads.

Objective 3:

Improved road access for resource industries and rural residents.

Strategy:

1. Implement the substantial investment of $225 million over three years to address the deficit in the heartlands road quality.

What is being measured: Road surface condition assessments will be undertaken by independent contractors and will measure surface distress, and roughness for paved surfaces. Heartlands roads provide vital links to communities and resource industries. These roads have deteriorated in the last decade because of a shortage of funding for maintenance and rehabilitation. A substantial increase in investment to $75 million per year will yield significant improvements. The ministry will invest strategically to support resource industries and ensure the safety and reliability of these roads.

Strategy:

1. Invest strategically to support B.C.'s resource industries, by providing enhanced ability to move critical goods that drive the economy.

What is being measured: Lane kilometres will be improved through various treatments such as base reconstruction and strengthening, gravel surfacing, first time hard surfacing or resurfacing.

Objective 4:

Improved highway safety and reliability.

Strategies:

1. Monitor highway safety and improve high-risk locations, in consultation with Regional Transportation Advisory Committees.

2. Maximize highway safety and reliability through safety focused enhancements, and through low-cost improvements such as signs, lighting and lane markings.

3. Work with safety partners such as ICBC, the RCMP and the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General (PSSG) to develop a safety plan to achieve the targets established in the Canada-wide Road Safety Vision 2010.

What is being measured: The performance measures under development will determine the effectiveness of highway safety improvements by comparing crash data over a five year period following completion of those improvements, with data collected at the same locations prior to the improvements. Highway safety improvements can reduce the number and severity of motor vehicle crashes; however, the impacts of these improvements can be negated by other significant factors outside the ministry's control, such as weather conditions, and driver and vehicle safety. Responsibility for driver and vehicle safety resides with ICBC and PSSG.

Note: The previous service plan used the amount of new rumble strip and guardrail the ministry had installed as a way of measuring safety. However, such measurements actually reflect how well the ministry was implementing its strategy for improving safety, rather than how well the strategy itself was working. The new measures described above better determine the effectiveness of our safety strategies.

Implementing safety improvements: Rock bolt installation

Strategy:

1. Continue to take both proactive and responsive approaches to prevent unplanned lane closures.

What is being measured: Causes of highway lane closures are diverse and vary from year to year. Some closures are planned for work (e.g. avalanche control) but many closures are unplanned, such as those from traffic accidents and weather, and are largely outside the ministry's control. The ministry minimizes closures by being responsive (e.g. through clearance of debris and collisions), proactive (e.g. through rock scaling and planned avalanches), working with police to minimize the duration of closures after accidents and making physical improvements to the highway system.

Objective 5:

An effective risk management process is established across the ministry.

Strategies:

1. Develop a risk management plan to balance risks against mitigation costs and potential outcomes.

2. Apply risk management tools and deliver training to ensure that internal planning and decision-making processes comply with a risk management approach.

What is being measured: The Risk Management Plan will include a process for identifying and mitigating ministry risks that may have a significant impact on costs and the achievement of goals and objectives.