Examining Relationship between Infrastructure Investment and Performance Using State-Level Data

Abstract

Oversight organizations seek to monitor regularly the expenditures and the resulting performance of infrastructure agencies under their authority. A context of this expenditure–performance connection is that of infrastructure preservation spending and the physical condition of the infrastructure. In examining the expenditure–performance relationship, this paper duly recognizes that the integrity of the relationship could be impaired by situational and measurement biases associated with the performance and inventory attributes used for analysis, and the paper presents a methodology for characterizing this relationship that attempts to correct for these biases. The methodology is demonstrated using aggregate (state-level) data on repair expenditures and performance for interstate highway bridge infrastructure in the United States. The methodology can help oversight organizations assess and promote the overall accountability of infrastructure agencies by establishing a clearer connection between infrastructure investment and performance and enabling a comparative assessment of infrastructure performance across the agencies that the oversight organization monitors.