This report of the Transportation Research Board is a study of the current practices for identifying, measuring, and articulating the public benefits of highway system maintenance and operation, and of communicating those benefits that are understandable and meaningful to stakeholders — road users, elected officials, and others who have an interest in the system’s performance. It includes information on the difficulties public agencies encounter in explaining these benefits. This synthesis report included a review of published literature on the measurement and communication of maintenance benefits, a formal survey of state transportation agencies, and informal interviews and discussions with a range of individuals engaged in highway system management. A panel of experts in the subject area guided the work of organizing and evaluating the collected data and reviewed the final synthesis report. A consultant was engaged to collect and synthesize the information and to write this report. Both the consultant and the members of the oversight panel are acknowledged on the title page. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records the practices that were acceptable within the limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As progress in research and practice continues, new knowledge will be added to that now at hand. (Author/publisher) This report may be accessed by Internet users at http://www.trb.org/publications/nchrp/nchrp_syn_330.pdf
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