Communicating the Benefits of a Maintenance Budget Overhaul to Legislators: The Shock Factor of Inaction

Budget overruns can force the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) to delay routine maintenance like guardrail repair, pothole patching, and mowing, particularly if the agency has to dedicate more funding than expected to winter and emergency responses. Although deferred maintenance does not immediately take assets out of service, repeated delays degrade infrastructure condition. How delays affect user safety is not well understood, easily quantified, nor grasped by the public. Identifying preservation needs, calculating maintenance returns on investment, and developing objective measures that can underpin maintenance budget allocations will all help to close these knowledge gaps. However, they must be complemented by the use of proven communications strategies that vividly convey to legislators and the public the long-term risks and costs of deferring routine maintenance.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $225,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  KYSPR 27-696

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

  200 Mero Street
  Frankfort, KY  United States  40622
• Performing Organizations:

  University of Kentucky, Lexington

  Kentucky Transportation Center College of Engineering, 176 Raymond Building
  Lexington, KY  United States  40506-0281
• Principal Investigators:

  Baskette, Robin

  Marks, Gayle

  Wilcoxson, Jon

  Gibson, Bryan

• Start Date: 20260701
• Expected Completion Date: 20280630
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Financing; Highway maintenance; Highway safety; Infrastructure; Maintenance management
• Identifier Terms: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
• Geographic Terms: Kentucky
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Finance; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 02000575
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: University of Kentucky, Lexington
• Contract Numbers: KYSPR 27-696
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 26 2026 5:04PM