Case studies: Early moves by some state DOTs show what’s possible
Some DOT pioneers are charting the path forward, experimenting with AI-enabled safety tools, predictive maintenance, and digital twins to reduce costs and delays. Early results suggest that incorporating smart technology into DOT systems isn’t just achievable but necessary.
Utah DOT is modernizing its business systems to build faster with tighter cost controls
Modernizing an agency’s business systems can help address frequent cost overruns and schedule delays. The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is replacing several legacy systems with integrated, cloud-based software solutions to better manage capital planning, project management, rights of way, and contracting.
UDOT is also reorganizing and standardizing data across processes to ensure project updates and records are accurate, accessible, and consistent. Design, inspection, and construction workflows are being modernized to reduce paperwork and improve data accuracy. Centralized and digitized data will allow teams to use existing models rather than repeat surveys, while tools like digital twins will augment decision-making throughout the infrastructure life cycle.5
The potential benefits are multifold. Eliminating paper speeds up access to construction details and avoids duplication; digital models enhance design review, reduce human error, and support safer, smoother construction; data captured during construction becomes a valuable asset for future maintenance and planning. Connecting digital tools with established workflows accelerates project delivery and creates trustworthy enterprisewide, interoperable data that can improve insights and thereby decision-making. Moreover, UDOT is positioning itself for the continued adoption of open standards and emerging digital innovations. The workforce, in turn, is freed up to focus on high-value tasks and activities, providing the agency with the agility to match resources with high-priority demands.
Caltrans works to prevent road deaths
In 2024, traffic fatalities claimed the lives of more than 44,000 people on US roads.6 States often struggle to improve road safety but are hampered by limited budgets, fragmented safety data, and the complex interplay of factors affecting safety and of federal and local policies. To make progress in this area, State of California transportation leaders are tapping the power of AI to pursue the state’s ambitious Vision Zero goal: eliminating fatalities and serious injuries on state roads by 2050.7
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is looking to leverage the data it collects from California Highway Patrol and thousands of roadside sensors, and then use generative AI to analyze crash sites, factoring in lighting, traffic patterns, and road-user behavior to identify high-risk areas and recommend targeted safety measures.
In Broward County, FL, community voices help reshape county plans and investments
With rapid population growth,8 planners across state, regional, and local agencies face mounting pressure to meet the demand for modern infrastructure, affordable housing, and efficient transportation. Enhancing infrastructure resilience demands interagency coordination—and is routinely thwarted by fragmented data, siloed information, and complex federal rules and regulations.
To tackle this, the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization in Florida built a digital twin platform called Smart Metro to unify stakeholders and offer a shared view of infrastructure needs and planning decisions. This geospatial-driven system combines housing, zoning, population, and transportation data that was previously scattered across agencies. Planners can now ask plain language questions, run scenario simulations, and visualize long-term impacts.9
“The platform shows what the effects of my decisions will be in real time, as opposed to waiting for years for studies to be completed,” says San Zuniga, an engineer with the city of Miramar.
Smart Metro combines analytics and simulation to forecast traffic, predict land use trends, and model flood impacts, while strengthening collaboration through shared data and insights.10
Indiana Department of Transportation revamps maintenance response and planning for the future
Twenty-four states across the United States reported a US$86.3 billion maintenance funding gap over 10 years. These states already expect to collectively spend US$194 billion on roads and bridges under Transportation Asset Management Plans over the next decade and would need to increase spending by 44% to reach the US$280 billion required to close the shortfall.11
The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) had a maintenance management system that was not robust enough to capture data accurately, limiting the ability of the maintenance plan and staff response to the state’s maintenance needs. The ability to visualize needs and consolidate repair efforts with future planning was a huge victory for the agency. This enables better spending on the critical maintenance dollars for the state. With 11,000 miles of roadway (a total of 28,000 lane miles), every response involving labor, materials, and equipment must be carefully scheduled and reported.
INDOT wanted to move from a siloed point systems to a unified, cloud-based, low-code/no-code work orders management platform that meets all state standards and regulations. The agency sought a robust work order management solution to support both planned and unplanned maintenance activities for key transportation assets.
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