Infrastructure X-Ray: Piloting Asset Management in Ramsey

Abstract

This project was completed as part of the 2017-2018 Resilient Communities Project (rcp.umn.edu) partnership with the City of Ramsey. Cities own and maintain a large amount of infrastructure, which can be difficult to track for purposes of maintenance and replacement. To better understand the condition and location of each asset the City owns, the City of Ramsey asked students in Dr. Fernando Burga’s Land Use Planning class to investigate various asset management programs, their functionality, and their usefulness for tracking infrastructure and other public assets. The students interviewed staff in other cities that use four popular asset management programs--PubWorks, CityWorks, Infraseek, and Cartegraph--and piloted several of the programs using City data. The report concludes with recommendations for further investigating several of the most promising asset management programs. The students’ final report is available.