FHWA Has Made Progress Implementing a Tunnel Safety Program, but Work Remains To Complete a Reliable Inventory, Fully Assess Compliance, and Effectively Monitor Critical Risks

Submitting OIG:

Department of Transportation OIG

Report Description:

What We Looked At Tunnels are important parts of the Nation’s highway infrastructure. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)—the Agency responsible for overseeing tunnels—an average of 15 million vehicles a day travel through more than 500 tunnels on public roads across the country. The majority of these tunnels have exceeded their designed service lives, and timely and reliable inspections help detect safety problems and prevent failures. The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act of 2012 (MAP-21) required FHWA to implement a tunnel safety program. Given the importance of FHWA’s role in tunnel safety, we conducted this audit to assess the Agency’s progress in implementing its tunnel safety program. Specifically, we focused on FHWA’s (1) maintenance of a national tunnel inventory, (2) compliance review process, and (3) monitoring of critical risks to tunnel safety. What We Found FHWA has made progress implementing a comprehensive tunnel safety program as required by MAP-21 by establishing a national tunnel inventory, inspection standards, training for tunnel inspectors, and annual compliance reviews. However, we found that FHWA’s national tunnel inventory is incomplete because the Agency has not provided clear guidance to its Divisions and the State DOTs on how to classify some types of structures as tunnels and verify that they have inventoried all tunnels. Inaccurate and unreliable data also persist in the inventory due to inadequate data processing procedures that do not flag errors or require corrections. In addition, some internal controls for FHWA’s tunnel safety compliance review process are ineffective, resulting in compliance determinations that do not reflect the severity of deficiencies or adhere to the Agency’s review criteria. Lastly, FHWA has created an internal database to monitor critical tunnel safety risks, but the database lacks a clear scope and detailed guidance to help ensure that Division staff input complete and accurate data. Our Recommendations We made 12 recommendations to help FHWA improve the implementation of its tunnel safety program. FHWA concurred with seven recommendations and partially concurred with the other five. In response, we requested that FHWA clarify and reconsider its actions.

Date Issued:

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Agency Reviewed / Investigated:

Department of Transportation

Submitting OIG-Specific Report Number:

ST2023012

Component, if applicable:

Federal Highway Administration

Location(s):

Agency-Wide

Type of Report:

Audit

Questioned Costs:

Funds for Better Use:

Number of Recommendations:

Additional Details Link:

https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/39246

Recommendation Number	Recommendation Status	Significant Recommendation	Additional Details
2	Open	Yes	https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/39246
Issue guidance for FHWA Divisions on how to verify that State DOTs, Federal agencies, and tribal governments have reported all highway tunnels to the national tunnel inventory; and for informing those stakeholders of methods they could employ to identify all structures considered to be highway tunnels.
5	Open	Yes	https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/39246
Identify feasible improvements to the presentation of national tunnel inventory data on the Agency’s website to facilitate the public’s understanding and use of the data, and develop a plan to implement them.
7	Open	Yes	https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/39246
Assess the process for conducting compliance reviews of other Federal agencies and implement any recommended changes to ensure the reviews are effectively staffed and sufficiently independent.
9	Open	Yes	https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/39246
Update the tunnel safety program compliance review manual to incorporate existing review process flexibilities, such as when unusual or unique circumstances impact tunnel inspection intervals.
10	Open	Yes	https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/39246
As part of the next update to the tunnel safety program compliance review manual, solicit and consider external stakeholder input on the Agency’s review procedures to include States, Federal agencies, and interested and knowledgeable private organizations and individuals.
11	Open	Yes	https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/39246
Update the guidance for the national critical findings database to clarify its scope and incorporate comprehensive controls for ensuring the quality of the reported data. Solicit external stakeholder input in developing the updated guidance and communicate it to all stakeholders.
12	Open	Yes	https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/39246
Communicate noteworthy practices on the critical findings process for tunnels and work with stakeholders to improve the guidance on which structural and safety deficiencies align with the definition of a critical finding.

Recommendation Number

Recommendation Status

Significant Recommendation

Additional Details

Open

Yes

https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/39246

Issue guidance for FHWA Divisions on how to verify that State DOTs, Federal agencies, and tribal governments have reported all highway tunnels to the national tunnel inventory; and for informing those stakeholders of methods they could employ to identify all structures considered to be highway tunnels.

Open

Yes

https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/39246

Identify feasible improvements to the presentation of national tunnel inventory data on the Agency’s website to facilitate the public’s understanding and use of the data, and develop a plan to implement them.