So Much Pavement, So Little Time

Tarricone, Paul; ,

So Much Pavement, So Little Time

by Paul Tarricone, Assoc. Editor; Civil Engineering Magazine, ASCE World Headquarters, 345 East 47th Street, New York City, NY.,

Serial Information: Civil Engineering—ASCE, 1993, Vol. 63, Issue 11, Pg. 40-43

Document Type: Feature article

Abstract:

At its most basic, pavement management requires taking inventory of a pavement network, doing a condition assessment, setting up a database, then synthesizing the data collected for an entire roadway system to prioritize repairs, establish schedules and set budgets. The broad goal of transportation agencies is to better categorize much of the nation's 8.1 lane mi of pavement, in order to get the biggest bang for the $20 billion spent each year on pavement construction. Although it's not new, the concept of pavement management was thrust into the spotlight with passage of the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act which mandates that states have a PMS in place for highways receiving federal aid by October 1995, or risk losing 10% of their federal funding. While virtually every state already has at least a framework of a pavement management system, the technologies (including customized vans, and nondestructive testing, such as ground-penetrating radar) and software used to collect and synthesize data on pavement condition are rapidly evolving.

Return to search