Pavement Management Systems: Selecting Maintenance Priorities

by Fred N. Finn, Consulting Engr.; 250 Sund Ave., Ben Lomond, Calif. 95005,


Serial Information: Civil Engineering—ASCE, 1983, Vol. 53, Issue 9, Pg. 55-59


Document Type: Feature article

Abstract:

Realization of the need to maintain a safe, serviceable network of highways in the US has led to the development of a systematic, consistent procedure for managing resources necessary to maintain pavements. Pavement management systems (PMS) help set priorities, allocate resources, measure performance and study costs of maintaining and rehabilitating the nation's highways. A PMS provides an approach for maximizing benefits and minimizing costs. Evaluating a number of alternative solutions to a specific set of conditions, the PMS helps obtain an optimal solution to pavement management problems. The PMS furnishes an information data base, sets up performance models and estimates life cycle costs. A PMS identifies the consequences of insufficient funding and the budgetary backlog of projects, and provides a documentable engineering basis for selecting projects. A great deal of planning and data gathering is necessary to drive the system. The PMS challenge is to quantify information to provide recommendations necessary to maintain an acceptable level of service. Increased resources may reduce the time required to set up a workable PMS, but a workable and debugged plan must be developed.



Subject Headings: Systems management | Highway and road management | Pavements | Benefit cost ratios | Resource management | Project management | Transportation networks

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