Pavement management

Ever since the construction of the first pavement, there was a need for periodic maintenance to keep it passable. This was the first form of pavement management, given that both works and finds required had to be estimated and programmed. At a later stage, the development of engine cars resulted in a dramatic increase in travelled speeds and in the necessity to construct safer and more resistant pavements. 

The following additional factors have led to the necessity for more systematic approach of pavement maintenance works  

The development of new methods and materials for pavement maintenance The imperative need for energy saving 

The necessity to re-use constructional materials to conserve natural resources The recognition that pavement condition affects user cost 

The development of devices for objective and fast evaluation of pavement condition The advanced development of computers and software 

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Nikolaides A.F. 2009. Detailed Determination of Maintenance/Rehabilitation Works for the Year 2009 as Part of the Revised Pavement Management Program of Maliakos-Kleidi Motorway - Sections GU 6,7 8. Technical Report. Athens, Greece MKC JV. 

The evaluation of the pavement condition is a fundamental parameter for the determination of the timing and type of intervention (maintenance, rehabilitation or reconstruction) and the overall pavement management practice. Usually, two types of pavement condition evaluation are conducted the functional and the structural evaluation. 

PCI is 40 to 54, the pavement is characterised as poor when PCI is 25 to 39, the pavement is characterised as very poor when PCI is 10 to 24, the pavement is characterised as serious and when PCI is 0 to 9, the pavement failed. More details regarding the procedure can be found in ASTM D 6433 (2011). An example for calculating the PCI can be found in Shahin (2005). It is also noted that the MicroPAVER software developed for pavement management studies (Shanin 2005) is based on PCI determination. 

The Benkelman beam measurements can also be used to determine the adjusted structural number (SNP), a useful parameter for estimating pavement deterioration in pavement management studies, used in WDM-4. The SNP is basically the structural number (SN) used by AASHTO as a measure of pavement strength (AASHTO 1993) but adjusted for the reduced contribution of each layer with depth (Morosiuk et al. 2004). 

Although the continuous deflectometers do not provide as much information as obtained from the FWD deflection bowl, they can effectively evaluate pavements for pavement management purposes. The devices that operate at high traffic speeds such as 70 or 80 km/h are more favourable to be used for network-level evaluation compared to those operating at lower speeds. 

AASHTO. 2012. Pavement management guide, 2nd Edition. Washington, DC American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. 

FFIWA. 2011. Rolling Wheel Deflectometer Network-Level Pavement Structural Evaluation, Measuring Deflection at Highway Speeds. FHWA, U.S. Department of Transportation. Available at http // www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/management/rwd. 

Shahin M.Y. 2005. Pavement Management for Airports, Roads and Parking Lots, 2nd Edition. USA Springer. Available at http //www.cecer.army.mil/paver. 

The term that prevailed and began to be used in the late 1970s was pavement management. 

Pavement management involves the implementation of the optimal solution at the most appropriate time, using the most appropriate materials and the most appropriate maintenance methods and techniques, aiming at the lowest possible maintenance cost and a longer service life for pavements. Pavement management is related to secondary capital needed for maintenance, after the main capital is spent for construction. 

According to AASHTO (1985), pavement management is defined as The effective and efficient directing of the various activities involved in providing and sustaining pavements in a condition acceptable to the travelling public at the least life cycle cost . Pavement... 

The necessity for pavement management led to the development of the pavement management system (PMSJ. PMS is a tool to aid pavement management. It may be seen as the process of managing the activities involved in pavement management in a systematic and coordinated way. 

Apart from PMS, the term pavement management program (PMP) is also used by some agencies. PMP has the same structure and is similar to PMS but the financial aspect at the stage of selection and programming of works is perhaps considered to be of greater extent (budget predictions, source allocation, etc.). 

In general, pavement management aims to manage pavement maintenance and rehabilitation in the most cost-effective way. This is achieved using a combination of low-cost treatments on pavements in good condition and more costly treatments on heavily distressed pavements. 

Pavement management is a very wide subject and it is beyond the intention of this book to cover it in detail. The scope of this chapter is only to give the reader some useful general information. 

The purpose of pavement management is to get financial, technical, organisational and administrative benefits (OECD 1987). 

Pavement management should aim to maximise net financial profits in relation to the financial restrictions imposed. This is achieved by the following ... 

Pavement management should offer technical benefits. To achieve technical benefits, a PMS should... 

Pavement management at the project level involves decisions regarding the maintenance and rehabilitation of specific pavement sections, defining the project . The decisions are made by operation engineers with good technical background and based on technical merits rather than on resource requirements and budget projections. 

Figure 17.1 Elements of PMS at the project level. (From Peterson, D.E., Pavement Management Practices, NCHRP Synthesis of Highway Practice 135. National Research Council. Washington, DC Transportation Research Board, 1987.)...

Pavement management at the network level deals with summary information related to the network concern, aiming at prioritisation of maintenance and rehabilitation works with respect to the amount of funding available. 

Pavement management is used nowadays on strategic decisions made by government officials, transportation boards, city councils or an agency s upper management. All are charged with... 

The pavement inventory has a supportive and informative character however, it is absolutely necessary for pavement management. The minimum pavement characteristics to be recorded are as follows ... 

The abovementioned complementary data are not of course all necessary for a pavement management study. They are useful, however, as they provide an integrated picture of the road. The existence of all the abovementioned characteristics makes the data bank more complete and offers the opportunity to take other decisions being part of road management. 

Study (HDM Study), from which prediction models were established for almost all pavement distresses. The prediction models developed were reported by Paterson (1987) and incorporated in the highway design and maintenance standards model, HDM-III model (Watanatada et al. 1987). These models improved upon the introduction of the HDM-4 models (Morosiuk et al. 2004). These distress models could assist pavement management. 

Distress prediction models have also been developed under the MEPDG (AASHTO 2008), which again after local calibration could assist pavement management. The distresses considered under MEPDG are shown in Table 17.2. 

A typical presentation of pavement management results can be found in all relevant bibliography some examples are given in the AASHTO Pavement Management Guide (AASHTO 2012) and in the work of Shahin (2005). 

A great number of software programs for pavement management have been developed ever since the introduction of MicroPaver, perhaps the first integrated software developed in the early 1970s and is still in use (MicroPAVER 2013). Even a brief description of each PMS software program developed is an impossible task. 

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