Pavement Management Programs Based on Quantitative Performance Targets

Abstract

This paper demonstrates network level pavement management program development for agencies based on maintaining quantitative performance targets. The goal is to minimize budget demands while maintaining the performance targets. This methodology is unique as it considers the concepts and rules for Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) MAP-21 and FAST Acts performance target setting for pavements. It shows how agencies can evaluate and define pavement performance measure targets while establishing their network level work programs. The paper reports the results of a case study for a sample roadway network. The study approach was based on establishing multiple performance targets based on key performance indicators: International Roughness Index (IRI), rutting, and percent cracking. Multiple candidate scenarios include different intervention strategies to accomplish agency network performance targets while developing optimal pavement management programs. The scenarios include two approaches: (i) minimizing the budget for given fixed performance targets for IRI, rutting, and cracking, and (ii) maximizing performance given fixed budget levels. Ten-year pavement management programs were then developed for the network for each scenario. The results were compared for the costs for each scenario and the performance targets maintained for each scenario. The methodology utilizes multi-constraint optimization analysis to evaluate each network level analysis scenario while satisfying performance constraints. The case study demonstrates that scenarios with a focus on preservation can help reduce the costs of meeting performance targets.