Abstract
The Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT) has about 2,400 lane miles of mainline concrete pavements. The pavements have far exceeded their design lives and have carried several times the estimated traffic loading. Initial Washington State DOT estimates place the cost of reconstructing and rehabilitating the concrete pavement network in the next 10 years at approximately $1.1 billion. However, as for most DOTs, Washington State's roadway preservation budget has been reduced. Maintaining a good performance level with reduced funding requires innovative techniques and the best investment choices. A preservation strategy was developed for the Washington State DOT's concrete pavement network to allow delay or avoidance of capital construction spending. The strategy accounts for current pavement conditions, predicted future conditions, and financial constraints. The DOT's pavements division uses a detailed four-step process to select the proper preservation methods for a project: (a) monitor the current concrete pavement performance annually, (b) use updated indices to evaluate pavement conditions, (c) scope the rehabilitation needs by the least life-cycle cost, and (d) propose preservation strategies within various scenarios of constrained funding. The state's pavement management system provides a framework for evaluating and monitoring the performance of the Washington State DOT's roadway investments.
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