Impact evaluation of highway pavement maintenance activities
Abstract
With ever increasing traffic loadings, highway pavement maintenance needs continue to outpace the availability of resources, and transportation agencies seek cost-effective maintenance practices. This study investigated the impacts of maintenance treatments in the short-term and maintenance strategies over entire pavement life, and analyzed trade-offs between rehabilitation intervals and maintenance, and also between preventive and corrective maintenance. These analyses were carried out through a work sequence that included analyses of trends, literature review, and a questionnaire survey. The study found that there are significant benefits associated with maintenance treatments, and that such short-term impacts generally involve an increase in pavement condition or a decrease in the rate of deterioration. For most treatments, a greater benefit is obtained for a larger effort expended on the maintenance treatment, at a given level of pavement condition. The study also found that if chosen appropriately, maintenance strategies could be cost-effective in the long run. The most cost-effective strategy was determined for each pavement family. Finally, the study determined that trade-off relationships do exist between rehabilitation intervals on one hand, and maintenance, traffic loading, and weather on the other hand: increasing maintenance leads to increased rehabilitation interval, while increasing traffic loads and weather severity leads to reduction in rehabilitation interval, albeit at different rates for each family. Marginal effects models were used to determine the effect of unit changes in maintenance levels, traffic loading, and weather on changes in rehabilitation interval. This information is useful not only for pavement management, but also for policy analyses involving truck weights, and pavement repair needs assessment to reflect changing traffic and weather conditions in the long term. The data for the study was supplied by the Indiana Department of Transportation.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Sinha, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Civil engineering
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