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Vol.7, No.5, 2015
Pavement maintenance management systems
Hamad Al-Ajami
Member of Training Authority ,Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Kuwait
* E-mail of the corresponding author: h.alasidan@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT:
Many countries have implemented a pavement maintenance management system(PMMS), in which this system
will help the decision makers such as pavement engineers to apply the best technique for pavement rehabilitation
at perfect time, so the maximal use of available funds were done. Each system requires a procedure to prioritize
maintenance processes, in which the effectiveness of each prioritization will direct affect the obtainable funds
efficiency. The analysis of priority concentrated on establishing the most appropriate list of road section ranking
for rehabilitation depending on multiple factors .The Riyadh city pavement maintenance management system
(PMMS) performs an inclusive assessment procedure of pavement situation for the whole road network before
implementing any program of pavement maintenance. The main factors that this assessment process depends on
are distress kinds, severity and their density. The evaluation process of the pavement condition is considered as a
key part due to its ability to realize the effectiveness of the PMMS components.
Keywords: Pavement maintenance management system, Pavement condition, Evaluation processes
1. Introduction:
According to the continuously increasing rates of economical and developmental activities in several countries,
traffic loads increased and caused roads devastation. Allocated funding resources and infrastructure requirements
are generally considered inappropriate with highly growing maintenance demands, which in turn caused a large
deterioration in roads pavement. So, pavement management system (PMMS) considered as an essential strategy
to minimize the roads deterioration rates, protect road user's safety, elongate pavement life, and increase
efficiently in addition to utilize recourses in best ways(Shafik and Mehar, 2005).
A system of pavement management is a management device, in which it represents the deterioration of
pavement, especially surface deterioration, and these deteriorations depend on environmental and traffic factors,
and this system concentrates on deciding the proper time and technique to accomplish the repairing process.
In any system of management of pavement maintenance, the prioritization for the procedures that are utilized to
accomplish the maintenance process is also implemented. One method is often used to decide the priority of
maintenance procedures in the priority index form is the priority model which depends on numerical terms
(Abiola, 2010).
1.1 Importance of the study:
Generally, the funds allocated to complete the pavement rehabilitation processes is often Less than required, and
according to inaccuracy in some tools that are utilized to predict road condition , such as visual assessment , this
could cause the Misuse of these restricted recourses. All of that discuss the need for controlling system that
decides the best technique to solve pavement issues at the right time and with utilizing available resources in best
way which is called the pavement maintenance management system. The maintenance priority ranking is the
procedure that utilized to manage the road enhancement and maintenance processes (Shareef E., 1991).
In any PMMS, the first step is to realize the relations through the type of distresses that appeared in pavement,
and their acceptability stages. These acceptability stages in some cases do not represent the pavement situation
in actual way, so engineers develop a model of distress index that give an indication for the whole pavement
situation, and in some cases , it is also essential to create a model that depends on cost to manage the pavement
maintenance procedure with focusing on the existing funds.
2. Pavement Maintenance Management System:
The procedure of pavement maintenance is considered as an approach of a cost-effective rehabilitation and
treatment to a specific pavement system of roads(FAA,2006) .There are two levels that any system of pavement
management can be implemented which are: project level in addition to network level. The first level focuses on
a particular region that determined to apply rehabilitation procedures, while the network level concentrates on
utilizing the available funds in the best effective way to maintain the overall network.
Each system of pavement maintenance aims to increase the efficiency of repairing and treatment of pavements
through utilizing the existing funds in their maximum benefits. Generally, each management system of pavement
maintenance includes: (the inventory of road network, the evaluation of the situation of pavement, for
performance forecasting, method of planning) (Shahin, 1994).
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2.1 The inventory of Network:
Each network mainly consists of branches which could be divided into smaller parts which are known as sections.
While choosing the best technique for rehabilitation of pavement, sections is considered as the smallest part of
this management system. This division process will depends on multiple factors which are: the structure of
pavement, traffic volume, the manner of the existing pavement and the history of construction. This could help in
the process of collecting data and analyzing roads information. So generally each pavement network contains the
following definitions (UFC, 2004):
• Branch: a branch is considered as a section in the pavement network and also considered as a single
structure and owns a specific role (such as; Individual roads, parking lots).
• Section: Section is considered as a part of a branch; it owns regular properties over the whole length or
area for each section. Figure (1) illustrates an example of branch divided into several sections.
• Sample Unit: In any pavement network; Sample unit is the smaller unit in this roads network.
2.2 Evaluation of Pavement condition:
The main purpose of this procedure generally is to realize the actual situation or performance of the pavement and
mainly this evaluation is divided into a structural and functional evaluation. The structural evaluation considered as
a quantitative assessment of structural pavement effectiveness for treatment, whereas functional evaluation is
qualitative equipment which handles with the whole performance and the serviceability act of a pavement which
depends on the measurement that are collected in the field according to several properties such as; roughness,
safety, distresses of surface (Haas, 1997).The previous mentioned quality index is used to evaluate these properties.
For example; riding comfort index (RCI) is utilized to measure the roughness of the surface. Another measurement
utilized to represent the comfort level of riding is International Roughness Index (IRI).According to friction of
surface, road safety could be measured. And the main index that is utilized to represent the surface distress is
Pavement condition index (PCI), in which this index gives an indication of distress kind and how the distress will
spread; figure (2) illustrates the rating method of pavement condition index.
This process started with distinguishing the kind of distresses existed in the pavement and their severities, plate (1)
express the main kinds of distresses occurred in pavement surfaces , and the step that follows distinguishing the
kind of distress, is to realize the severity of these distresses. Generally there are three descriptions for severity
levels which are (Low, Meduim, High), and the most often used criteria to distinguish distress severity with
relating to the kind of this distresses is the (IF-Then) rule, which represented in figure (3).
2.3 Models for performance forecasting:
These models are often used in each project and network level in order to realize the best maintenance technique
according to pavement condition. For network level, these models utilized to distinguish the pavement condition,
to plan funds, and delimitation of required works, and at the project level these models are utilized to predict the
probable level of road traffic in addition to predict the common climate situation in order to select the most
effective reparation process. Another reason to utilize these models at the project level is to compare between the
options available for maintenance and reparation processes through creating a cost examination for the pavement
life-cycle. In order to develop new models for pavement deterioration, several strategies were utilized such as;
indication of straight line, abatement, markovian and mechanical-experimental techniques, etc (Shahin, 1994).
Zimmerman propose an expert modeling technique which utilized for the cases when there are a shortage in
available data which in turn limit the ability to generate a suitable model of deterioration(Zimmerman,1999).
2.4 Methods of planning:
These methods can help the competent managerial authorities to select the most appropriate treatment technique,
through determining the present and the expected pavement situation. Several programs could be designed by
pavement engineers such as; Program of planning for the recent and incoming maintenance techniques to
preserve enhancement of pavement situation.
3. Pavement maintenance treatment decisions and prioritization of maintenance processes:
According to the roughness and structural pavement situation, in addition to several factors such as; the kind of
distress, to what extent these distresses existed and their severity, all of these will affect the selection criteria for
the best repairing technique of the pavement. Furthermore, the familiarity of the distress existence controls the
selection for the suitable maintenance technique. For example, each kind of distress will require a specific kind
of treatment procedure. According to pavement selected (OhioDOT-1999).
Generally, the decision taken from the collected information as mentioned before could be divided to six
categories with reference to circumstance that surround distresses which are; (Nothing to do, fill the cracks and
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sealing, cobbling, Milling, apply an overlay of thin hot mix, and repair Shoulder).Each rehabilitation technique
has a direct effect on pavement cycle-life as shown in table (1).
Processes of maintenance and repairing must be arranged due to their necessity, value or depending on costs and
advantages derived from implementing these processes.
Mainly there are four methods utilized to prioritize maintenance procedures in best manner which are
(Washington State Department of Transportation, 1994);
• The matrix method: this method may depend on various factors such as: situation and traffic, in more
details the priority always given to the worst state of the pavements and to roads with heavy volume traffic.
• Method of condition index: This method depends on relative results ranged from zero which is
considered as the worst case to 100 that is the best pavement state. In order to generate a latest list of projects, a
combination between state score and other factors such as traffic volume can be done.
• The process that depending on the benefit-cost ratio: Generally, sections that own a highest ratio of
Benefit-cost always own the highest priority. This ratio may offer high priorities to start with poor pavement
state than initializing with pavements with worst cases.
• The method of cost-effectiveness: This criterion is considered as the same as the procedure of benefit-
cost ratio, but the main role of this procedure is to increase the segment act with reference to cost.
In some cases, PCI could be considered as an indicator of maintenance priority, where when obtaining a highest
value of PCI then the state of the road will be better and that causes delaying of its maintenance priority.
Priority Rank order presents an order of pavement maintenance strategies for different road segments with
related to restricted recourses. The model of priority ranking determines the budget availability with connecting
it to overall cost need for enhancement, figure (4) illustrates the general schematic flow of priority ranking
model.
4. Case study:
PMMS in KSA: Municipality of Riyadh city, has applied Distinctive pavement management maintenance
system which was depend on roughness measurements, visual surveying of the pavements condition, skid
resistance to assesses the state of the pavement. Riyadh Municipality also performs an inclusive assessment of
pavement situation before implementing any program of rehabilitation and repairing. The assessment procedure
concentrated on realizing the type, density and the severity of pavement distresses. An index for pavement
condition were utilized to represent the data which is called index of urban distress (UDI) in which is composed
of fifteen kinds of pavement distresses existed in pavement maintenance management system of Riyadh, in
addition to the fact that UDI is considered as a numerical leveling method for different distresses and this rating
procedure is depending on the numerical index ranging from 0-100 , where 100 symbolize excellent condition
of pavements. The measurement of UDI depended on the kind of distresses, density and distress severity for each
section of Riyadh network as mentioned before, and with reference to the UDI system, there are four main
situation of pavement existed which are; excellent, good, fair and poor (Al-Swailmi et al., 1999), table (2)
illustrates the main four ratings of pavement condition for the UDI in Riyadh PMMS.
The data accumulated from the system were divided into two main categories: segments of main road and
segments of secondary road. In which data in Secondary Street included state of pavement, types of distress in
addition to the IRI for each road segment. Generally, there are multiple kinds of rehabilitation procedures
depending on the value of UDI and FN (skid resistance) value in Riyadh PMMS as discussed in figure (5),
(6),(7) .
The outputs from this pavement maintenance management system in Riyadh presented that there are a great relation
between IRI and specific types of distresses such as cracking, depression, raveling and patching.
5. Conclusions:
This paper has created a comprehensive review for the pavement maintenance management system (PMMS),
especially in Riyadh city, where pavement management maintenance system is considered as a systemic method
that aids in assessing the pavement performance and condition of existing and future pavement. Evaluation of
pavement condition is considered as a main component of any pavement maintenance management system, and
depending on the condition of the pavement; the treatment needs, funds and ranking of priority will be specified.
So, PMMS is considered as an extra technique to enhance the performance of existing pavement and to utilize
the allocated funds for such projects to best advantage.
References:
Abiola, O.S. Pavement Performance Models for Lagos-Ibadan Express Road. Unpublished PhD Thesis,
University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, 2010.
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ISSN 2224-5790 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0514 (Online)
Vol.7, No.5, 2015
Al- Swailmi, S., Al-Mansour, A., and et al “Developing Urban Distress Index for Riyadh PMMS”, Fifth Saudi
Engineering Conference, UmmAl-Qura University, 1999.
FAA, 2006. Airport Pavement Management Program, Advisory Circular AC 150/5380-7A, FAA Washington,
D.C.
Haas R, 1997. “Pavement Design and Management Guide”. Transportation Associate of Canada. ISBN 1-55187-
114-9.
Ohio DOT. "Pavement design and rehabilitation manual" January-1999.
Shafik, J and A.H. Mehar. Development of Pavement maintenance Management System (PMMS) for Gaza City.
Journal of the Islamic University of Gaza (Series of Natural Studies & Engineering) Vol.13, No.1, 2005, pp.
119-138.
Shahin, M.Y., 1994. “Pavement Management For Airport, Roads, and Parking Lots”. Chapman & Hall, New
York. ISBN 0-412-99201-9.
Shareef Essam A., " Ranking versus simple optimization in setting pavement maintenance priorities: A case
study', Transportation research record No.1397, Washington D.C., 1991. UNIFIED FACILITIES CRITERIA
(UFC), 2004. "PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT". UFC 3-270-08, 16 January 2004.
Washington State Department of Transportation, "A Guide for Local Agency Pavement Managers", TransAid
Service Center, Olympia, December 1994.
Zimmerman, K., and Broten, M., 1999. “Development of Performance Models for Pavement Management
System”. Presented at 24th International Air Transportation Conference, ASCE.
H. Al Ajami, Hamad Mohammed Amer Alasidan Al-Ajami, born in Kuwait, 13 May, 1973. The author earned a
PHD degree in Civil Engineering Field in Kuwait in 2011 & a Master degree of Public Works Engineering,
Kuwait, 2008, etc .This author became a member of in a training organization of public authority for Applied
Education and Training in 2002 until now. The author also published a scientific research about "Drafting and
dissemination of public policy (decision-making and his theories)" in 2004, in addition to a scientific research
published in the same year about" Decision-making in crisis situations".
Figure (2): Pavement Condition Index (PCI) Rating Criteria
\
Table (1): predictable increase level in Life-cycle of pavement according to rehabilitation technique
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Table (2): ratings of pavement condition for the UDI in Riyadh PMMS
Figure (3): (IF-Then) rule for distress severity level
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Figure (4): schematic flow of Priority ranking model
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Figure (5): Decisions on maintenance for intersections
Figure (6): Decisions on maintenance for regions
Figure (7): Decisions on maintenance for sections
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Plate (1): Selected photographs of main kinds of surface pavement distresses
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