Abstract Manager

The primary objective of the research effort was to develop a practical treatment cost model based on pavement condition for network-level pavement management analysis. The paper assumes that there are some repair cost jumps after specific condition thresholds and investigates whether this assumption is consistent with reality or not. 

Based on Life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) under constrained budget scenarios, high priority is given to pavement sections in fair/poor condition before their repair cost increases sharply (for example, they require expensive reconstruction when the condition deteriorates to a certain point). However, if the condition threshold to trigger expensive treatments is slightly modified ranking and prioritization of pavement sections can change significantly. This can cause what were apparently high priority paving needs to be converted to lower priority projects. Ultimately, this may affect the works an agency decides to implement. 

The study first conducted a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the effect of pavement treatment cost models (stepped line, linear, exponential) on ranking and prioritization of pavement sections in a network. Secondly, based on the sensitivity analysis and input from several municipalities in western Canada, the relationship between pavement condition and observed treatment cost was compared to the treatment cost models.  

It was concluded that the effects of such treatment cost models can draw the attention of top management to the importance of the systematic monitoring of pavement condition as well as to the fact that maintenance budget allocation should not always follow the rule of "the worst is first."