America's highway system is critical to meeting the mobility and economic needs of local communities, regions, and the nation. Developments in research and technology-such as advanced materials, communications technology, new data collection technologies, and human factors science-offer a new opportunity to improve the safety and reliability of this important national resource. Breakthrough resolution of significant transportation problems, however, requires concentrated resources over a short time frame. Reflecting this need, the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) has an intense, large-scale focus, integrates multiple fields of research and technology, and is fundamentally different from the broad, missionoriented, discipline-based research programs that have been the mainstay of the highway research industry for half a century. The need for SHRP 2 was identified in TRB Special Report 260: Strategic Highway Research: Saving Lives, Reducing Congestion, Improving Quality of Life, published in 2001 and based on a study sponsored by Congress through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). SHRP 2, modeled after the first Strategic Highway Research Program, is a focused, timeconstrained, management-driven program designed to complement existing highway research programs. SHRP 2 focuses on applied research in four focus areas: Safety, to prevent or reduce the severity of highway crashes by understanding driver behavior; Renewal, to address the aging infrastructure through rapid design and construction methods that cause minimal disruptions and produce lasting facilities; Reliability, to reduce congestion through incident reduction, management, response, and mitigation; and Capacity, to integrate mobility, economic, environmental, and community needs in the planning and designing of new transportation capacity.
The Michigan Department of Transportation's (DOT) pavement preservation program dates back to 1992. In Michigan, pavement preservation is implemented primarily through the Michigan DOT's capital preventive maintenance (CPM) program, in which preventive maintenance treatments are used to protect existing pavement surfaces, to slow deterioration, and to correct surface deficiencies. An overall objective of the CPM program is to postpone major rehabilitation and reconstruction activities by extending the service life of pavements. Results of a study performed to calculate the benefits and costs of various preventive maintenance treatments used in the Michigan DOT's CPM program are presented. With benefit defined as the percentage increase in performance over a do-nothing or untreated pavement performance curve where data were available, benefits were calculated for preventive maintenance treatments. Benefit–cost ratios were calculated by unit cost, and permitted the comparison of the cost-effectiveness of similar treatments. The overall performance of the Michigan DOT's CPM program was also examined by comparing the life-cycle costs of a rehabilitation strategy to a preservation strategy with the use of a simplified approach. The outcome showed that the preservation strategy resulted in agency cost savings of approximately 25% per lane mile over a rehabilitation-only strategy. Findings from this study can be used to help the Michigan DOT improve its CPM project selection, treatment selection, and performance monitoring and modeling practices.
Extending the life of roadway pavements with the timely use of preservation techniques has been an important strategy for highway agencies for many years. However, although preservation strategies for low- to moderate-volume roadways are widely accepted, are fairly commonplace, and have generally been successful, implementation of those same strategies on high-traffic-volume roadways involves greater challenges. The SHRP 2 Project R26 was performed to examine pavement preservation strategies for high-traffic-volume applications and to develop guidance on which preservation treatments are appropriate under what circumstances. In this project the state-of-the-practice for preservation approaches for high-traffic-volume roadways was identified through a national and international literature search and a detailed survey of highway agencies and other pertinent organizations. This project also involved developing a set of best practices and guidelines for selecting preservation treatments at the project level on the basis of careful and complete assessments of factors such as traffic volume, pavement condition, climatic condition, costs, expected performance, and work zone requirements. This paper presents findings from the highway agency survey and discusses how those results were used in conjunction with the literature review results to develop the key deliverable for the study: the stand-alone document Guidelines for the Preservation of High-Traffic-Volume Roadways.
As the challenges associated with managing a low-volume road network increase, agencies have realized the benefits associated with the use of pavement management tools for the road network. One of the benefits of the use of these tools is the ability to illustrate quickly and effectively the impacts of various pavement preservation strategies (such as worst-first repair) on overall network conditions. As a result, agencies are in a better position to communicate the needs of the road network to individuals responsible for the allocation of funds. In some cases, agencies have successfully lobbied for additional funds to support their road management efforts. The benefit of pavement management tools in supporting the preservation of the low-volume road network is illustrated by their use in evaluating the long-term impact of various funding strategies, the cost-effectiveness of pavement preventive maintenance programs, and various cost analyses that can be used to enhance road system management. Information from a variety of transportation agencies is used for this illustration. For instance, a summary is presented of the use of pavement management information to compare a worst-first repair strategy with a strategy that includes pavement preservation techniques. Examples are provided of the types of presentations that can be given to top management to illustrate these effects. In addition, the cost-effectiveness of pavement preservation programs is illustrated by showing the reduction in life-cycle costs and the overall benefits provided to the agency through the implementation of preventive maintenance programs.
Many transportation agencies use pavement preservation programs to manage their pavement assets cost-effectively. One important aspect of pavement preservation is the use of preventive maintenance treatments to improve the functional condition of the network and retard the overall rate of deterioration. Because preventive maintenance treatments are less expensive than resurfacing or reconstruction projects, a preventive maintenance program can provide a cost-effective means of meeting pavement performance goals. Pavement management systems support pavement preservation strategies in important ways. They assist in identifying and prioritizing preventive maintenance needs, justifying funding levels, and evaluating the long-term impacts of various preservation strategies. To date, many agencies have operated preventive maintenance activities in isolation from pavement management programs. However, many potential benefits can be gained from the closer integration of these two activities. A transportation agency that wishes to integrate preventive maintenance and pavement management might be required to make several changes. Specific technical areas in which changes might be needed include condition surveys and condition index calculations, pavement performance models, treatment rules, and program development. In addition, several institutional issues must be addressed to successfully integrate the two programs. Examples from state highway agencies illustrate possible solutions.
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