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Two types of analysis were conducted to examine the impacts of midcentury scenarios of anthropogenic climate change on flexible pavement infrastructure in southern Canada. An analysis of deterioration-relevant climate indicators at 17 southern Canadian sites revealed that over the next 50 years low temperature cracking will become less problematic, structures will freeze later and thaw earlier with correspondingly shorter freeze season lengths, and higher extreme in-service pavement temperatures will raise the potential for rutting. Pavement performance simulations conducted using the mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide and data from the Canadian long term pavement performance program for six of these sites also suggest that rutting issues will be exacerbated by climate change and that maintenance, rehabilitation, or reconstruction will be required earlier in the design life. While the simulated effect of climate change was found to be modest, both in absolute terms and relative to variability in pavement structure and baseline traffic loads, pavement engineers would benefit by incorporating longer time series of weather and climate in their designs. Although the analysis was conducted for southern Canada, many of the findings and impacts may be similar for the northern United States.

Improving road safety through proper pavement engineering and maintenance should be one of the major objectives of pavement management systems. When pavements are evaluated in terms of safety, a number of factors related to pavement engineering properties are raised, such as pavement geometric design, paving materials and mix design, pavement surface properties, shoulder type, and pavement color and visibility. Each year there are voluminous annual reports on traffic accident statistics and discussions of such road safety issues as road safety modeling and pavement safety measurements and criteria. Although road safety may be considered a separate area, it should be incorporated into pavement management systems. The main pavement engineering relationships associated with road safety are identified, and the various aspects of road safety related to pavement management, such as pavement types, pavement surface macrotexture and microtexture, and pavement safety measurements, criteria, and evaluation methods, are discussed. A systematic approach is proposed for the coordination of pavement maintenance programs with road safety improvement and the incorporation or integration of safety management with pavement and other management systems. Finally, a list of possible remedial measures for road safety improvements associated with pavement maintenance activities is recommended.