Date of Award

5-2011

Degree Type

Report

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Kevin Heaslip

Committee

Kevin Heaslip

Committee

Anthony Chen

Committee

Gilberto Urroz

Abstract

Roads are one of the most valuable infrastructure assets within a community. Proper maintenance of the roadway network can promote the prosperity of a community. In recent times maintenance has become much more difficult with the price of asphalt increasing drastically and city budgets contracting due to the economic downturn. With these conditions, the proper management of an agency’s street network is necessary. The use of pavement management systems provides the help needed in the preservation of the street network. The use of pavement management systems provides significant benefits such as identification of the most cost-effective pavement treatment actions and accurate predictions of pavement deterioration. The research objectives are to examine and explain how local agencies benefit by using an adequate pavement management system and to develop a pavement prediction model appropriate for use in local agencies. This report provides a comparison of three different Pavement Management Systems: TAMS (Transportation Asset Management System), a Pavement Management System (PMS) developed by Utah the LTAP (Local Technical Assistance Program), a PMS developed by the Alabama DOT for use in cities and counties, and Micro PAVER a widely used commercial PMS. Their unique characteristics and individual strength and weaknesses are discussed so that potential users of PMS can better decide what fits best their agencies' needs. Then TAMS is explained in detail as an example of pavement management system and a case study of its application in Tooele city, Utah. Then an economic analysis of no pavement management, a partial pavement management system, and a full pavement management system is provided. The full Pavement Management System showed a savings of about $32,000,000 over a 40-year period for the city when compared to a no maintenance option.

The results have shown that the use of a Pavement Management System is greatly beneficial for local agencies. This helps to maintain the road network in a good condition without exceeding the given budget as shown in the case study of Tooele city. Furthermore, we see that the cost-saving impact is more dramatic over longer period of times as shown in the economic analysis. Additionally, the comparison of the different Pavement Management Systems revealed that different agencies have different needs and thus the different options of Pavement Management Systems allows them to efficiently choose what works best for them. However, there is still room for improvement in the development of Pavement Management Systems.

Comments

Publication made available electronically January 13, 2012.

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