Chapter 1 Introduction
Background
As soon as the systems of roads has expanded and grown, the need of pavement maintenance has also increasingly felt. With time, the complex networks of roads and streets were started to develop. This also increased the significance of rehabilitation and maintenance. In past, the pavement maintenance was very simple. But with the development of complex infrastructures, the maintenance processes have also became complex. In past the technologies and methods were not very innovative. It was very difficult to rehabilitate in the past as none of the methods were available to repair a specific part. The whole construction was supposed to be done from the beginning. This was no doubt a very difficult task to be performed. When the innovative methods were not available and the pavement systems grew complex then it also became difficult to manage and finance the maintenance. It is because different pavements when got degenerated at very different rates and parameters. Different pavement maintenance projects widely differ from each other. The problems were felt in the different areas of pavement maintenance like materials, environment, infrastructure and construction and so on. In past, it was very difficult to get all the factors easily as the methods were limited. With time new methods were emerged and the costs related to these methods were also different. The types of road networks that are being seen today need more complex engineering methods. For getting up to the expected results more budgets are also required. With time and developments, more innovative pavements are being created. The repair and maintenance of these pavements will also be significantly required. In past the pavement maintenance was never that multifaceted as it is today. So, studying the pavement maintenance and its associated factors are of very importance. (Kallas, 1985)
Pavement Maintenance Overview
The pavement maintenance can be widely and clearly defined as the work that is done in order to improve the life time and the services of the pavements. The pavement maintenance encompasses many rehabilitation procedures and even constructions from the scratch. For preserving the pavements, it is very necessary to deploy pavement maintenance. The basic purpose and aim of performing pavement maintenance is to safeguard and uphold the structural as well as functional conditions of the pavements. Many different strategies and methods are combined in order to preserve the pavements during the pavement maintenance. Three types of pavement maintenance have been observed which are preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance and emergency maintenance. All these types of pavement maintenance differ from each other in many ways. The pavement maintenance consists of many different kinds of activities and operations. The major operations of pavement maintenance may include the following
The evaluation and analysis of the conditions.
The determination of treatments.
The examination of solutions that can be used as an alternative.
The possible effects and consequences of any treatment.
There are many other activities that are also involved in the pavement maintenance apart from the above mentioned. Different activities and methods are used and choosing the proper method is quite essential. The suitable method is chosen by considering various factors like budget, economical feasibility, environment, available tools and resources and so on. All these factors are considered and then method is chosen for maintaining the pavements. (Busch, n.d)
The pavement maintenance focuses over performing the efforts that may help in upholding and protecting the structures of the pavements in their original forms. It is very required for the safety of the traffic that is running over the pavements. The many different operations that are performed in pavement maintenance are
Surface restructuring.
Patching.
Filling of ruts.
Surface corrugation removal.
Filling of cracks.
Rehabilitation.
Overlays
Structuring
These above are the commonly performed operations of the pavement maintenance. There is no hard and fast method available for maintaining the pavements. The same types of roads are treated very differently. Different maintenance systems are developed by combining different techniques, operations and methods. It is not necessary that the operation that has performed great at one place should also perform the same at the other place. It clearly shows that experienced team is required for performing pavement maintenance. This team of engineers will be then responsible for finding out the right method available. (Hashema, Samad, Zaroni Hawwary, 2006)
Pavement maintenance is highly required for better quality of pavements. It is always desired that the maintenance process is performed in cost effective manner. The deteriorations are explored by the preventive maintenance and then the necessary maintenance is made. If any failure or problems do occur during the pavement maintenance program then it is also detected and resolved by the pavement maintenance. The pavement maintenance strategies and methods are widely used and have proven to be very successful. The current condition of the pavement the conditions of the environment and finally the expected volume of the traffic should always be considered while choosing the methodology and techniques of pavement maintenance. The pavement maintenance should be performed and encouraged in order to improve the conditions of the pavements. (Kandhal Gardiner, 1998)
Objectives of the Research
The research that we have performed has got many objectives. The topic domain is very broad and it has enabled us to access to a number of objectives. Following are some of the basic objectives of this research study.
To provide the readers with the overview of the pavement maintenance.
To have an understanding of the different types of pavement maintenance.
Developing and clarifying the concepts related to the pavement maintenance cost.
Understanding the different treatments of pavement maintenance.
The description of the classification of pavement maintenance cost.
The understanding of the ways of controlling the pavement maintenance cost.
Exploring the ineffectiveness of pavement maintenance cost.
Explaining the different kinds of contracts of the pavement maintenance cost.
Exploring the relationship between the design and the pavement maintenance.
Exploring the relationship between the pavement maintenance and construction.
Understanding the different cost factors of pavement maintenance like labor, materials, environment, budget, users behavior, finance, administration, management and engineering services and so on.
Thorough understanding of management of pavement maintenance.
Understanding the maintenance management decision.
How to select the pavement maintenance strategy for certain project.
The approaches that are used for managing the pavement maintenance.
The above are the many objectives that have been achieved by performing this in depth study. The study has proven to be a very beneficial one as it has allowed us to get to the many objectives.
Research Methodology
As we know that for performing any research two methods are available namely quantitative research and qualitative research. Although two methodologies are available but thorough observation is required to choose one between these two methodologies. This is the crucial stage because choosing the right research methodology is the basic element for the success of any research project. For this research we have chosen the methodology of qualitative research. We have found qualitative research to be the most appropriate research methodology for performing this dissertation. This research methodology has helped a lot in finding out the objectives and to solve the questions that came in mind during this dissertation. Basically, qualitative research refers to the method in which the primary aim is to understand the concept of the study. We have made in depth research in order to find the concepts and meanings of this dissertation. This huge amount of information has allowed us to find out and observe the pavement maintenance and its different types. It has also allowed us to find out the cost factors that are associated with the pavement maintenance. The in depth study has provided the answers of all the questions related to this research objective. By using the qualitative research methodology, we have understood the role of the pavement maintenance in enhancing the structures and functionalities of the pavements. It helps to increase the life time of the pavements. We can also observe from this research study that many countries of the world are now making use of this strategy in order to have a control and to provide safety to the pavements. A number of methods and treatments are available for pavement maintenance. These methods have been discussed in this paper as well using this methodology.
This dissertation has focused over finding out the level of effectiveness of making use of this maintenance method. The main purpose of performing this study is to find out what are the costs cost factors that are associated with the pavement maintenance This information in this dissertation will make it easier for the people to make a clear idea about the role of pavement maintenance in improving the safety over the pavements.
Data Collection
For performing this dissertation a great deal of data has been collected. The data is collected because it is a qualitative research and it needs a lot of information regarding the topic so that the concepts can be developed. The data collection is performed in order to collect the information that can be used further for making decisions. It is recommended that data should be collected from the reliable sources so as to generate the valid result. When it comes to data collection then again we have many different techniques that can be used for collecting the information. The data collection methods that we have used during this dissertation are surveys, observation and the use of written descriptions. We have surveyed the online information that was available regarding the pavement maintenance and its various treatments in order to find out that to what extent the pavement maintenance can improve the situations of the deteriorated pavements. The written descriptions have also played a great role in conducting this research. These written descriptions allow to get the concepts and meanings cleared and also to understand the scenario. The collected data that we have gathered for performing this research again has got two options i.e. primary data and secondary data. For this report we have used secondary data collection as it was the suitable one for this dissertation. For collecting this secondary data we have used many different sources.
Secondary Data
It has been mentioned above that this paper is based on the secondary data. A great deal of search has been performed for gathering the desired and relevant information. Secondary data is actually the data that has not been produced by us during the dissertation but it was generated earlier by some other writer or researcher but is being used by us. The reason for using secondary data in this dissertation is that it was relevant and was providing us help in completing our tasks. Secondary data is available for anyone to use for research work and can exist in many different forms like books, journals, websites, and surveys and so on. The secondary data that we have used for this dissertation was previously used for some sort of analysis or observation. The literature has been given by observing the available secondary data and then developing our own analysis. For this dissertation secondary data is the best choice because primary data needs a lot of time as it is not necessary to generate primary data in short span of time. Secondary data provides us a great deal of information in a limited time. This helps in completing the dissertation in the given timeline. Many people consider that secondary data is not useful as none of the work is being done by own. But this concept is not a valid concept as secondary data is really useful in providing with the huge information. In this dissertation detailed information is gathered regarding the effectiveness of these pavement maintenance techniques. This was a broad topic and in this time period it was not possible to develop the primary data for this dissertation so secondary data was the most suitable data type.
Literature Review
In this section we have presented some literature review that is related to the pavement maintenance. This literature will help in making understanding of the topic.
Types of Pavement Maintenance
Pavement maintenance is a very basic concept related to the pavement preservation. It is a very effective program which integrates different kinds of maintaining procedures and treatments. It consists of three types which are as follows
1) Preventive maintenance.
2) Corrective maintenance.
3) Emergency maintenance.
All these types are different from each other and each type is having its own usage and significance.
Preventive maintenance It is described as it is a planned kind of strategy which includes very effective treatments. The treatments are used to maintain roadway systems and appurtenances. These treatments also help to preserve the infrastructure of the pavements. The preventive maintenance develops the future declination and it also helps in improving the functions of the system. The improvement in function is not involved in enhancing the capacity and infrastructure of the system so it can be defined as an additional service. In preventive maintenance the treatments are provided to the surface which is less than two inches in the thickness. These treatments are not being advised in adding the capacity of the structure. It is done on done basis. It is always advised to stay away from the costly repairing which may occur if preventive maintenance is not performed. So it is always suggested that this type of pavement maintenance should be used for providing regular preventive care. Many of the people avoid preventative maintenance as a result of this ignorance a serious major deterioration may occur. This deterioration may even double the expenditure of the preventive maintenance. However preventive maintenance is highly advised for all the homeowners. (Smith, 2010)
Corrective maintenance If any deficiency is found in the pavement then this kind of pavement maintenance is performed. For this reason, it is known as corrective maintenance. It is mostly performed in severe rutting and the spacious cracking. This is also called as the reactive maintenance. It is a type of system maintenance which aims to repair the entire system. It is always performed when a problem occurs in a system to recover the operations of the system. Many of the cases are resolved through this while some of them are just impossible to handle. When regular maintenance does not work and the condition of the pavement is still terrible then to make the corrective maintenance is the only option left. (Smith, 2010)
Emergency Maintenance As the name shows this kind of pavement maintenance is performed when there is an emergency kind of situation. Such pavements need to be cured as soon as possible. These maintenance treatments are mainly used as the temporary treatments. These treatments help to hold the surface all together till the permanent treatment is processed. The situations for which the emergency maintenance is performed are mostly caused of extreme level of rainfalls or high level of temperature. Continuous periods of rain can even lock the engulf roads and badly effect the drainage systems as well. So, such conditions require the emergency maintenance. (Teten, 2002)
The above three are the basic types of the pavement maintenance. The selection of the pavement maintenance type depends wholly and solely over the type of maintenance that is being performed. This selection also includes the consideration of many other factors like environment, volume of traffic and weight of traffic and so on.
Distress Identification
It is said that distress is a condition of structure of pavement which reduces the life time of the pavements. It also makes the pavement to have a decrease in the services. Serviceability is a power of pavement which gives secure and contented rides to its users. In short, the distress mainly reduces the life time and service of the pavement. So, it makes the pavement uncomfortable and unsafe to be used. At this point, it is felt that repair or maintenance is required. The condition of distress may be resolved by making use of a range of repairs which have the different abilities to make the pavements more trustworthy. Some of the repairs may provide cure for sometime which is very helpful at that time. But it required that long term treatments should be provided. In many cases, the minor repair or cure is the only thing that is needed. The choice for the best treatment is not an easy task to be performed and strong observation is required. The different treatment methods are available for different types of pavements and distresses. (Federal Highway Administration, 2009)
Flexible Pavement Distresses
The distresses that mainly occur to the pavements of flexible types are many. A large number of pavement distresses or defects may take place to this type of pavements. These distresses may be divided in to the following categories
Cracking
A. Alligator
B. Edge
C. Longitudinal
D. Randomblock
E. Transverse
Raveling
Distortions
Rutting
Excess Asphalt (Flexible pavement distresses, n.d)
Rigid Pavement Distresses
In the most common cases, the rigid pavements are mostly affected with the distresses that occur at the joints of the pavements. The joint deterioration of the pavement greatly reduces the level of the performance of pavement. The needs for the maintenance of such distresses are highly felt and are double. Other kinds of distresses are also observed in these kinds of pavements. These distresses may include the affects over the concrete slabs. These concrete slabs areaway from the joints of the pavements. Such distresses lead to the loss of quality of the pavement that is being provided to the riders. Also the structure of the pavement is also very disturbed and the pavement is not in the condition to be used. Hence these types of distresses that occur to the rigid pavements are severe and should be handles as soon as possible.
The distress types that are involved with the rigid pavements include joint distress, faulting, transverse cracks, surface distress and slab cracking. (Tetan, 2002)
Chapter 2 Pavement Maintenance Cost Concept
2.1 Classifying Maintenance Cost
The pavement maintenance costs indicate the expenses that have been made during the pavement maintenance program. The pavement maintenance cost can be classified in to different groups. It is because different parts of the pavement maintenance program need cost and budget. A budget has to be established in order to complete a certain part of the maintenance program. In the following we have discussed the different kinds of pavement maintenance cost.
Performance Cost The performance cost indicates the overall cost that is associated with the project. It is the net cost that is required to get to the desired performance of the pavement that is under maintenance. The performance cost needs that the overall procedure of maintenance should be estimated in order to find out the total budget that is required to make the pavement to work according to the desired performance.
Expected Pavement Maintenance Cost When any pavement maintenance program is being designed. Then a model is developed in order to find out the expected cost that will be spending on performing the maintenance task. It is not necessary that accurately that cost will be utilized. But expected pavement maintenance cost just gives an idea about the possible expenditure. It is possible that a difference may exist at the completion of the project in the estimated pavement maintenance cost and the real performance cost. It is necessary to develop the model and find out the expected pavement maintenance cost. So that the possible expenditure may be in the minds of the project management team. Otherwise, conflicts may arise at the end of the project. The expected pavement maintenance cost should always be expected 4 to 5 more than the real value.
Maintenance Cost The maintenance cost indicates the budget that is totally related to the maintenance procedures of the pavements. As we know that different treatment and maintenance methods are available. All these methods do have different expenditures. As the tools and techniques that are being used by these methods will also be quite different from each other. For this reason, the cost of maintenance would be different always. Therefore, it is always suggested that the treatment method for the maintenance should be chosen by keeping under consideration all the related aspects.
Warranty Cost The pavement maintenance program also focuses over the estimation of warranty costs. The program makes use of different reliability analysis methods in order to find out the probability that the pavement maintenance will end into a failure. So, the project team that is handling the pavement maintenance also estimates the warranty cost. So that in case of any failure the budget that has been spend by the owner can be balance. Also the warranty cost is developed for the materials that have been used in the maintenance procedures. So that in case of any failure the money can be taken back. (Panthi, Ahmed Farooqui, 2008)
The above are the basic classes of the costs that are associated with the pavement maintenance. All these costs are prepared before implementing the pavement maintenance program.
2.2 Controlling the Pavement Maintenance Cost
The cost of the pavement maintenance can be controlled if the performance cost is properly estimated. It is also necessary that during this estimation a model should be developed for the pavement maintenance program. It is also necessary that all the procedures, methods and treatments should be selected that are most suitable and cost effective. It is necessary to make use of cost to effectiveness ration in order to judge the benefits of using one choice over another. The preventive maintenance cost is a process that is performed periodically. So, it is better to develop the life cycle cost estimation for every possible treatment that can be used for the maintenance program. This estimated life cycle cost will also help in finding out that which method is providing a cost effective maintenance program.
Reconstruction should always be avoided while maintenance. As it has been proved that the preventive maintenance strategies are much more cost effective as compared to the reconstruction. Also it is suggested that for controlling the preventive maintenance cost, the treatment strategies should be applied at the regularity of 5 to 10 years. If maintenance is being provided regularly after the defined period then huge deterioration will take place rarely. Obviously maintenance of heavy deterioration will need more budget. Whereas, the minor maintenance will require less budget and will be cost effective. It has been noticed that if necessary changes and repairs are continuously made then pavements can be saved from complete deterioration. This saving may also lead to the cost effective result. (Kandhal Gardiner, 1998)
In order to properly controlling the different costs associated with the pavement maintenance program, it is necessary that a cost model should be developed. If that model will be followed and analyzed then it would be easier to control the costs by developing estimates. If the model is formulated with great concentration and observation then it would result in an accurate estimation. The various aspects that are needed to properly formulate the cost models are defined in the figure 1. All these steps are really helpful in controlling the costs if observed and analyzed properly.
Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 1 Cost Estimation Model
This model is also known as the cost estimation methodology. The characterization of the system is very necessary for the proper estimation. After taking all the characteristics the model can be developed for the project. At reaching this stage, it becomes easy to apply different techniques and finding out the estimated pavement maintenance cost. This model is the generalized form that can be applied to almost every pavement maintenance program. If this model is applied and estimated costs are achieved for every possible technique then it will be easier to select the technique that is the most cost effective. Apart from all these factors, it is also required that the preventive maintenance management team should have enough knowledge regarding the various techniques that are available. Also the information regarding the existing condition, expected performance and every other factor is necessary. If the information is not enough then the controlling of costs would not be efficient. (Panthi, Ahmed Farooqui, 2008)
2.3 Decisions Incurring Maintenance Expenditure
The control or maintenance of pavement maintenance is getting popular day by day. As a result, the expenditure of pavement maintenance, its control and management is also having some importance. There are many factors that are involved for developing the expenditures. These factors or decisions play an important role in developing a cost effective pavement maintenance program. These decisions may greatly control the expenditure of the pavement maintenance. It is no necessary that the decisions will always have a positive impact but these decisions can also have negative impacts as well. (McNeil, 1982)
In the following we have discussed the different decisions that may come into consideration while developing the expenditure.
Climatic Changes The infrastructures of the pavements can highly get changed because of variations in climatic conditions. While preparing the pavement maintenance expenditure, it is required that the climatic conditions should be well considered. These climatic changes majorly include the rainfall. The rainfall may affect the infrastructure of the pavements highly. The climatic changes like rainfall may change the balance of moisture in the pavements which might lead to deterioration. Hence in these situations, the maintenance may be regularly required and also the level of maintenance would be different. So, the expenditure may also vary from our expectations due to these climatic conditions. The changes in temperature may also affect the age of the infrastructure of the pavement. The regular loss of waterproofing occurs due to high temperature and as a result the problems start appearing like cracking. This will again need maintenance and the expenditure would again get changed. The problems like potholing and surface degradation are also seen as a result of climatic changes. Hence it can be said that the climate and surroundings have got impacts on the pavement conditions. (Cechet, n.d)
Maintenance Strategies As we have discussed earlier that different pavement maintenance strategies are available. The choice of maintenance strategy is a very critical part. As different strategies have different impacts and it is not necessary that a strategy that is effective at one place must be effective at another. All the strategies do not have the same expenditures. The choice of strategy can also act as a factor that is decided for preparing pavement maintenance expenditure. It is always recommended that the strategy should be chosen that is most suitable and cost effective.
No unnecessary expenditures should be made. The proper decision of pavement maintenance strategy may lead to a control in expenditure. (Chadderton, n.d)
Volume of Traffic Obviously, a pavement that is having a huge flow of heavy traffic would need to be stronger than the one having low volume of traffic. The pavements that are supposed to have huge volume of traffic need regular maintenance. The regular maintenance needs extra expenditure and extra maintenance. Also, the treatment strategy should be chosen that is very strong no matter how expensive it is. This also makes changes in the expenditure. So, the volume of traffic should be considered as a decision for preparing expenditures. (Chadderton, n.d)
Intervention Strategies The intervention strategies should always be there for providing regular maintenance. It may enhance the lifetime of the pavements and reduce the level of deterioration. The increased deterioration may also result in increased expenditure. On the other hand, reduction might reduce the expenditure. So, if intervention strategies are made available then the changes can be made in expenditure. It is also stated that intervention should be taken under consideration while making expenditure. (Chadderton, n.d)
Types of Maintenance The type of maintenance that is required to be performed is also involved in the making of expenditure. The type of maintenance may involve some routine maintenance which would be of low cost. But on the other hand, the maintenance can be some irregular one and it can take huge amount of money to be performed. Normally, the companies are prepared for the routine maintenance programs to be performed regularly but the other type of maintenance is completely unexpected. So, the types of maintenance should also be considered while planning the expenditure as it may change the expenses to the large extent.
In the above we have discussed some of the elements that are required to be decided. Otherwise, the expenditure will keep on varying. These decisions are necessary to be made while creating expenditure.
2.4 Ineffective Pavement Maintenance Costs
If the pavement maintenance is not performed properly and some elements are missed or ignored then it might lead to an ineffective maintenance. The ineffective maintenance cost may be termed as the cost that has been wasted because the maintenance was ineffective. The optimized maintenance is very significant. There are many different factors that may force the pavement maintenance program to end up in a failure. Such factors might lead the cost to be ineffective maintenance cost. These factors may include time, climatic conditions, treatment of chemicals, volume of the traffic and also the weight of the traffic. If these factors are not considered then the cost may lead to an ineffective one. We have also discussed in the earlier section about the various decisions that incur while we prepare the pavement maintenance expenditure. So, for avoiding the pavement maintenance cost to be an ineffective one it is necessary that the factors that may affect the maintenance should be carefully observed. This becomes a challenge to fight with all these factors and to make the pavement maintenance program an effective one.
The pavement maintenance programs are having high budgets and it would not be desired to convert it into an ineffective cost project. The ineffectivness of maintenance cost also depends on the strategy that is being used for the pavement maintenance. There are some old strategies available, like worst first approach which is not effective. The use of such approaches might lead to the ineffective maintenance cost. Most of the times, these maintenance strategies would not be helpful in maintaining the pavements. If the quality of maintenance or development is low then it will yield to an ineffective maintenance cost. If the pavements are prepared with low level of quality then there would not be enough money to save them from deterioration. (Road resurfacing, 1996)
In todays fast moving environment, it is necessary that the maintenance methods should be provided there. It is also necessary that these methods should be effective. Otherwise, the loss of cost will be faced. At first, it should be kept in mind that the pavements should be prepared with great care so that no issue is left behind. Still, if any problem exists after the development then the maintenance should be given with proper attention. No flaw should be left as if the maintenance is required again and again then the whole project will result in an ineffective cost project. It is also required that the maintenance like crack filling, crack repair, rehabilitation and surface treatment should be performed properly. The life cycle cost will not be effective if the treatments are not given properly. (Crack maintenance guidelines, 2003)
For making the pavement maintenance program cost effective, it is necessary that the steps should be taken with great care. The maintenance treatments and strategies should be chosen carefully. Also the material that is going to be used should be reliable. If all these elements are kept in mind then it would be possible to make prevent the project from being ineffective. The main factor is the selection of strategy and it holds critical importance. The pavement maintenance project is a very expensive and huge budget program and it should be conducted in a very cost effective manner. If it is handled improperly then huge losses may be expected. (Crack maintenance guidelines, 2003)
2.5 Forms of Pavement Maintenance Contracts
The pavement maintenance contracts can be defined as the agreements that are made so that the necessary terms and conditions can be decided and preserved in the written form. The owners specify all kinds of maintenance that is desired. The contracts also provide the owner with the facility to propose budget over certain maintenance works. These may include minor repairs of concrete, dig outs, paint marking, seal costs and other routine maintenance work. Also the pavement maintenance contracts define the schedule of the project and also the complete phasing requirements. Insurance and payment requirements have also been included in the pavement maintenance contracts. Different forms of contracts are available in the pavement maintenance project. Few of the forms of pavement maintenance contracts are given below
Asset Management Contract The asset management contract is also known as the investment management contract. This type of contract is made between the investor and the manager of the investment that is being made. The contract basically specifies that the services have to be provided in order to manage the assets properly. The guidelines have also been defined in the contract. The contract encompasses all the factors like administration, management, supervision and nature of the assets for which the contract is being made. The owner or the investor also defines all the requirements so that the investment management may manage the assets as desired. The contract also provides the authority to the investment manager to perform any actions or operations that are necessary for fulfilling the conditions. The basic purpose of this type of contracts is to find out that to what extent the achievements can be made in the given fund. This type of contract is widely used in the pavement maintenance projects. The reason is that agencies and owners decide the budget that has to be utilized. Then they try to meet the objectives under the provided budget.
Performance Based Pavement Maintenance Contracts This type of contracts is totally different from the asset management contracts. The performance based maintenance contracts, specify that what amount of budget will be required in order to meet the expected conditions. The main purpose is to find out the required budget so as to get to the desired objectives. A great expertise and experience is required for making such contracts as these contracts are very complex and sensitive. The private companies and agencies normally make use of this type of contracts. These companies just make the estimation that what budget will be required in order to perform the operation and maintenance. Also the performance based pavement maintenance contracts focus over providing high quality results at the end. The agencies do not compromise on any aspect and selects the best possible option available. (Panthi, Ahmed Farooqui, 2008)
The above two are the basic types of the pavement maintenance contracts. These contracts are different from each other and also the performance provided by the contactors would also be different. The contracts are necessary to be made in order to manage the assets. The contracts are also very much required in order to meet all the tasks before the deadline. The contracts pressurize the investment management to work effectively and efficiently. Both the contracts may completely change the nature of pavement maintenance program so the contracts are also made based on the available budget and requirements. (Burns, 1990)
2.6 Relationship between Design and Pavement Maintenance
The role of design is very important in pavement maintenance. Expert designers are required to perform this job. The design is basically the major element that will be then used to precede the maintenance job. Many parameters are involved in the designing phase. The parameters like materials, thickness, strength, flexibility, stiffness and rigidity and so on are all related with the design of pavement maintenance. The design is prepared on the basis of the given requirements by the owner. The pavement maintenance cannot work without the proper design. The design is the basic phase and any failure might lead to the failure of whole project. It is recommended that the design should be well built so that it can increase the life time of the pavement. The whole lifer value of the pavement depends entirely on the design of the pavement. The design should be based on the strategy of securing the future and enhancing the life time of the pavement. The entire cost of the project is also depending over the design of the pavement. Following are the principles that are associated with the pavement design
The design should be robust enough so that it might increase the life time of the pavement.
The design should utilize the available resources so that the consumption of resources is minimized.
The design should also reuse the materials so that the disposal of wastes and emissions are also reduced.
The design should be well built and it should have a fine value in the terms of whole life cost.
The design should ensure that the quality is maximized and the risks or health issues are minimized.
The pavements must be designed in such a way, that the users do not have to face the delays.
The designs must also include the overview that in case of any problem how the maintenance will be provided.
The design should be built in such a way that it may consume less amount of time and also provides best results.
The design should also be according to the volume of the traffic and also weight of the traffic should be considered.
By considering all the principles we can say that design is very crucial for the pavement maintenance. Once the design is provided the strategy of maintenance, treatment and the materials should be chosen that suits more. All the strategies and treatments should be innovative and should help the design to get accomplished. (Pavement design and maintenance, 2006)
The process of design during the pavement maintenance can be divided in to two categories which are given below
Design of Foundation This design is built in order to plan the sub grade and the sub base of the pavement.
Design of Thickness This type of design basically indicates the actual surface of the road. It helps to maintain the idea that how thick the road is going to be designed. The thickness totally depends on the volume and the weight of the traffic that is expected over that particular pavement.
Both of these two types of design hold significance in the design of the pavement maintenance. The design gives an initial idea regarding the maintenance that is required. Today, the design process is mostly being performed on the basis of empirical methods and by making sue of design charts. It is also required that all the different types of pavements should be considered while making the design of the pavement maintenance. In fact, a design should be developed for all the possible types of pavements. The design for each of the pavement will allow making comparison that which pavement maintenance would prove to be the best. The several different designs also help to find out that which design will prove to be the most effective one. All the designs are judged on the basis of environment and other elements. If any one of the designs seems to be impractical then that is eliminated from the choice list. The relationship between the pavement maintenance and design is very much close and crucial. Without design, the pavement maintenance cannot work properly.
It would be very difficult to perform the maintenance task without the design. The design also helps to perform the pavement maintenance in the cost effective manner and also in less time. The various choices of design allow choosing the one which is having fewer budgets and less time. While providing the maintenance the design is always given the first priority. So, it should never be ignored. A huge expertise and research has been required in this area. The team should always include a best designer who can design the pavement according to the needs and requirements of the owner or investor. Hence the importance of design cannot be ignored. If the pavement is designed with accuracy by considering all the elements then there would be no problems in future. (Salter, 1988)
2.7 Relationship between the Construction and Pavement Maintenance
The relationship between the pavement maintenance and construction is quite old. The pavement designs are prepared then pavement construction is performed. It can be said that pavement construction is a part of pavement management system. The construction holds much importance as it lay downs the basic structure for the pavement. If this basics have been placed strongly then it would be much easier to help the pavement to increase the lifetime and to provide better serviceability. On the other hand, if the pavement construction is inefficient and ineffective then it will require large amount of pavement maintenance. It is a clear fact that an improper construction might leads to the pavement maintenance. It should always be tried that the construction should be effective so that not much maintenance is required again and again. Construction of pavements is also considered to be one of those factors that might cause the distresses. The distress in turn causes the deterioration to take place. The construction of pavements is much difficult than the maintenance of pavements. Also the construction of the pavements is a very expensive program to be performed. For this reason, the trend of construction new pavements and road networks is declining and the trend of performing pavement maintenance is increasing. The pavement maintenance is always required when the pavement construction is not performed properly. The construction procedures that are being used for the pavement construction are almost the same since many years. But innovations and advances have been made in the tools, operations and functions. These innovations have made the pavement construction an innovative process. (Mowafy, 2007)
Chapter 3 Pavement Maintenance Costs Factors
Different factors add up to the cost of pavement maintenance and rehabilitation in which the most prominent factors are as follows
Engineering Services
Labors
Pavement Materials
Environments
Management And Administration
Budget and Finance
Pavement Users Behaviors
In this chapter we are going to discuss these factors one by one in order to have more understanding of pavement maintenance costs.
3.1 Engineering Services
Engineering Services include taking services from highly qualified engineers and machineries etc. Engineers are hired on contract basis. The lifetime of contract is till the maintenance work is carried out. Engineers hired on contracts get salaries paid in equally monthly installments for their work and services till the time the desired quality is achieved and is in compliance with the technical specifications for the pavement maintenance standards. If in case the outputs do not match or comply with the standards that are specified then penalties are imposed on daily basis and those penalties are subtracted from salary payments. Routine pavement Maintenance costs US175 per kilometer a month. Usually hiring engineers again and again for maintenance work can become costly. When pavement maintenance work is going on machineries are also brought into use this adds up to the maintenance costs as those are huge machines that consume fuel and electricity. The use of those machines for a longer period of time can bring increase in the cost of pavement maintenance and rehabilitation. (How maintaining and repairing your asphalt can save your money, 2008)
3.2 Labors
Any kind of work cannot be done without labor and in a work like pavement maintenance requires extensive and skilled labors. Labors that are needed in pavement maintenance perform semi-skilled physical labor work in maintaining and repairing of road and drainages, which includes bending, stooping, lifting, bending etc. The basic work of the labor is to handle tools and operate light to medium weight vehicles and other kind of equipment to perform the task under the monitoring of an assigned maintenance leader. Maintenance work is performed in an out of routine manner but it is performed in team or as a crew. Labors are required to perform duties outdoors in all kinds of weather conditions such as they may have to work in extreme heat or cold just to finish the task as soon as possible. Hiring labor for maintenance can add up to the cost in a way that the hired labor needs to be accommodated somewhere if the labor is exported other than that meal has to be provided to the hired labor and in case of any injury or health issue medical assistance is also needed as workers may get ill or suffer from injuries when working in extreme weather conditions.
Other than bearing the expenses in hiring labor an important issue to be kept in mind is the training that is required for the labor. In this fast changing world labors need to be trained according to the changing standards and technologies. In case of newly hired labors, they need to be trained from scratch and thus their training expense is also a cost adding feature in pavement maintenance cost. (County, 1999)
3.3 Pavement Materials
Price of pavement materials have rose much faster than customer or producer manifestations during the year 2005 and continuing till the start of year 2006. Materials became hard to find like Portland cement, copper, PVC pipes and gypsum were difficult to obtain in many parts of the United States. As resources are getting expensive day by day pavement maintenance become very costly as the same materials are required again and again for maintenance that were used in constructing the pavement. Hot mix asphalt overlays are essential products that are needed for any type of pavement maintenance and if these are used in a proper and timely manner they will extend the lifetime of your pavement. But the oil prices are touching the skies nowadays making it hard to obtain hot mix asphalt is getting hard to obtain and due to this maintenance works are getting delayed. As the materials are getting costly pavement maintenance work gets delayed and as a result the pavement gets into worse conditions and hence when the maintenance work finally starts the road has been so much damaged that maintenance becomes nearly re building the road. (Liautaud, n.d)
3.4 Environments
Environmental conditions can cause a lot of damage to the pavements thus increasing the maintenance time and maintenance cost as well. The environmental factors can include extreme heat and cold weather conditions. Other than that environmental factors also include rains which can greatly damage the surface of the pavements and standing waters for a longer period of time on the pavements can seep through the pavement cracks and further damage the pavements internally as well. If the pavements are greatly damaged by the environmental conditions costs get higher as more maintenance work is required not only to manage the current damage but also to avoid further damage cause by environmental factors. Besides the environmental effects that damages the pavement environmental factors can also interrupt in ongoing maintenance work like sudden heavy rains or snowfalls can pause the work or even delay it for a longer period of time which can add up to the pavement maintenance cost as resources and labor would be employed for a longer period of time. (Smith, n.d)
3.5 Management and Administration
The pavement maintenance management is a very important and vital part of the pavement maintenance program. As it the pavement maintenance management who is responsible to deal with many tasks associated with the maintenance program. In the later sections, we have discussed pavement maintenance management in depth. A management team is essential for any project to be carried out. Without a proper management team it gets difficult to allocate and utilize resources of a project in a cost effective manner. The role of project manager or a project management team is one of the most important aspects in controlling the costs of a project. It is truly said that a poor project with an efficient project management team can be completed successfully on time. But even a good project expected to be profitable can undergo serious problems if it has poor management team or project manager. A poor management team will affect all the stages of the undergoing maintenance work and the most affected element would be the cost as the team would not be able to allocate proper timeline to complete the work and would not be able to control the budget that was assigned for the complete project and it can result in inadequate allocation of resources and cost over runs. (Smith, n.d)
3.6 Budget and Finance
Finance and Budget are the foremost element that has to be kept in mind before initiating any project. The lack in finance and funding to finish a project or if there are delays in the payment for services used in pavement maintenance by the project sponsors that can give rise to many other significant problems that have to be resolved in order to successfully finish a project. If the costs of the project exceeds significantly than the cost that was estimated before initiating the project then the current maintenance work has to be stopped or delayed till the time additional funds are obtained. Problems in obtaining funds can also arise if the funds that were allocated for one project were shifted to other project within one program of development therefore shortage of funds can create problems in the project that had previously funds allocated to it. If the payment of bills by a project sponsor is not quick then the contractor may start to assign less or cheap quality resources to a project or may even close down the work if payment becomes a problem. Sometimes when a project is thought to be profitable the project sponsors may devalue the accessibility of local funding just to maximize the level of funding or donations. This mostly happens with projects that generate revenue. Such approached can cause problems for other projects as they can reduce the availability of funding for those projects.
Funds that are allocated for pavement maintenance are mostly the funds that are left behind after all other programs are funded. Besides this, in case of any natural disaster the budget from pavement maintenance funds are cut off and the funds for the cleaning and re-establishment of services are taken from that pavement maintenance budget and therefore decreasing the amount of funds that are available for preventive maintenance activities. Dedicated and ample funding is needed for pavement preventive maintenance and preservation activities in order to maintain a pavement system that meets all the demands and expectations of customer. With dedicated funding it is possible to plan program and schedule the treatments at the right time. If enough funds are not provided for a maintainable maintenance program it is sure that the system will be a complete failure. (Smith, n.d)
3.7 Pavement Users Behavior
It has been observed and analyzed that heavy traffic is the most critical factor in pavement deterioration. In simple words a fully loaded 80,000 pound truck can cause as much wear and tear in pavements as 10,000 automobiles. Heavy over loaded truck traffic has increased by 50 percent since 1990. Heavy truck traffic has been accounted as the most important reason for pavement damage. Studies show that heavy truck traffic has a greater influence on pavement maintenance cost as compared to light weight truck traffic or passenger vehicle traffic. Estimates had been made on the amount of cost that add up in the maintenance cost on different vehicles and the results showed that the average yearly cost for every heavy truck per day is 7.60 each mile per year, whereas the cost on every passenger car is around 0.08 annually. The results also show that if one additional truck passes through the pavement then the cost rises up to nearly 10 for each mile per year. An additional increase in 50 heavy trucks on the pavement will cost around 183.10 each mile on yearly basis. Similarly the subsequent cost also increases because of passenger car traffic and the costs are 0.04 and 2.18 per mile per year. The studies that were made showed that one heavy truck is equal to about 90 light weight trucks or passenger cars in terms of the effects it has on pavement maintenance cost. (Liautaud, n.d)
Chapter 4 Pavement Maintenance Management
4.1 Introduction
Management is very essential in all the regards. It is very necessary to manage the activities that we are going to perform in any project or system. The pavement maintenance management can be defined as such a system that is going to manage the pavement maintenance activities. The pavement maintenance is a very complex and huge program and it is necessary that a management system must exist. The management system performs many different activities. All the activities are essentially important and have their own significance. (Changsha, 2009)
4.2 Pavement Maintenance Management
The Pavement Maintenance Management System (PMMS) is a way for providing the orderly, organized, objective and a consistent approach to the pavement maintenance program. The PMMS helps to deeply observe the conditions of the pavements. It also helps to find out the desired conditions of the pavements. This evaluation will help to organize the maintenance program by deciding that what has to be performed. The management of pavement maintenance expenditure is also performed by the PMMS. PMMS helps to perform the entire pavement maintenance program in an economical and effective way. (Magee, 1998)
The PMMS consists of various components which may include the following
Pavement network identification.
Pavement inspection and rating.
Pavement condition evaluation.
Determining the maintenance and rehabilitation (MR) requirements.
Priorities of MR.
The consequences models of MR.
Developing life cycle costs.
Management of data.
Report generation.
All the above defined are the basic activities that are performed by the PMMS. All these activities or components are very importance for the performance of the pavement maintenance. (Shahin, 1980)
4.3 A New Approach to Maintenance Management
In this section we are going to discuss one of the new approaches to the maintenance management. A number of approaches are available for maintenance management. We are going to discuss the Reliability Centered Management (RCM). The RCM is totally a new concept that has been developed so that more focus can be given to the reliability of maintenance. The concept is quite strong and important as reliability holds much significance. The concept of RCM focuses over accessing to the finest quality and reliability in the minimum possible cost. The process of RCM looks for the functions of the assets. It then finds out the failures of the functions and the causes for which the functions end up in a failure. Different failure model are developed that will help in finding out the possible effects of the failures. This will obviously help in resolving the failures and the problems which are causing failures. Hence the reliability is improved. After getting all the required information then the maintenance programs are applied. The main feature of RCM is that it has reduced the activities of maintenance. The RCM is having a number of benefits and advantages which are forcing to make use of this new maintenance management approach. RCM has also improved the level of productivity of the pavement maintenance program. It has also improved the quality of pavement maintenance programs. The improved productivity, safety and reliability have also resulted in the reduced life cycle cost. Following are the main principles of the RCM approach
It is mainly concerned with the maintenance of functionality of the system.
RCM mainly focuses over the reliability of the system.
The design limitations are understood by the RCM.
The RCM works over the principle of safety first and then the budget.
Failure has been defined as an unwanted condition by the RCM.
A tangible result is always desired in RCM.
The above are the basic principles that govern the approach of RCM. (Sethiya, n.d)
4.4 The Maintenance Management Decision Diagram
The decision diagram may clearly define the purpose and function of the pavement maintenance program. In the following we have given the decision diagram of the pavement maintenance management.
Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 2 Pavement Maintenance Management Decision Diagram
The above diagram shows the various questions and conditions that are involved during the maintenance program. (Plucknette, 2010)
4.5 Selection of Pavement Maintenance Strategy
As we have discussed earlier that different pavement maintenance strategies are available. All the strategies have their own advantages as well as disadvantages. It is not necessary that the strategy that is suitable at one place must be beneficial at the other. Choosing the best available strategy would be the main task. The wrong selection may lead to the deterioration of the pavements. In order to select the best pavement maintenance treatment, it is required that the following factors should be considered
The existing condition of the pavement.
The desired future condition of the pavement.
The present serviceability and the desired serviceability of the pavement.
The possible performance of the different pavement maintenance strategies.
The costs associated with the different pavement maintenance strategies.
The desired life time of the pavement.
The given budget.
The volume and weight of the traffics.
Effects of the pavement maintenance over the traffic flow.
The effects of the pavement maintenance over the users.
The available resources.
The defects occurring in the pavements.
All these above factors must be closely considered while making selection among the various pavement maintenance treatment strategies available. (Peterson, 2009)
4.6 Summary
This chapter is totally based on the description of pavement maintenance management system. The PMMS has provided the maintenance programs with an objective and system. It has defined that how the various activities of maintenance can be performed in an ordered way. The decision tree of PMMS and its various components have also been defined. This chapter has clarified the role of PMMS. We have also discussed the various factors that may help in choosing the right pavement maintenance strategy.
Chapter 5 Summary and Conclusion
5.1 Summary
In this chapter we have deeply and thoroughly discussed the pavement maintenance. The concept of pavement maintenance is very useful today. The complex networks of roads and pavements are covering the earth all over the world. These pavements also do need of maintenance regularly. Also, in some cases these pavements may go through some deterioration which needs to be repaired. For these reasons we need pavement maintenance. Different types of pavement maintenance strategies are available today. We have also discussed these strategies and these include the preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance and the emergency maintenance. All of the maintenance strategies are having different purposes and effects. It is very necessary that for any pavement, the maintenance strategy should be chosen according to the requirements. All these strategies are different from each other. The preventive maintenance is provided regularly to the pavements in order to preserve their condition. The corrective maintenance is provided when any flaw or deterioration is observed in the pavements. Finally, the emergency treatment is provided in the situations that were not expected. It is always suggested that the pavement strategy should be chosen with great care. Otherwise, huge losses may take place. In this paper the main aim of performing the study was to explore the pavement maintenance cost. In this paper we have examined the many different factors that should be necessarily considered while pavement maintenance so as to make it a cost effective program.
It is always desired that the pavement maintenance program should be most efficient and cost effective. There are many ways in which the costs can be reduced. While providing the maintenance, it is suggested that the climatic conditions should be observed. The climatic conditions can damage the condition of the pavements to the large extent. So, considering it earlier would be the best option. Many different factors that are associated with the pavement maintenance cost are also defined in this dissertation. These factors may include the labor, engineering services, pavement materials, environments, management, administration, budget, finance and pavement users behavior. All these factors have also allowed developing the concepts regarding the pavement maintenance costs. The pavement maintenance projects are quite large and complex. So, it is also necessary to maintain the activities of pavement maintenance program. For this reason the pavement maintenance management system is also there. The PMMS is a part of the pavement maintenance system. The PMMS is responsible for the management of the pavement maintenance activities. There are various components of PMMS which have enabled the pavement maintenance to be a very systematic process. In the end we have also discussed the various factors that are needed to be considered while making the decisions for the selection of the pavement maintenance treatment. The study is very useful and has helped to develop the concepts.
Pavement maintenance has proven to be a very important and critical process. It is very necessary to improve the life time and serviceability of the pavements by making use of various pavement maintenance techniques. If these pavements are not provided with the maintenance then they may be get deteriorated. This situation is undesirable as it is even dangerous for the life of the people who used to ride over these pavements. It is desirable to provide the pavements with the maintenance in a cost effective way. It is necessary to control the pavement maintenance costs. Otherwise, the projects would end up in very expensive budgets. Different types of contracts are being made before making the pavement maintenances.
These contracts are made between the owners and the agencies providing pavement maintenance services. The contracts also vary according to the budget available. It is always recommended that right kind of contract should be chosen so that the desired functions are performed under the given budget. For controlling the cost of the pavement maintenance, it is also required to keep few factors under consideration. These factors might include the environment, climatic conditions, the existing condition of the pavement, the desired conditions, the available resources, materials and types of maintenance required and so on. Along with all these factors, also the selection of strategy plays a great role in controlling the expenditure. The selection of wrong strategy might lead to the huge losses. Three different strategies are available namely preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance and emergency maintenance. It is always suggested that the pavement maintenance team should design the expenditures using all the three available strategies. The choice of different strategies and the developed models would help in finding out the most cost effective strategy.
Hence the selection of strategy can be termed as the most important feature for controlling the expenditure. The maintenance operations should be applied by keeping in mind the climatic conditions of the area. We have also discussed in this dissertation, the various reasons for which the whole project ends up in to an ineffective cost. These reasons also indicate that the selection of wrong strategy is very disastrous. It is also required that the pavements should be given regular maintenance so that they might not lead to deterioration.
If a pavement will never be given preventive treatments then the condition might get affected. This regular preventive maintenance will also help to reduce the expenditure. The reason is that the pavements would never go to the worst conditions and not much treatment would be ever required. Although the climatic conditions may give the pavements with the devastating affects but this is an unpredictable condition. The regular maintenance would definitely help to improve the life time and serviceability of the pavements. In the end, it will result in to the reduction in the expenditure of pavement maintenance. Different kinds of deteriorations or distresses may occur to the pavements. All of these distresses should be treated in a different way. It is not necessary that the treatments can perform equally the same everywhere. In short, it would not be wrong to say that pavement maintenance needs very deep observation and understanding of the distress, pavement condition, pavement requirements and the available treatments. It is required that all the concepts are fully cleared so that the cost effective maintenance program is developed.
Background
As soon as the systems of roads has expanded and grown, the need of pavement maintenance has also increasingly felt. With time, the complex networks of roads and streets were started to develop. This also increased the significance of rehabilitation and maintenance. In past, the pavement maintenance was very simple. But with the development of complex infrastructures, the maintenance processes have also became complex. In past the technologies and methods were not very innovative. It was very difficult to rehabilitate in the past as none of the methods were available to repair a specific part. The whole construction was supposed to be done from the beginning. This was no doubt a very difficult task to be performed. When the innovative methods were not available and the pavement systems grew complex then it also became difficult to manage and finance the maintenance. It is because different pavements when got degenerated at very different rates and parameters. Different pavement maintenance projects widely differ from each other. The problems were felt in the different areas of pavement maintenance like materials, environment, infrastructure and construction and so on. In past, it was very difficult to get all the factors easily as the methods were limited. With time new methods were emerged and the costs related to these methods were also different. The types of road networks that are being seen today need more complex engineering methods. For getting up to the expected results more budgets are also required. With time and developments, more innovative pavements are being created. The repair and maintenance of these pavements will also be significantly required. In past the pavement maintenance was never that multifaceted as it is today. So, studying the pavement maintenance and its associated factors are of very importance. (Kallas, 1985)
Pavement Maintenance Overview
The pavement maintenance can be widely and clearly defined as the work that is done in order to improve the life time and the services of the pavements. The pavement maintenance encompasses many rehabilitation procedures and even constructions from the scratch. For preserving the pavements, it is very necessary to deploy pavement maintenance. The basic purpose and aim of performing pavement maintenance is to safeguard and uphold the structural as well as functional conditions of the pavements. Many different strategies and methods are combined in order to preserve the pavements during the pavement maintenance. Three types of pavement maintenance have been observed which are preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance and emergency maintenance. All these types of pavement maintenance differ from each other in many ways. The pavement maintenance consists of many different kinds of activities and operations. The major operations of pavement maintenance may include the following
The evaluation and analysis of the conditions.
The determination of treatments.
The examination of solutions that can be used as an alternative.
The possible effects and consequences of any treatment.
There are many other activities that are also involved in the pavement maintenance apart from the above mentioned. Different activities and methods are used and choosing the proper method is quite essential. The suitable method is chosen by considering various factors like budget, economical feasibility, environment, available tools and resources and so on. All these factors are considered and then method is chosen for maintaining the pavements. (Busch, n.d)
The pavement maintenance focuses over performing the efforts that may help in upholding and protecting the structures of the pavements in their original forms. It is very required for the safety of the traffic that is running over the pavements. The many different operations that are performed in pavement maintenance are
Surface restructuring.
Patching.
Filling of ruts.
Surface corrugation removal.
Filling of cracks.
Rehabilitation.
Overlays
Structuring
These above are the commonly performed operations of the pavement maintenance. There is no hard and fast method available for maintaining the pavements. The same types of roads are treated very differently. Different maintenance systems are developed by combining different techniques, operations and methods. It is not necessary that the operation that has performed great at one place should also perform the same at the other place. It clearly shows that experienced team is required for performing pavement maintenance. This team of engineers will be then responsible for finding out the right method available. (Hashema, Samad, Zaroni Hawwary, 2006)
Pavement maintenance is highly required for better quality of pavements. It is always desired that the maintenance process is performed in cost effective manner. The deteriorations are explored by the preventive maintenance and then the necessary maintenance is made. If any failure or problems do occur during the pavement maintenance program then it is also detected and resolved by the pavement maintenance. The pavement maintenance strategies and methods are widely used and have proven to be very successful. The current condition of the pavement the conditions of the environment and finally the expected volume of the traffic should always be considered while choosing the methodology and techniques of pavement maintenance. The pavement maintenance should be performed and encouraged in order to improve the conditions of the pavements. (Kandhal Gardiner, 1998)
Objectives of the Research
The research that we have performed has got many objectives. The topic domain is very broad and it has enabled us to access to a number of objectives. Following are some of the basic objectives of this research study.
To provide the readers with the overview of the pavement maintenance.
To have an understanding of the different types of pavement maintenance.
Developing and clarifying the concepts related to the pavement maintenance cost.
Understanding the different treatments of pavement maintenance.
The description of the classification of pavement maintenance cost.
The understanding of the ways of controlling the pavement maintenance cost.
Exploring the ineffectiveness of pavement maintenance cost.
Explaining the different kinds of contracts of the pavement maintenance cost.
Exploring the relationship between the design and the pavement maintenance.
Exploring the relationship between the pavement maintenance and construction.
Understanding the different cost factors of pavement maintenance like labor, materials, environment, budget, users behavior, finance, administration, management and engineering services and so on.
Thorough understanding of management of pavement maintenance.
Understanding the maintenance management decision.
How to select the pavement maintenance strategy for certain project.
The approaches that are used for managing the pavement maintenance.
The above are the many objectives that have been achieved by performing this in depth study. The study has proven to be a very beneficial one as it has allowed us to get to the many objectives.
Research Methodology
As we know that for performing any research two methods are available namely quantitative research and qualitative research. Although two methodologies are available but thorough observation is required to choose one between these two methodologies. This is the crucial stage because choosing the right research methodology is the basic element for the success of any research project. For this research we have chosen the methodology of qualitative research. We have found qualitative research to be the most appropriate research methodology for performing this dissertation. This research methodology has helped a lot in finding out the objectives and to solve the questions that came in mind during this dissertation. Basically, qualitative research refers to the method in which the primary aim is to understand the concept of the study. We have made in depth research in order to find the concepts and meanings of this dissertation. This huge amount of information has allowed us to find out and observe the pavement maintenance and its different types. It has also allowed us to find out the cost factors that are associated with the pavement maintenance. The in depth study has provided the answers of all the questions related to this research objective. By using the qualitative research methodology, we have understood the role of the pavement maintenance in enhancing the structures and functionalities of the pavements. It helps to increase the life time of the pavements. We can also observe from this research study that many countries of the world are now making use of this strategy in order to have a control and to provide safety to the pavements. A number of methods and treatments are available for pavement maintenance. These methods have been discussed in this paper as well using this methodology.
This dissertation has focused over finding out the level of effectiveness of making use of this maintenance method. The main purpose of performing this study is to find out what are the costs cost factors that are associated with the pavement maintenance This information in this dissertation will make it easier for the people to make a clear idea about the role of pavement maintenance in improving the safety over the pavements.
Data Collection
For performing this dissertation a great deal of data has been collected. The data is collected because it is a qualitative research and it needs a lot of information regarding the topic so that the concepts can be developed. The data collection is performed in order to collect the information that can be used further for making decisions. It is recommended that data should be collected from the reliable sources so as to generate the valid result. When it comes to data collection then again we have many different techniques that can be used for collecting the information. The data collection methods that we have used during this dissertation are surveys, observation and the use of written descriptions. We have surveyed the online information that was available regarding the pavement maintenance and its various treatments in order to find out that to what extent the pavement maintenance can improve the situations of the deteriorated pavements. The written descriptions have also played a great role in conducting this research. These written descriptions allow to get the concepts and meanings cleared and also to understand the scenario. The collected data that we have gathered for performing this research again has got two options i.e. primary data and secondary data. For this report we have used secondary data collection as it was the suitable one for this dissertation. For collecting this secondary data we have used many different sources.
Secondary Data
It has been mentioned above that this paper is based on the secondary data. A great deal of search has been performed for gathering the desired and relevant information. Secondary data is actually the data that has not been produced by us during the dissertation but it was generated earlier by some other writer or researcher but is being used by us. The reason for using secondary data in this dissertation is that it was relevant and was providing us help in completing our tasks. Secondary data is available for anyone to use for research work and can exist in many different forms like books, journals, websites, and surveys and so on. The secondary data that we have used for this dissertation was previously used for some sort of analysis or observation. The literature has been given by observing the available secondary data and then developing our own analysis. For this dissertation secondary data is the best choice because primary data needs a lot of time as it is not necessary to generate primary data in short span of time. Secondary data provides us a great deal of information in a limited time. This helps in completing the dissertation in the given timeline. Many people consider that secondary data is not useful as none of the work is being done by own. But this concept is not a valid concept as secondary data is really useful in providing with the huge information. In this dissertation detailed information is gathered regarding the effectiveness of these pavement maintenance techniques. This was a broad topic and in this time period it was not possible to develop the primary data for this dissertation so secondary data was the most suitable data type.
Literature Review
In this section we have presented some literature review that is related to the pavement maintenance. This literature will help in making understanding of the topic.
Types of Pavement Maintenance
Pavement maintenance is a very basic concept related to the pavement preservation. It is a very effective program which integrates different kinds of maintaining procedures and treatments. It consists of three types which are as follows
1) Preventive maintenance.
2) Corrective maintenance.
3) Emergency maintenance.
All these types are different from each other and each type is having its own usage and significance.
Preventive maintenance It is described as it is a planned kind of strategy which includes very effective treatments. The treatments are used to maintain roadway systems and appurtenances. These treatments also help to preserve the infrastructure of the pavements. The preventive maintenance develops the future declination and it also helps in improving the functions of the system. The improvement in function is not involved in enhancing the capacity and infrastructure of the system so it can be defined as an additional service. In preventive maintenance the treatments are provided to the surface which is less than two inches in the thickness. These treatments are not being advised in adding the capacity of the structure. It is done on done basis. It is always advised to stay away from the costly repairing which may occur if preventive maintenance is not performed. So it is always suggested that this type of pavement maintenance should be used for providing regular preventive care. Many of the people avoid preventative maintenance as a result of this ignorance a serious major deterioration may occur. This deterioration may even double the expenditure of the preventive maintenance. However preventive maintenance is highly advised for all the homeowners. (Smith, 2010)
Corrective maintenance If any deficiency is found in the pavement then this kind of pavement maintenance is performed. For this reason, it is known as corrective maintenance. It is mostly performed in severe rutting and the spacious cracking. This is also called as the reactive maintenance. It is a type of system maintenance which aims to repair the entire system. It is always performed when a problem occurs in a system to recover the operations of the system. Many of the cases are resolved through this while some of them are just impossible to handle. When regular maintenance does not work and the condition of the pavement is still terrible then to make the corrective maintenance is the only option left. (Smith, 2010)
Emergency Maintenance As the name shows this kind of pavement maintenance is performed when there is an emergency kind of situation. Such pavements need to be cured as soon as possible. These maintenance treatments are mainly used as the temporary treatments. These treatments help to hold the surface all together till the permanent treatment is processed. The situations for which the emergency maintenance is performed are mostly caused of extreme level of rainfalls or high level of temperature. Continuous periods of rain can even lock the engulf roads and badly effect the drainage systems as well. So, such conditions require the emergency maintenance. (Teten, 2002)
The above three are the basic types of the pavement maintenance. The selection of the pavement maintenance type depends wholly and solely over the type of maintenance that is being performed. This selection also includes the consideration of many other factors like environment, volume of traffic and weight of traffic and so on.
Distress Identification
It is said that distress is a condition of structure of pavement which reduces the life time of the pavements. It also makes the pavement to have a decrease in the services. Serviceability is a power of pavement which gives secure and contented rides to its users. In short, the distress mainly reduces the life time and service of the pavement. So, it makes the pavement uncomfortable and unsafe to be used. At this point, it is felt that repair or maintenance is required. The condition of distress may be resolved by making use of a range of repairs which have the different abilities to make the pavements more trustworthy. Some of the repairs may provide cure for sometime which is very helpful at that time. But it required that long term treatments should be provided. In many cases, the minor repair or cure is the only thing that is needed. The choice for the best treatment is not an easy task to be performed and strong observation is required. The different treatment methods are available for different types of pavements and distresses. (Federal Highway Administration, 2009)
Flexible Pavement Distresses
The distresses that mainly occur to the pavements of flexible types are many. A large number of pavement distresses or defects may take place to this type of pavements. These distresses may be divided in to the following categories
Cracking
A. Alligator
B. Edge
C. Longitudinal
D. Randomblock
E. Transverse
Raveling
Distortions
Rutting
Excess Asphalt (Flexible pavement distresses, n.d)
Rigid Pavement Distresses
In the most common cases, the rigid pavements are mostly affected with the distresses that occur at the joints of the pavements. The joint deterioration of the pavement greatly reduces the level of the performance of pavement. The needs for the maintenance of such distresses are highly felt and are double. Other kinds of distresses are also observed in these kinds of pavements. These distresses may include the affects over the concrete slabs. These concrete slabs areaway from the joints of the pavements. Such distresses lead to the loss of quality of the pavement that is being provided to the riders. Also the structure of the pavement is also very disturbed and the pavement is not in the condition to be used. Hence these types of distresses that occur to the rigid pavements are severe and should be handles as soon as possible.
The distress types that are involved with the rigid pavements include joint distress, faulting, transverse cracks, surface distress and slab cracking. (Tetan, 2002)
Chapter 2 Pavement Maintenance Cost Concept
2.1 Classifying Maintenance Cost
The pavement maintenance costs indicate the expenses that have been made during the pavement maintenance program. The pavement maintenance cost can be classified in to different groups. It is because different parts of the pavement maintenance program need cost and budget. A budget has to be established in order to complete a certain part of the maintenance program. In the following we have discussed the different kinds of pavement maintenance cost.
Performance Cost The performance cost indicates the overall cost that is associated with the project. It is the net cost that is required to get to the desired performance of the pavement that is under maintenance. The performance cost needs that the overall procedure of maintenance should be estimated in order to find out the total budget that is required to make the pavement to work according to the desired performance.
Expected Pavement Maintenance Cost When any pavement maintenance program is being designed. Then a model is developed in order to find out the expected cost that will be spending on performing the maintenance task. It is not necessary that accurately that cost will be utilized. But expected pavement maintenance cost just gives an idea about the possible expenditure. It is possible that a difference may exist at the completion of the project in the estimated pavement maintenance cost and the real performance cost. It is necessary to develop the model and find out the expected pavement maintenance cost. So that the possible expenditure may be in the minds of the project management team. Otherwise, conflicts may arise at the end of the project. The expected pavement maintenance cost should always be expected 4 to 5 more than the real value.
Maintenance Cost The maintenance cost indicates the budget that is totally related to the maintenance procedures of the pavements. As we know that different treatment and maintenance methods are available. All these methods do have different expenditures. As the tools and techniques that are being used by these methods will also be quite different from each other. For this reason, the cost of maintenance would be different always. Therefore, it is always suggested that the treatment method for the maintenance should be chosen by keeping under consideration all the related aspects.
Warranty Cost The pavement maintenance program also focuses over the estimation of warranty costs. The program makes use of different reliability analysis methods in order to find out the probability that the pavement maintenance will end into a failure. So, the project team that is handling the pavement maintenance also estimates the warranty cost. So that in case of any failure the budget that has been spend by the owner can be balance. Also the warranty cost is developed for the materials that have been used in the maintenance procedures. So that in case of any failure the money can be taken back. (Panthi, Ahmed Farooqui, 2008)
The above are the basic classes of the costs that are associated with the pavement maintenance. All these costs are prepared before implementing the pavement maintenance program.
2.2 Controlling the Pavement Maintenance Cost
The cost of the pavement maintenance can be controlled if the performance cost is properly estimated. It is also necessary that during this estimation a model should be developed for the pavement maintenance program. It is also necessary that all the procedures, methods and treatments should be selected that are most suitable and cost effective. It is necessary to make use of cost to effectiveness ration in order to judge the benefits of using one choice over another. The preventive maintenance cost is a process that is performed periodically. So, it is better to develop the life cycle cost estimation for every possible treatment that can be used for the maintenance program. This estimated life cycle cost will also help in finding out that which method is providing a cost effective maintenance program.
Reconstruction should always be avoided while maintenance. As it has been proved that the preventive maintenance strategies are much more cost effective as compared to the reconstruction. Also it is suggested that for controlling the preventive maintenance cost, the treatment strategies should be applied at the regularity of 5 to 10 years. If maintenance is being provided regularly after the defined period then huge deterioration will take place rarely. Obviously maintenance of heavy deterioration will need more budget. Whereas, the minor maintenance will require less budget and will be cost effective. It has been noticed that if necessary changes and repairs are continuously made then pavements can be saved from complete deterioration. This saving may also lead to the cost effective result. (Kandhal Gardiner, 1998)
In order to properly controlling the different costs associated with the pavement maintenance program, it is necessary that a cost model should be developed. If that model will be followed and analyzed then it would be easier to control the costs by developing estimates. If the model is formulated with great concentration and observation then it would result in an accurate estimation. The various aspects that are needed to properly formulate the cost models are defined in the figure 1. All these steps are really helpful in controlling the costs if observed and analyzed properly.
Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 1 Cost Estimation Model
This model is also known as the cost estimation methodology. The characterization of the system is very necessary for the proper estimation. After taking all the characteristics the model can be developed for the project. At reaching this stage, it becomes easy to apply different techniques and finding out the estimated pavement maintenance cost. This model is the generalized form that can be applied to almost every pavement maintenance program. If this model is applied and estimated costs are achieved for every possible technique then it will be easier to select the technique that is the most cost effective. Apart from all these factors, it is also required that the preventive maintenance management team should have enough knowledge regarding the various techniques that are available. Also the information regarding the existing condition, expected performance and every other factor is necessary. If the information is not enough then the controlling of costs would not be efficient. (Panthi, Ahmed Farooqui, 2008)
2.3 Decisions Incurring Maintenance Expenditure
The control or maintenance of pavement maintenance is getting popular day by day. As a result, the expenditure of pavement maintenance, its control and management is also having some importance. There are many factors that are involved for developing the expenditures. These factors or decisions play an important role in developing a cost effective pavement maintenance program. These decisions may greatly control the expenditure of the pavement maintenance. It is no necessary that the decisions will always have a positive impact but these decisions can also have negative impacts as well. (McNeil, 1982)
In the following we have discussed the different decisions that may come into consideration while developing the expenditure.
Climatic Changes The infrastructures of the pavements can highly get changed because of variations in climatic conditions. While preparing the pavement maintenance expenditure, it is required that the climatic conditions should be well considered. These climatic changes majorly include the rainfall. The rainfall may affect the infrastructure of the pavements highly. The climatic changes like rainfall may change the balance of moisture in the pavements which might lead to deterioration. Hence in these situations, the maintenance may be regularly required and also the level of maintenance would be different. So, the expenditure may also vary from our expectations due to these climatic conditions. The changes in temperature may also affect the age of the infrastructure of the pavement. The regular loss of waterproofing occurs due to high temperature and as a result the problems start appearing like cracking. This will again need maintenance and the expenditure would again get changed. The problems like potholing and surface degradation are also seen as a result of climatic changes. Hence it can be said that the climate and surroundings have got impacts on the pavement conditions. (Cechet, n.d)
Maintenance Strategies As we have discussed earlier that different pavement maintenance strategies are available. The choice of maintenance strategy is a very critical part. As different strategies have different impacts and it is not necessary that a strategy that is effective at one place must be effective at another. All the strategies do not have the same expenditures. The choice of strategy can also act as a factor that is decided for preparing pavement maintenance expenditure. It is always recommended that the strategy should be chosen that is most suitable and cost effective.
No unnecessary expenditures should be made. The proper decision of pavement maintenance strategy may lead to a control in expenditure. (Chadderton, n.d)
Volume of Traffic Obviously, a pavement that is having a huge flow of heavy traffic would need to be stronger than the one having low volume of traffic. The pavements that are supposed to have huge volume of traffic need regular maintenance. The regular maintenance needs extra expenditure and extra maintenance. Also, the treatment strategy should be chosen that is very strong no matter how expensive it is. This also makes changes in the expenditure. So, the volume of traffic should be considered as a decision for preparing expenditures. (Chadderton, n.d)
Intervention Strategies The intervention strategies should always be there for providing regular maintenance. It may enhance the lifetime of the pavements and reduce the level of deterioration. The increased deterioration may also result in increased expenditure. On the other hand, reduction might reduce the expenditure. So, if intervention strategies are made available then the changes can be made in expenditure. It is also stated that intervention should be taken under consideration while making expenditure. (Chadderton, n.d)
Types of Maintenance The type of maintenance that is required to be performed is also involved in the making of expenditure. The type of maintenance may involve some routine maintenance which would be of low cost. But on the other hand, the maintenance can be some irregular one and it can take huge amount of money to be performed. Normally, the companies are prepared for the routine maintenance programs to be performed regularly but the other type of maintenance is completely unexpected. So, the types of maintenance should also be considered while planning the expenditure as it may change the expenses to the large extent.
In the above we have discussed some of the elements that are required to be decided. Otherwise, the expenditure will keep on varying. These decisions are necessary to be made while creating expenditure.
2.4 Ineffective Pavement Maintenance Costs
If the pavement maintenance is not performed properly and some elements are missed or ignored then it might lead to an ineffective maintenance. The ineffective maintenance cost may be termed as the cost that has been wasted because the maintenance was ineffective. The optimized maintenance is very significant. There are many different factors that may force the pavement maintenance program to end up in a failure. Such factors might lead the cost to be ineffective maintenance cost. These factors may include time, climatic conditions, treatment of chemicals, volume of the traffic and also the weight of the traffic. If these factors are not considered then the cost may lead to an ineffective one. We have also discussed in the earlier section about the various decisions that incur while we prepare the pavement maintenance expenditure. So, for avoiding the pavement maintenance cost to be an ineffective one it is necessary that the factors that may affect the maintenance should be carefully observed. This becomes a challenge to fight with all these factors and to make the pavement maintenance program an effective one.
The pavement maintenance programs are having high budgets and it would not be desired to convert it into an ineffective cost project. The ineffectivness of maintenance cost also depends on the strategy that is being used for the pavement maintenance. There are some old strategies available, like worst first approach which is not effective. The use of such approaches might lead to the ineffective maintenance cost. Most of the times, these maintenance strategies would not be helpful in maintaining the pavements. If the quality of maintenance or development is low then it will yield to an ineffective maintenance cost. If the pavements are prepared with low level of quality then there would not be enough money to save them from deterioration. (Road resurfacing, 1996)
In todays fast moving environment, it is necessary that the maintenance methods should be provided there. It is also necessary that these methods should be effective. Otherwise, the loss of cost will be faced. At first, it should be kept in mind that the pavements should be prepared with great care so that no issue is left behind. Still, if any problem exists after the development then the maintenance should be given with proper attention. No flaw should be left as if the maintenance is required again and again then the whole project will result in an ineffective cost project. It is also required that the maintenance like crack filling, crack repair, rehabilitation and surface treatment should be performed properly. The life cycle cost will not be effective if the treatments are not given properly. (Crack maintenance guidelines, 2003)
For making the pavement maintenance program cost effective, it is necessary that the steps should be taken with great care. The maintenance treatments and strategies should be chosen carefully. Also the material that is going to be used should be reliable. If all these elements are kept in mind then it would be possible to make prevent the project from being ineffective. The main factor is the selection of strategy and it holds critical importance. The pavement maintenance project is a very expensive and huge budget program and it should be conducted in a very cost effective manner. If it is handled improperly then huge losses may be expected. (Crack maintenance guidelines, 2003)
2.5 Forms of Pavement Maintenance Contracts
The pavement maintenance contracts can be defined as the agreements that are made so that the necessary terms and conditions can be decided and preserved in the written form. The owners specify all kinds of maintenance that is desired. The contracts also provide the owner with the facility to propose budget over certain maintenance works. These may include minor repairs of concrete, dig outs, paint marking, seal costs and other routine maintenance work. Also the pavement maintenance contracts define the schedule of the project and also the complete phasing requirements. Insurance and payment requirements have also been included in the pavement maintenance contracts. Different forms of contracts are available in the pavement maintenance project. Few of the forms of pavement maintenance contracts are given below
Asset Management Contract The asset management contract is also known as the investment management contract. This type of contract is made between the investor and the manager of the investment that is being made. The contract basically specifies that the services have to be provided in order to manage the assets properly. The guidelines have also been defined in the contract. The contract encompasses all the factors like administration, management, supervision and nature of the assets for which the contract is being made. The owner or the investor also defines all the requirements so that the investment management may manage the assets as desired. The contract also provides the authority to the investment manager to perform any actions or operations that are necessary for fulfilling the conditions. The basic purpose of this type of contracts is to find out that to what extent the achievements can be made in the given fund. This type of contract is widely used in the pavement maintenance projects. The reason is that agencies and owners decide the budget that has to be utilized. Then they try to meet the objectives under the provided budget.
Performance Based Pavement Maintenance Contracts This type of contracts is totally different from the asset management contracts. The performance based maintenance contracts, specify that what amount of budget will be required in order to meet the expected conditions. The main purpose is to find out the required budget so as to get to the desired objectives. A great expertise and experience is required for making such contracts as these contracts are very complex and sensitive. The private companies and agencies normally make use of this type of contracts. These companies just make the estimation that what budget will be required in order to perform the operation and maintenance. Also the performance based pavement maintenance contracts focus over providing high quality results at the end. The agencies do not compromise on any aspect and selects the best possible option available. (Panthi, Ahmed Farooqui, 2008)
The above two are the basic types of the pavement maintenance contracts. These contracts are different from each other and also the performance provided by the contactors would also be different. The contracts are necessary to be made in order to manage the assets. The contracts are also very much required in order to meet all the tasks before the deadline. The contracts pressurize the investment management to work effectively and efficiently. Both the contracts may completely change the nature of pavement maintenance program so the contracts are also made based on the available budget and requirements. (Burns, 1990)
2.6 Relationship between Design and Pavement Maintenance
The role of design is very important in pavement maintenance. Expert designers are required to perform this job. The design is basically the major element that will be then used to precede the maintenance job. Many parameters are involved in the designing phase. The parameters like materials, thickness, strength, flexibility, stiffness and rigidity and so on are all related with the design of pavement maintenance. The design is prepared on the basis of the given requirements by the owner. The pavement maintenance cannot work without the proper design. The design is the basic phase and any failure might lead to the failure of whole project. It is recommended that the design should be well built so that it can increase the life time of the pavement. The whole lifer value of the pavement depends entirely on the design of the pavement. The design should be based on the strategy of securing the future and enhancing the life time of the pavement. The entire cost of the project is also depending over the design of the pavement. Following are the principles that are associated with the pavement design
The design should be robust enough so that it might increase the life time of the pavement.
The design should utilize the available resources so that the consumption of resources is minimized.
The design should also reuse the materials so that the disposal of wastes and emissions are also reduced.
The design should be well built and it should have a fine value in the terms of whole life cost.
The design should ensure that the quality is maximized and the risks or health issues are minimized.
The pavements must be designed in such a way, that the users do not have to face the delays.
The designs must also include the overview that in case of any problem how the maintenance will be provided.
The design should be built in such a way that it may consume less amount of time and also provides best results.
The design should also be according to the volume of the traffic and also weight of the traffic should be considered.
By considering all the principles we can say that design is very crucial for the pavement maintenance. Once the design is provided the strategy of maintenance, treatment and the materials should be chosen that suits more. All the strategies and treatments should be innovative and should help the design to get accomplished. (Pavement design and maintenance, 2006)
The process of design during the pavement maintenance can be divided in to two categories which are given below
Design of Foundation This design is built in order to plan the sub grade and the sub base of the pavement.
Design of Thickness This type of design basically indicates the actual surface of the road. It helps to maintain the idea that how thick the road is going to be designed. The thickness totally depends on the volume and the weight of the traffic that is expected over that particular pavement.
Both of these two types of design hold significance in the design of the pavement maintenance. The design gives an initial idea regarding the maintenance that is required. Today, the design process is mostly being performed on the basis of empirical methods and by making sue of design charts. It is also required that all the different types of pavements should be considered while making the design of the pavement maintenance. In fact, a design should be developed for all the possible types of pavements. The design for each of the pavement will allow making comparison that which pavement maintenance would prove to be the best. The several different designs also help to find out that which design will prove to be the most effective one. All the designs are judged on the basis of environment and other elements. If any one of the designs seems to be impractical then that is eliminated from the choice list. The relationship between the pavement maintenance and design is very much close and crucial. Without design, the pavement maintenance cannot work properly.
It would be very difficult to perform the maintenance task without the design. The design also helps to perform the pavement maintenance in the cost effective manner and also in less time. The various choices of design allow choosing the one which is having fewer budgets and less time. While providing the maintenance the design is always given the first priority. So, it should never be ignored. A huge expertise and research has been required in this area. The team should always include a best designer who can design the pavement according to the needs and requirements of the owner or investor. Hence the importance of design cannot be ignored. If the pavement is designed with accuracy by considering all the elements then there would be no problems in future. (Salter, 1988)
2.7 Relationship between the Construction and Pavement Maintenance
The relationship between the pavement maintenance and construction is quite old. The pavement designs are prepared then pavement construction is performed. It can be said that pavement construction is a part of pavement management system. The construction holds much importance as it lay downs the basic structure for the pavement. If this basics have been placed strongly then it would be much easier to help the pavement to increase the lifetime and to provide better serviceability. On the other hand, if the pavement construction is inefficient and ineffective then it will require large amount of pavement maintenance. It is a clear fact that an improper construction might leads to the pavement maintenance. It should always be tried that the construction should be effective so that not much maintenance is required again and again. Construction of pavements is also considered to be one of those factors that might cause the distresses. The distress in turn causes the deterioration to take place. The construction of pavements is much difficult than the maintenance of pavements. Also the construction of the pavements is a very expensive program to be performed. For this reason, the trend of construction new pavements and road networks is declining and the trend of performing pavement maintenance is increasing. The pavement maintenance is always required when the pavement construction is not performed properly. The construction procedures that are being used for the pavement construction are almost the same since many years. But innovations and advances have been made in the tools, operations and functions. These innovations have made the pavement construction an innovative process. (Mowafy, 2007)
Chapter 3 Pavement Maintenance Costs Factors
Different factors add up to the cost of pavement maintenance and rehabilitation in which the most prominent factors are as follows
Engineering Services
Labors
Pavement Materials
Environments
Management And Administration
Budget and Finance
Pavement Users Behaviors
In this chapter we are going to discuss these factors one by one in order to have more understanding of pavement maintenance costs.
3.1 Engineering Services
Engineering Services include taking services from highly qualified engineers and machineries etc. Engineers are hired on contract basis. The lifetime of contract is till the maintenance work is carried out. Engineers hired on contracts get salaries paid in equally monthly installments for their work and services till the time the desired quality is achieved and is in compliance with the technical specifications for the pavement maintenance standards. If in case the outputs do not match or comply with the standards that are specified then penalties are imposed on daily basis and those penalties are subtracted from salary payments. Routine pavement Maintenance costs US175 per kilometer a month. Usually hiring engineers again and again for maintenance work can become costly. When pavement maintenance work is going on machineries are also brought into use this adds up to the maintenance costs as those are huge machines that consume fuel and electricity. The use of those machines for a longer period of time can bring increase in the cost of pavement maintenance and rehabilitation. (How maintaining and repairing your asphalt can save your money, 2008)
3.2 Labors
Any kind of work cannot be done without labor and in a work like pavement maintenance requires extensive and skilled labors. Labors that are needed in pavement maintenance perform semi-skilled physical labor work in maintaining and repairing of road and drainages, which includes bending, stooping, lifting, bending etc. The basic work of the labor is to handle tools and operate light to medium weight vehicles and other kind of equipment to perform the task under the monitoring of an assigned maintenance leader. Maintenance work is performed in an out of routine manner but it is performed in team or as a crew. Labors are required to perform duties outdoors in all kinds of weather conditions such as they may have to work in extreme heat or cold just to finish the task as soon as possible. Hiring labor for maintenance can add up to the cost in a way that the hired labor needs to be accommodated somewhere if the labor is exported other than that meal has to be provided to the hired labor and in case of any injury or health issue medical assistance is also needed as workers may get ill or suffer from injuries when working in extreme weather conditions.
Other than bearing the expenses in hiring labor an important issue to be kept in mind is the training that is required for the labor. In this fast changing world labors need to be trained according to the changing standards and technologies. In case of newly hired labors, they need to be trained from scratch and thus their training expense is also a cost adding feature in pavement maintenance cost. (County, 1999)
3.3 Pavement Materials
Price of pavement materials have rose much faster than customer or producer manifestations during the year 2005 and continuing till the start of year 2006. Materials became hard to find like Portland cement, copper, PVC pipes and gypsum were difficult to obtain in many parts of the United States. As resources are getting expensive day by day pavement maintenance become very costly as the same materials are required again and again for maintenance that were used in constructing the pavement. Hot mix asphalt overlays are essential products that are needed for any type of pavement maintenance and if these are used in a proper and timely manner they will extend the lifetime of your pavement. But the oil prices are touching the skies nowadays making it hard to obtain hot mix asphalt is getting hard to obtain and due to this maintenance works are getting delayed. As the materials are getting costly pavement maintenance work gets delayed and as a result the pavement gets into worse conditions and hence when the maintenance work finally starts the road has been so much damaged that maintenance becomes nearly re building the road. (Liautaud, n.d)
3.4 Environments
Environmental conditions can cause a lot of damage to the pavements thus increasing the maintenance time and maintenance cost as well. The environmental factors can include extreme heat and cold weather conditions. Other than that environmental factors also include rains which can greatly damage the surface of the pavements and standing waters for a longer period of time on the pavements can seep through the pavement cracks and further damage the pavements internally as well. If the pavements are greatly damaged by the environmental conditions costs get higher as more maintenance work is required not only to manage the current damage but also to avoid further damage cause by environmental factors. Besides the environmental effects that damages the pavement environmental factors can also interrupt in ongoing maintenance work like sudden heavy rains or snowfalls can pause the work or even delay it for a longer period of time which can add up to the pavement maintenance cost as resources and labor would be employed for a longer period of time. (Smith, n.d)
3.5 Management and Administration
The pavement maintenance management is a very important and vital part of the pavement maintenance program. As it the pavement maintenance management who is responsible to deal with many tasks associated with the maintenance program. In the later sections, we have discussed pavement maintenance management in depth. A management team is essential for any project to be carried out. Without a proper management team it gets difficult to allocate and utilize resources of a project in a cost effective manner. The role of project manager or a project management team is one of the most important aspects in controlling the costs of a project. It is truly said that a poor project with an efficient project management team can be completed successfully on time. But even a good project expected to be profitable can undergo serious problems if it has poor management team or project manager. A poor management team will affect all the stages of the undergoing maintenance work and the most affected element would be the cost as the team would not be able to allocate proper timeline to complete the work and would not be able to control the budget that was assigned for the complete project and it can result in inadequate allocation of resources and cost over runs. (Smith, n.d)
3.6 Budget and Finance
Finance and Budget are the foremost element that has to be kept in mind before initiating any project. The lack in finance and funding to finish a project or if there are delays in the payment for services used in pavement maintenance by the project sponsors that can give rise to many other significant problems that have to be resolved in order to successfully finish a project. If the costs of the project exceeds significantly than the cost that was estimated before initiating the project then the current maintenance work has to be stopped or delayed till the time additional funds are obtained. Problems in obtaining funds can also arise if the funds that were allocated for one project were shifted to other project within one program of development therefore shortage of funds can create problems in the project that had previously funds allocated to it. If the payment of bills by a project sponsor is not quick then the contractor may start to assign less or cheap quality resources to a project or may even close down the work if payment becomes a problem. Sometimes when a project is thought to be profitable the project sponsors may devalue the accessibility of local funding just to maximize the level of funding or donations. This mostly happens with projects that generate revenue. Such approached can cause problems for other projects as they can reduce the availability of funding for those projects.
Funds that are allocated for pavement maintenance are mostly the funds that are left behind after all other programs are funded. Besides this, in case of any natural disaster the budget from pavement maintenance funds are cut off and the funds for the cleaning and re-establishment of services are taken from that pavement maintenance budget and therefore decreasing the amount of funds that are available for preventive maintenance activities. Dedicated and ample funding is needed for pavement preventive maintenance and preservation activities in order to maintain a pavement system that meets all the demands and expectations of customer. With dedicated funding it is possible to plan program and schedule the treatments at the right time. If enough funds are not provided for a maintainable maintenance program it is sure that the system will be a complete failure. (Smith, n.d)
3.7 Pavement Users Behavior
It has been observed and analyzed that heavy traffic is the most critical factor in pavement deterioration. In simple words a fully loaded 80,000 pound truck can cause as much wear and tear in pavements as 10,000 automobiles. Heavy over loaded truck traffic has increased by 50 percent since 1990. Heavy truck traffic has been accounted as the most important reason for pavement damage. Studies show that heavy truck traffic has a greater influence on pavement maintenance cost as compared to light weight truck traffic or passenger vehicle traffic. Estimates had been made on the amount of cost that add up in the maintenance cost on different vehicles and the results showed that the average yearly cost for every heavy truck per day is 7.60 each mile per year, whereas the cost on every passenger car is around 0.08 annually. The results also show that if one additional truck passes through the pavement then the cost rises up to nearly 10 for each mile per year. An additional increase in 50 heavy trucks on the pavement will cost around 183.10 each mile on yearly basis. Similarly the subsequent cost also increases because of passenger car traffic and the costs are 0.04 and 2.18 per mile per year. The studies that were made showed that one heavy truck is equal to about 90 light weight trucks or passenger cars in terms of the effects it has on pavement maintenance cost. (Liautaud, n.d)
Chapter 4 Pavement Maintenance Management
4.1 Introduction
Management is very essential in all the regards. It is very necessary to manage the activities that we are going to perform in any project or system. The pavement maintenance management can be defined as such a system that is going to manage the pavement maintenance activities. The pavement maintenance is a very complex and huge program and it is necessary that a management system must exist. The management system performs many different activities. All the activities are essentially important and have their own significance. (Changsha, 2009)
4.2 Pavement Maintenance Management
The Pavement Maintenance Management System (PMMS) is a way for providing the orderly, organized, objective and a consistent approach to the pavement maintenance program. The PMMS helps to deeply observe the conditions of the pavements. It also helps to find out the desired conditions of the pavements. This evaluation will help to organize the maintenance program by deciding that what has to be performed. The management of pavement maintenance expenditure is also performed by the PMMS. PMMS helps to perform the entire pavement maintenance program in an economical and effective way. (Magee, 1998)
The PMMS consists of various components which may include the following
Pavement network identification.
Pavement inspection and rating.
Pavement condition evaluation.
Determining the maintenance and rehabilitation (MR) requirements.
Priorities of MR.
The consequences models of MR.
Developing life cycle costs.
Management of data.
Report generation.
All the above defined are the basic activities that are performed by the PMMS. All these activities or components are very importance for the performance of the pavement maintenance. (Shahin, 1980)
4.3 A New Approach to Maintenance Management
In this section we are going to discuss one of the new approaches to the maintenance management. A number of approaches are available for maintenance management. We are going to discuss the Reliability Centered Management (RCM). The RCM is totally a new concept that has been developed so that more focus can be given to the reliability of maintenance. The concept is quite strong and important as reliability holds much significance. The concept of RCM focuses over accessing to the finest quality and reliability in the minimum possible cost. The process of RCM looks for the functions of the assets. It then finds out the failures of the functions and the causes for which the functions end up in a failure. Different failure model are developed that will help in finding out the possible effects of the failures. This will obviously help in resolving the failures and the problems which are causing failures. Hence the reliability is improved. After getting all the required information then the maintenance programs are applied. The main feature of RCM is that it has reduced the activities of maintenance. The RCM is having a number of benefits and advantages which are forcing to make use of this new maintenance management approach. RCM has also improved the level of productivity of the pavement maintenance program. It has also improved the quality of pavement maintenance programs. The improved productivity, safety and reliability have also resulted in the reduced life cycle cost. Following are the main principles of the RCM approach
It is mainly concerned with the maintenance of functionality of the system.
RCM mainly focuses over the reliability of the system.
The design limitations are understood by the RCM.
The RCM works over the principle of safety first and then the budget.
Failure has been defined as an unwanted condition by the RCM.
A tangible result is always desired in RCM.
The above are the basic principles that govern the approach of RCM. (Sethiya, n.d)
4.4 The Maintenance Management Decision Diagram
The decision diagram may clearly define the purpose and function of the pavement maintenance program. In the following we have given the decision diagram of the pavement maintenance management.
Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 2 Pavement Maintenance Management Decision Diagram
The above diagram shows the various questions and conditions that are involved during the maintenance program. (Plucknette, 2010)
4.5 Selection of Pavement Maintenance Strategy
As we have discussed earlier that different pavement maintenance strategies are available. All the strategies have their own advantages as well as disadvantages. It is not necessary that the strategy that is suitable at one place must be beneficial at the other. Choosing the best available strategy would be the main task. The wrong selection may lead to the deterioration of the pavements. In order to select the best pavement maintenance treatment, it is required that the following factors should be considered
The existing condition of the pavement.
The desired future condition of the pavement.
The present serviceability and the desired serviceability of the pavement.
The possible performance of the different pavement maintenance strategies.
The costs associated with the different pavement maintenance strategies.
The desired life time of the pavement.
The given budget.
The volume and weight of the traffics.
Effects of the pavement maintenance over the traffic flow.
The effects of the pavement maintenance over the users.
The available resources.
The defects occurring in the pavements.
All these above factors must be closely considered while making selection among the various pavement maintenance treatment strategies available. (Peterson, 2009)
4.6 Summary
This chapter is totally based on the description of pavement maintenance management system. The PMMS has provided the maintenance programs with an objective and system. It has defined that how the various activities of maintenance can be performed in an ordered way. The decision tree of PMMS and its various components have also been defined. This chapter has clarified the role of PMMS. We have also discussed the various factors that may help in choosing the right pavement maintenance strategy.
Chapter 5 Summary and Conclusion
5.1 Summary
In this chapter we have deeply and thoroughly discussed the pavement maintenance. The concept of pavement maintenance is very useful today. The complex networks of roads and pavements are covering the earth all over the world. These pavements also do need of maintenance regularly. Also, in some cases these pavements may go through some deterioration which needs to be repaired. For these reasons we need pavement maintenance. Different types of pavement maintenance strategies are available today. We have also discussed these strategies and these include the preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance and the emergency maintenance. All of the maintenance strategies are having different purposes and effects. It is very necessary that for any pavement, the maintenance strategy should be chosen according to the requirements. All these strategies are different from each other. The preventive maintenance is provided regularly to the pavements in order to preserve their condition. The corrective maintenance is provided when any flaw or deterioration is observed in the pavements. Finally, the emergency treatment is provided in the situations that were not expected. It is always suggested that the pavement strategy should be chosen with great care. Otherwise, huge losses may take place. In this paper the main aim of performing the study was to explore the pavement maintenance cost. In this paper we have examined the many different factors that should be necessarily considered while pavement maintenance so as to make it a cost effective program.
It is always desired that the pavement maintenance program should be most efficient and cost effective. There are many ways in which the costs can be reduced. While providing the maintenance, it is suggested that the climatic conditions should be observed. The climatic conditions can damage the condition of the pavements to the large extent. So, considering it earlier would be the best option. Many different factors that are associated with the pavement maintenance cost are also defined in this dissertation. These factors may include the labor, engineering services, pavement materials, environments, management, administration, budget, finance and pavement users behavior. All these factors have also allowed developing the concepts regarding the pavement maintenance costs. The pavement maintenance projects are quite large and complex. So, it is also necessary to maintain the activities of pavement maintenance program. For this reason the pavement maintenance management system is also there. The PMMS is a part of the pavement maintenance system. The PMMS is responsible for the management of the pavement maintenance activities. There are various components of PMMS which have enabled the pavement maintenance to be a very systematic process. In the end we have also discussed the various factors that are needed to be considered while making the decisions for the selection of the pavement maintenance treatment. The study is very useful and has helped to develop the concepts.
Pavement maintenance has proven to be a very important and critical process. It is very necessary to improve the life time and serviceability of the pavements by making use of various pavement maintenance techniques. If these pavements are not provided with the maintenance then they may be get deteriorated. This situation is undesirable as it is even dangerous for the life of the people who used to ride over these pavements. It is desirable to provide the pavements with the maintenance in a cost effective way. It is necessary to control the pavement maintenance costs. Otherwise, the projects would end up in very expensive budgets. Different types of contracts are being made before making the pavement maintenances.
These contracts are made between the owners and the agencies providing pavement maintenance services. The contracts also vary according to the budget available. It is always recommended that right kind of contract should be chosen so that the desired functions are performed under the given budget. For controlling the cost of the pavement maintenance, it is also required to keep few factors under consideration. These factors might include the environment, climatic conditions, the existing condition of the pavement, the desired conditions, the available resources, materials and types of maintenance required and so on. Along with all these factors, also the selection of strategy plays a great role in controlling the expenditure. The selection of wrong strategy might lead to the huge losses. Three different strategies are available namely preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance and emergency maintenance. It is always suggested that the pavement maintenance team should design the expenditures using all the three available strategies. The choice of different strategies and the developed models would help in finding out the most cost effective strategy.
Hence the selection of strategy can be termed as the most important feature for controlling the expenditure. The maintenance operations should be applied by keeping in mind the climatic conditions of the area. We have also discussed in this dissertation, the various reasons for which the whole project ends up in to an ineffective cost. These reasons also indicate that the selection of wrong strategy is very disastrous. It is also required that the pavements should be given regular maintenance so that they might not lead to deterioration.
If a pavement will never be given preventive treatments then the condition might get affected. This regular preventive maintenance will also help to reduce the expenditure. The reason is that the pavements would never go to the worst conditions and not much treatment would be ever required. Although the climatic conditions may give the pavements with the devastating affects but this is an unpredictable condition. The regular maintenance would definitely help to improve the life time and serviceability of the pavements. In the end, it will result in to the reduction in the expenditure of pavement maintenance. Different kinds of deteriorations or distresses may occur to the pavements. All of these distresses should be treated in a different way. It is not necessary that the treatments can perform equally the same everywhere. In short, it would not be wrong to say that pavement maintenance needs very deep observation and understanding of the distress, pavement condition, pavement requirements and the available treatments. It is required that all the concepts are fully cleared so that the cost effective maintenance program is developed.
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