In the past decade there has been a major shift towards developing open and flexible computerized pavement management systems for maintaining highway and road networks across North America and around the world. Systems containing a flexible methodology that can be easily modified and upgraded by the owners of the systems are gaining wider acceptance. The use of "black box" technology requiring system modifications to ensure the latest technology and practices within the pavement management spectrum is becoming more and more unacceptable. Such open and flexible management systems can be easily adapted for use in other areas such as pavement management for local airports. In 1996 Deighton Associates Limited was contracted to adapt the pavement management system in use within the Sate of Utah Department of Transportation for use by local airports. This paper presents the approach and results of adapting an existing highway pavement management system for use with local airports. It discusses and compares important issues such as location referencing, condition indices, deterioration rates, applicable treatments, and implementation issues towards system acceptance in the local airport community. The paper will present problems encountered during the project and solutions developed by the consultant and the Department of Transportaton. This paper will serve as an example describing how current pavement management methodologies can be transferred into other management systems and management areas. (A)
Abstract