Highway administrators are faced with the taskof managing the road network system in an efficient and effective manner. This task is becoming rather difficult due to the increasing demands of roads and the decline in available road funds. In this paper a comprehensible, easy-to-use, highway management tool is presented. This tool takes the form of a computer simulation model. The model is intended to assist managers of a network of highways to design better road strategies. These strategies are meant to achieve optimum performance of the road network system over time. The propounded model is a tool for helping in the analysis of policies. It simulates the effects of different investment strategies and maintenance options on the road network. This is done by tracing the life-cycle costs of the major activities of providing and maintaining the road system and by considering the effects that these activities have on the state and performance of the road network. Activities involved include: construction, administration and the maintenance of roads. Maintenance measures include: routine, periodic and restorative maintenance of roads. System Dynamics methodology, which is both a system analysis and a computer simulation technique, is applied in this study to construct the analytical user-friendly road provision model. The model consists of two components, the user interface module and the System Dynamics road provision model. The paper attempts to indicate how the model allocates the available funds for roads into major categories. This process of allocating investment is performed in a dynamic fashion so as to be consistent with the competing priorities and the changing demands of the road system. The main assumptions and definitions of the model are presented, and the flexibility and generality of the options available through the user interface module are described. Finally, the process involved in the evaluation of alternative road strategies is introduced. The model is used as a means of gaining a better insight into the changing nature of the road system. Its overall objective is to serve as a management tool for designing, testing and assessing alternative budgeting strategies in the highway sector, thereby assisting in maintaining a better control over investments in the highway network. (A) This paper was also presented at seminar K.
Abstract