The traditional objectives of organizations responsible for the management and maintenance of road networks, objectives which target in-depth knowledge or the road resource and assessment of the condition of road pavements, require that certain types of data be acquired in the field on the geometry, type and condition of roads, and on their associated structures and furniture. In addition, if Road Managers consider the provision for users of a safe and easily understood road environment to be a priority or additional target, the "road" in the widest sense of the term must comply strictly with certain rules. These rules need to be defined, and compliance or non-compliance with them must be monitored on the basis of data on the condition of the road acquired in the field. These two fundamental goals - management of road maintenance and monitoring of infrastructure safety - are frequently handled separately but can and must form a coherent and integrated whole in the context of the acquisition and analysis of road data. It is in this way that Road Management organization introduce Quality as a concept into their overall approach, in particular where the Road User is concerned, by giving concrete expression to three notions: Planning, Execution and Testing. (A)
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