The priority assessment analysis method, as a part of a Pavement Management System, is the most appropriate one for short and medium term road network improvement planning, while the network optimization methods serve for the long term policy defining. Their optimization criteria are expressed in different terms. Both systems may represent two stages of a unique planning process - a conceptual and a detailed one. To use these systems for such purposes their results must be compatible. Optimal strategies from both investors and users points of view, obtained by the network optimisation method, were introduced into HDM - III, avoiding the Expenditure budgeting Model (EBM). All the results were translated into the same units or criteria. The predicted effects, especialy those that consider the use of available resources, were better than those obtained by the standard procedure. The relations between the users and the agency costs for different traffic categories and budgeting levels were observed. Such an approach meets the needs of networks which are far from an optimal steady state. (A)
Abstract