No complete Asset Management framework is used in Hungary yet, due to several administrative, budgetary and economic reasons. However, several activities can be mentioned that have moved the country towards an asset management approach during recent years. They are linked to owner's objectives and customers needs, institutional framework changes, business arrangements, and technical tools. Using concentrated resources, the development of the Hungarian motorway network has been accelerated recently. As a consequence, the general condition of "ordinary" roads (others than expressways and motorways) has deteriorated. A National Road Rehabilitation Programme was elaborated for 2007-2016. By implementing the projects identified in theProgramme, it is expected to reach the present average road condition level of the European Union. The users' needs were surveyed by an enquiry carried out in a Hungarian county where public transport bus drivers were questioned about the condition of the roads travelled regularly. Their opinion was taken into consideration for the local short-term road maintenance programme. The estimation of gross and net values of national road and bridge assets started in Hungary in 1981, and the survey has been repeated regularly ever since. The time series of net/gross asset value ratios of national road and bridge assets are used for road management purposes. A "survey of compliance" (rating the condition of a given road by comparing its actual condition parameters to those required by the standards), has been launched on the whole Hungarian national road network in 1979, and the maincondition parameters have been measured regularly ever since. After a recent reorganisation, the maintenance and rehabilitation of the "ordinary" national roads is performed country-wide by a new non-profit company. Otherspecial companies are responsible for motorway network development as well as for motorway maintenance and management. Road and bridge works are traditionally contracted out through competitive procurement to private contractors. A major new motorway project was financed, and built within a public/private partnership scheme in 2004-2006. The motorway toll collected under a vignette system is actually used for financing of maintenance and management of the motorways managed by a State owned company. The first network-level PMS had been elaborated by 1990 and developed further, based onthe experience gained and on the Finnish HIPS-model relying also onto Markov transition probability matrices. Ranking type, project-level Motorway PMS and City PMS were also created. The HDM-4 model has been investigated and adapted to Hungarian conditions too. The American PONTIS bridge management system was adapted and developed further. A 16-year-long monitoring of 60 test sections has resulted pavement performance models and provided information about the actual condition improving impact of various rehabilitation techniques. So, the technical tools in Hungary are available to assist asset management decision making, based on detailed and reliable information. For the covering abstract see ITRD E139491.
Abstract