This paper describes a methodology to develop possible global maintenance strategies for a highway network using the Financial Network Optimisation System module from the RTA NSW pavement management system. The authors describe their methodology including a discussion of the appropriate condition data to use. They propose the use of the Maintenance Level of Service (MLOS) developed by the Texas Department of Transportation to assist in the interpretation of the condition data and determine which condition parameter (cracking, rutting or roughness) is driving the maintenance effort. As an example, the authors applied their methodology to 1992/93 data available for the Australian National Highway network. The pavement condition Highway network. The pavement condition data and the FNOS modelling indicate that, on much of the network, the maintenance and rehabilitation costs are being driven by safety (rutting) and structural (cracking) considerations rather than by user costs (roughness). The modelling was hampered by the fact that pavement deterioration models were generally unavailable. This meant that the budgets developed for each corridor could be considered as tentative only. Where more reliable deterioration data were available, the more closely did the predictions approximate the actual 1992/93 budget allocations. (A)
Abstract