Road asset managers face new and exciting challenges in the twenty first century. The complexity of managing, maintaining and operating a road network is not only diverse but also challenging, given the numerous competing demands. This paper explores these challenges within the various disciplines: 1. asset systems integration, complexity and sustainability; 2. data quality understanding data importance, accuracy and usage; 3. technocrat versus practitioner how smart electronic wizardry needs to provide reasonable, reliable and realistic results; 4. forward planning how good are we at predicting future asset demands?; 5. budgeting variability and fluctuations, whole-of-life costing; 6. increasing demands new strategic objectives, environmental and social pressures and the level of asset/operational sophistication; 7. the people the critical and most important asset management component. This paper will expand on these challenges and, while not providing the silver bullet or definitive solutions, will attempt to rationalise and provide some principles on how an asset manager can deliver best practice. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. 0612AR242E.
Abstract