Funding for road improvements has not been able to keep pace with needs in most, if not all, developing coountries. Consequently, ithas become more and more necessary to develop systems for managing the road network, including the efficient programming of projects soas to make the best possible use of limited funds available. The development of models to aid investment decisions for the road sector in developing countries began to receive impetus in the late 1960s through work initiated by the world bank. Today, such comprehensive models as the highway design and maintenance standards model (hdm-iii) are available. What is needed in addition are management systems for taking over after the basic investment decision has been made so that specific and optimal network rehabilitation and maintenance programs can be produced. A methodology in the form of the road networkinvestment system (ronis) for establishing road investment priorities is adjustable and suitable to low-income, developing countries. The system was applied to an actual sample network of paved, gravel-surfaced, and earth roads in sierra leone, west africa, to illustratethe following: determination of the present status of the network, identifying improvement needs, developing priority programs for specified funding levels, and analyses to assess the impacts of different funding levels on future serviceability of the network. This paperappears in transportation research record no. 1291, Fifth international conference on low-volume roads, may 19-23, 1991, raleigh, northcarolina, volume 1.
Abstract