On the basis of initiatives to enhance productivity and effectiveness in highway operations, the virginia department of transportation formally implemented a maintenance quality evaluation program on july 1, 1989. The objectives of the program are to monitor the overall quality of maintenance, point out areas of inconsistent performance, and provide a more formal process for ensuring that consistent levels of service are provided statewide. The program provides an evaluative assessment of virginia's interstate, primary, and secondary highway systems. It qualitatively assesses the level of maintenance for flexible and rigid pavements, stabilized roadways, roadway shoulders, drainage, traffic control and safety, roadside, and structures. Statistical techniques are used to ensure a random selection of inspection sites and a 95% degree of confidence that the results are representative of an entire roadway system. Virginia's quality evaluation program provides comprehensive and systematic reporting of actual maintenance conditions and compares them with approved maintenance levels of service. The program provides the "missing link" in the maintenance planning, budgeting, and evaluation processes. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1276, Maintenance management 1990: proceedings of a workshop, jackson, mississippi, july25-27, 1990.
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