An application is described resulting from a coordinated direction of resources and labor that effectively demonstrates the benefitsof applied highway research to funding strategies for low-volume road networks. The national park road and parkway system comprises more than 8, 500 mi, most of which is low-volume roads. At current funding levels, the backlog of needs has increased, and with the present budget climate further deterioration of this national recreational resource may be inescapable. The policies developed for the administration of the park roads and parkways have resulted in the creation and regular updating of several data bases containing inventory data, traffic and accident data, repair and replacement costs, and limited maintenance records for road sections. The information in these data bases was used to develop performance models and subsequent funding strategies. The planning methodology is used for data collection, inventory, and rating process; generating performance models and lookup tables; incorporating needs based on design class; predicting road segment condition; and prioritizing road repairs system-wide on the basis of funding constraints for discrete funding cycles. The dbase iii plus (tm) programs were developed to show the present condition and needs of a road segment, predict the condition and needs at some future time, and choose those segments that would most effectively use available funds. The condition and needs of each segment arethen forecasted to the next funding cycle. The condition and needs analyses are then repeated using the anticipated funding for that funding cycle. This iterative process continues for a 20- to 25-year period in six cycles. The model can be used by all management levels for planning, administration, maintenance and system management, andprogram budgeting. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1291, Fifth international conference on low-volume roads, may 19-23, 1991, raleigh, north carolina, volume 1.
Samenvatting