 The goal of pavement management is to provide the public with the best possible pavement system at the lowest possible cost. To address this challenge, Roy D. McQueen & Associates, Ltd. has developed the comprehensive skills needed to manage highway, seaport, and airport pavement systems. Combining custom built nondestructive pavement testing equipment and computer software with sound engineering and economic analysis, Roy D. McQueen & Associates, Ltd. is able to create an objective framework for pavement management decision-making.
 Many of the highway and airport pavements in the United States (U.S.) were constructed thirty or more years ago and have been subjected to unanticipated increases in the weights and the numbers of the vehicles and aircraft using them. These increases have occurred during a time when governments at all levels have faced, and are facing, escalating demands on their financial resources. It is not surprising that the emphasis today is to plan and budget for pavement maintenance and rehabilitation using modern management and engineering techniques. The U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), for example, requires individual states to have a pavement management system for state roads in order to be eligible for federal funds, and encourages municipalities to develop their own systems. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Defense (DOD) have placed similar emphasis on pavement management for civilian and military airfields, with a Pavement Maintenance Management System now a prerequisite for obtaining federal funding for civil airport projects.
The pavement management system utilized by Roy D. McQueen & Associates, Ltd. builds on U.S. government sponsored research and our firm's experience with pavement evaluation and design for airports and roads throughout the U.S. and overseas. The system was developed to provide a dual reference to satisfy the needs of both managers and engineers. Simply stated, the system provides answers to basic, yet elusive questions on the condition of a pavement network, such as:
- What is the composition of the pavement system?
- What is its present condition and how will conditions deteriorate in the future?
- What is the optimum time to affect maintenance or rehabilitation?
- What are the most economical repair strategies?
- Which pavements should be repaired first?
- What economic and operational consequences can be expected if rehabilitation is delayed?
- How much will rehabilitation cost?
- How can a program be developed given a fixed budget?
Stated differently, from a management perspective, pavement management provides a sound basis for:
- Analyzing pavement needs.
- Determining objective priorities of needs and repairs.
- Selecting cost-effective rehabilitation options and strategies.
- Determining the cost and timing of maintenance and rehabilitation.
- Programming maintenance and construction.
- Formulating fiscal policy and allocating funds.
- Managing cash flow and grant funding requirements.
Equally important, from an engineering perspective, the pavement management system provides information on:
- Existing functional and structural conditions.
- Expected pavement life.
- Allowable loading.
- Rehabilitation and maintenance options.
- Integration of pavement management output with other project concerns, e.g., grading and drainage.
- Life cycle cost analysis.
- Construction budgeting.
To meet these overall objectives, Roy D. McQueen & Associates, Ltd. has assembled the latest engineering and testing tools into an integrated framework for analysis. As discussed on other pages, basic system components consist of:
- NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING- To determine the present strength of the pavement system.
- CONDITION SURVEY- To quantify the level of distress from past loading or environmental action.
- COMPUTER ANALYSIS- To project the future performance of the pavement system.
By viewing each element as a function of time, a comprehensive analysis of the total cycle of pavement performance is possible. While each can be used separately depending on project demands, maximum synergy and objectivity occurs through integration of all system components. |
