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3 C H A P T E R 1 Problem Statement A variety of maintenance actions are performed by highway agencies to preserve highway pave- ments. Generally, highway agencies document information pertaining to these maintenance actions such as methods, rates, basis of measurements, costs, performance, and other related information as part of a maintenance management system (MMS). Similarly, highway agencies document infor- mation on pavement conditions as part of a pavement management system (PMS). However, these data collection efforts do not always focus on the collection and analysis of data needed to improve pavement-maintenance decisions. There is no widely accepted system that identifies the data needed to capture the factors that influence the performance of maintenance treatments on pavements, including climate conditions, traffic levels, existing pavement conditions, material properties, and workmanship. There was a need to identify the data elements required for evaluating the effectiveness of pavement-maintenance treatments and the effect of these treatments on pavement performance and service life. These elements will constitute the framework for a database that can be used to establish the influence of maintenance actions on pavement performance and help identify and select the most effective treatments for specific conditions. Research was needed to develop the framework for a database system which could be used for the collection, storage, and retrieval of pavement-maintenance data. This framework, together with clear definitions of maintenance items, will provide a uniform format for collecting, reporting, and storing information on pave- ment maintenance. In addition to providing the data needed for evaluating the effectiveness of maintenance treatments and helping with maintenance investment decisions, use of this database will promote the compatibility of maintenance data reported by different agencies, ensure proper interpretation of the data, and facilitate sharing of data among highway agencies. This database will also provide the data needed for evaluating the cost and performance of alternative mainte- nance applications, establishing the contributions of maintenance on pavement service life, and incorporating maintenance into pavement design and analysis procedures. Research Objective The objective of this research was to develop a framework for a database system of pavement- maintenance actions, the materials and methods used, and their effectiveness. The database sys- tem will provide a means for establishing a record of actions that includes uniform descriptions of maintenance activities, basis of measurements, costs, pavement conditions, and other relevant data for use in a cost-benefit analysis, evaluating the effects of maintenance on pavement per- formance, selecting the maintenance actions needed, and making other related decisions. The database system considers asphalt, concrete, and composite pavements. Introduction
4 Framework for a Pavement-Maintenance Database System Organization of the Report The report consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 provides the project objective and outlines the scope of the study. Chapter 2 describes the findings from a literature search and interviews conducted on pavement maintenance and defines the terms used to describe pavement perfor- mance. Chapter 3 describes the approach for the pavement-maintenance database (PMDb) and the data terms and elements used in the framework to meet the objectives. Chapter 4 describes the PMDb software application and common workflows. Chapter 5 shows how PMDb can be used through several illustrative scenarios that are applicable to the research objective. Chapter 6 presents a summary of the research and makes recommendations for future research. The report also includes a glossary of terms that were defined to accompany the database system. Several appendices describe various aspects of the research in detail. Appendix A provides the results of surveys conducted in the state departments of transportation (DOTs). Appendix B provides a summary of the interviews conducted at four state DOTs, Appendix C provides a description of the potential system requirements for implementing PMDb, Appendix D provides a guide on how to install PMDb as a standalone application on a desktop or laptop computer, and Appendix E explains how to load data into PMDb. The report is accompanied by CRP-CD-179: Pavement-Maintenance Database (PMDb) for NCHRP Report 820, Volume 1: Framework and Volume 2: Sample Data. Volume 1 contains the database, which can be installed by following the instructions in Appendix D. Volume 2 contains sample data collected from highway agencies, which can be loaded onto the database by following the instructions in Appendix E.
