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77 Highway agencies perform a variety of maintenance activities to maintain and preserve highway pavements. Generally, highway agencies document information pertaining to these maintenance actions including methods, rates, basis of measurements, costs, performance, and other related factors as part of an MMS. Similarly, agencies document information on pavement condition as part of a PMS. NCHRP Project 14-31 was conducted to develop a database framework and system for the storage and retrieval of pavement-maintenance data. This database, known as PMDb, together with clear definitions of maintenance items, provides a uniform format for inputting, reporting, and storing information on pavement maintenance. In addition to archiving the data needed to evaluate the effectiveness of maintenance treatments, this database will promote compatibility of maintenance data reported by different agencies, provide a mechanism for consistent interpretation of data, and facilitate sharing of data among highway agencies. At present, there are a variety of systems and practices for recording pavement-maintenance work and pavement-performance data at state DOTs. PMDb will offer a uniform means for archiving pavement-maintenance data and other related data over time. Pavement-maintenance data terms and elements are defined for PMDb to provide for a common attribution of all activi- ties. Where appropriate, new attributes and definitions can be dynamically created, providing PMDb the capacity to adapt to evolving maintenance and condition measures. PMDb was envisioned to function as a framework to aggregate and organize agency data stored in other databases, not as an alternative to the various types of databases already in use within an agency, such as PMS and MMS. However, to the extent that PMDb highlights data needed for maintenance analyses that are not captured in existing agency databases, this may suggest the need for internal refinements to those databases. The applications for PMDb become more useful as the data store of pavement-maintenance activities and pavement condition grows over time. Several areas where additional research may help further the results of this research and PMDb include: ⢠Establishing common cost data elements and unit costs for various pavement-maintenance treatments. This research identified a strong need for consistent documentation of cost ele- ments within agencies. Further research could recommend best practices for agency cost documentation which could improve the ability of a national database framework to provide value to all agencies. ⢠Establishing common data collection practices for pavement-maintenance treatments. This study identified a lack of uniformity in data collection methods, frequency, units, and levels of service. These variable factors will make it challenging to establish and maintain a national database framework that can provide lasting value for multiple agencies. C H A P T E R 6 Recommendations for Research
78 Framework for a Pavement-Maintenance Database System ⢠Identifying common key performance measures for pavement-maintenance treatments as well as recommended guidance for agencies to migrate existing performance data to these measures. Performance measures and the respective data collection processes for them vary widely among agencies for pavement-maintenance treatments. This limits the ability to trans- late to a common set of performance measures limiting the ability to compare treatment performance effectively. ⢠Establishing best practices for identifying a purpose for each pavement-maintenance treat- ment. The research identified a need to find a method to consistently document the purpose of a maintenance treatment such that its effectiveness can be compared against other treat- ment applications for the same purpose.
