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Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 7: Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal of Highway Infrastructure (2020)

Chapter: Chapter 4 Opportunities and Benefits of Deploying Emerging PMR Practices

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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 4 Opportunities and Benefits of Deploying Emerging PMR Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 7: Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal of Highway Infrastructure. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25757.
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Page 40
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 4 Opportunities and Benefits of Deploying Emerging PMR Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 7: Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal of Highway Infrastructure. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25757.
×
Page 40
Page 41
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 4 Opportunities and Benefits of Deploying Emerging PMR Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 7: Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal of Highway Infrastructure. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25757.
×
Page 41
Page 42
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 4 Opportunities and Benefits of Deploying Emerging PMR Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 7: Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal of Highway Infrastructure. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25757.
×
Page 42
Page 43
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 4 Opportunities and Benefits of Deploying Emerging PMR Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 7: Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal of Highway Infrastructure. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25757.
×
Page 43
Page 44
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 4 Opportunities and Benefits of Deploying Emerging PMR Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 7: Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal of Highway Infrastructure. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25757.
×
Page 44

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

39 For a future, sustainable highway infrastructure system, transportation organizations need to foster and apply emerging and innovative practices (materials, tools, approaches, and tech­ nologies) and address future risks, threats, and customer requirements in an efficient and cost­ effective manner. This chapter describes each of the 16 emerging PMR practices and discusses the benefits associated with their implementation. The wide range of scenarios for these 16 PMR practices indicates the broad scope of benefits that can be accrued. Some of these practices primarily provide “internal” benefits by address­ ing highway agency needs while others provide “external” benefits by addressing public needs. Internal benefits reflect improvements in agency performance arising from adopting these prac­ tices. External benefits reflect improvements in quality of service experienced by highway users, reduction in adverse impacts to the community and the environment, and reduction in costs to taxpayers resulting from adopting these emerging practices. Often, internal and external benefits are two sides of the same coin. For example, improving durability could reduce agency costs, energy utilization, and resource consumption while at the same time reducing PMR­related activities and associated traffic disruption. Anticipated long­term benefits accrued from adopting each emerging or innovative practice cannot be quantified with any degree of precision (monetary or otherwise), since the adoption rate and the extent of use within the transportation industry cannot be accurately estimated. Therefore, only the types of benefits that may result from their adoption (at the appropriate time) are discussed. Furthermore, there are synergies among PMR practices such that the benefits from adopting a particular emerging PMR practice cannot be addressed separately because of the interaction among multiple practices. Table 9 identifies the external and internal benefits that can result from adopting these emerg­ ing PMR practices. These benefits are categorized as “primary” (P), or “secondary” (S). Primary benefits result from the adoption of a specific practice; secondary benefits, however, result from a specific practice when combined with other practices. Each of the 16 PMR practices is expected to have a primary impact in one or both benefit categories (i.e., external and/or internal). In addition, all emerging PMR practices providing “primary external” benefits also provide some internal primary or secondary benefits, and most practices that provide “primary internal” ben­ efits also provide at least a “secondary external” benefit. C H A P T E R 4 Opportunities and Benefits of Deploying Emerging PMR Practices

40 Strategic Issues Facing Transportation Table 9. Emerging PMR practices and their anticipated benefits. External Benefits Internal Benefits Emerging and Innovative PMR Practice Im pr ov ed S af et y Im pr ov ed C us to m er S at is fa ct io n Im pr ov ed R es ili en cy Re du ce d Co ng es tio n Im pr ov ed S ys te m R el ia bi lit y En vi ro nm en ta l S us ta in ab ili ty Im pr ov ed A ss et P er fo rm an ce Im pr ov ed P er fo rm an ce M ea su re m en t an d As se t D at a Ut ili za tio n Im pr ov ed O rg an iz at io na l P ro ce ss es an d Ef fic ie nc ie s Lo w er C ap ita l a nd L ife -C yc le C os ts Im pr ov ed P M R Pr oj ec t D el iv er y Green Chemistry—PMR Applications P S Hyper-Performance Materials S S P P Non-Destructive Testing for Ancillary Assets S S P P Structural Health Monitoring S S P S CXM Analytics S P S S Machine Learning—Artificial Intelligence For Asset Management S S P S Environmental Product Declarations S P S S Integrated iBIM for Highways S P P S Enterprise Information Systems—PMR Applications S S P Game/Simulation Workforce Training S S P Connected Vehicle Applications to Supply Real-Time Condition Info S S S S P Artificial Intelligence—PMR Traffic Management Applications S S S P S Predictive–Proactive Maintenance Regime for Roadway Assets S P P S The IoT—PMR Applications S P Self-Diagnosing/Reporting and Work Ordering S S P S Perpetual/Long-Life Highway Infrastructure P S P Advanced Transportation Systems Management and Operations Device and Communications Systems Maintenance S S S S P P S S P Connected V2I Technology Providing Communications Between Passing Vehicles and Roadside Units P S S S S P Dedicated Corridors for Automated Vehicles S S S P Automated Enforcement for Work Zones P S P P Outsourcing and Privatization of PMR S P 3D Printing of Infrastructure Components S S P Construction Robotics S S S P Remote Sensing Systems—PMR Applications S S P S

Opportunities and Benefits of Deploying Emerging PMR Practices 41 External Benefits External benefits (i.e., benefits to the public) are categorized into six areas: improved safety, improved customer satisfaction, improved resiliency, reduced congestion, improved system reli­ ability, and enhanced environmental sustainability. Six of these emerging PMR practices provide primary benefits in at least one category and seventeen practices provide secondary external benefits. None of these PMR practices have been linked to improved connectivity and access as an external benefit area in spite of the focus of these practices on infrastructure PMR activities. Improved Safety The impacts of emerging PMR practices on safety, with some exceptions, are largely second­ ary. These practices contribute to the effectiveness of TSMO and its focus on crash reduction. As highway assets and vehicles become more connected, there is significant potential to share infor­ mation in real time to inform cars and drivers of work zones, upcoming traffic, or other vehicles. Innovations and improvements related to traffic operations can also contribute to increased safety on roadways and bridges. At the same time, the probe function of connected vehicles can provide increased real time pavement condition coverage on a network­wide basis. Use of con­ nected vehicle probe data to support PMR analytics and real­time automated work zone enforce­ ment are two emerging PMR practices that provide primary safety benefits. PMR practices that provide data improve program design and management and provide sec­ ondary impacts by contributing to safer operations. Also, improvements to infrastructure reduce the amount of repair and maintenance work needed on highway assets, which indirectly lead to safety benefits. Seven of the 24 originally identified emerging PMR practices have at least one primary impact and nineteen practices have at least one secondary impact. Improved Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction is an expected secondary impact of the combination of primary external and internal benefits. Often measured using customer feedback and survey responses, customer satisfaction is a reflection of the overall service quality that may be attributed to aesthetics (e.g., landscaping and litter); availability (e.g., snow and incident clearance); travel times and conges­ tion; safety; convenience (e.g., construction zones); asset condition (e.g., pavement smoothness); and clarity of information (e.g., signage and markings). At the core of customer satisfaction is recognizing the key factors in customer experience management, interpreting these in program­ matic terms, and staying in continuous contact with customers in real time to obtain feedback. This set of activities is supported by emerging PMR practices aimed at improving data gathering and communications and those related to ensuring a smooth, safe, pleasant, and reliable driving experience. Improved Resiliency The principal contribution to resiliency comes from PMR practices that together synergize to improve the overall condition and extend the life of infrastructure assets. Such practices would address the materials used, design methods, and construction and maintenance techniques. By maintaining a state of good repair, the asset can support greater volumes of vehicle travel and increased mobility. Improved resiliency also contributes to other benefit categories by reducing the need for PMR­related activities and related safety, congestion, and reliability issues.

42 Strategic Issues Facing Transportation Reduced Congestion Emerging PMR practices provide an alternative to disruptive PMR activities. They could pro­ vide improved communication between the PMR process (work zone traffic management sys­ tem) and drivers, contributing to improved flow and reduced delay. Communication between vehicles can avoid unnecessary slow­downs caused by merges, lane changes, and secondary causes of accidents (e.g., rubbernecking). Communication from the highway asset to vehicles can dictate a safe operating speed. By limiting reliance on human judgment, more analytical and objectively informed decisions can be made to help traffic flow at a speed governed by traffic situation and asset condition. Improved System Reliability Reliability is increasingly important in travel decisions as planning for unanticipated delays would require allowing for significantly, often unnecessary, longer travel times. Many of the improved and innovative life­cycle management practices that contribute to safety and mobility also contribute to improved reliability. Both improved asset condition and state of good repair approaches improve asset reliability as assets exhibit less frequent failures. Emerging PMR prac­ tices related to remote sensing or connected vehicles could report maintenance or repair needs of a highway asset sooner than with a routinely timed inspection, thus allowing for a quicker repair and enhanced overall reliability. Environmental Sustainability Some of the emerging PMR practices address environmental sustainability goals. These practices often provide direct sustainability benefits by using specific construction materials, recycling of assets, or new means for maintaining assets. Emerging PMR practices that improve the lifespan of an asset and reduce maintenance needs provide indirect benefits. Delaying the replacement of assets and reducing the amount of required maintenance can conserve resources and eliminate additional pollution generated in accessing repair sites. Other indirect benefits could be achieved through improved traffic operations. With increased mobility and reliability, vehicles can travel at higher speeds and reduce time spent sitting in traffic, thereby reducing vehicle emissions. In addition, decreasing asset replacement and maintenance needs would help reduce capital and operations and maintenance costs expenditures over the life­cycle of the asset. Such practices could help highway agencies support program sustainability while reducing expenditures. Internal Benefits External benefits may be the most obvious impacts of the emerging PMR practices. How­ ever, several of these practices, by their nature, provide direct customer benefits in a second­ ary manner. Also, some of these practices have impact on internal benefits that contribute to agency programs that benefit the public in terms of return on investment and improved cus­ tomer satis faction. Twenty PMR practices have a primary internal benefit and four practices have two primary impacts. Twenty­one practices have at least one secondary internal impact, and ten practices have more than two secondary impacts. Also, all but one of the practices with an external benefit also have internal benefits.

Opportunities and Benefits of Deploying Emerging PMR Practices 43 Improved Asset Performance Several of the emerging PMR practices offer benefits related to improved highway infrastruc­ ture performance, and thus support the agency efforts in achieving performance targets. Infra­ structure that is performing at a higher standard will reduce maintenance needs and thus will decrease the cost and effort associated with improving the state of the asset as well as contribut­ ing to increased user satisfaction. Improved Performance Measurement and Asset Data Utilization When supported by asset and operational performance monitoring systems and complemen­ tary data utilization and analytics, emerging PMR practices that adopt long­life approaches to improve the life­cycle of assets primarily impact core agency objectives: improved efficiency and effectiveness. This explains the heavy impact of those nine practices that include the IoT, con­ nected vehicle applications, structural health monitoring, and remote sensing on performance measurement. These emerging PMR practices are supported by a set of processes, techniques, and methodologies that are heavily dependent on developments in sensor technologies, embed­ ded systems, network connectivity, data management, data analytics, and automation that often in combination contribute to improving agency performance. Emerging practices potentially would have a significant positive influence on the efficiency and performance of roadway assets in terms of higher returns on investments. The practices assist agencies in making better decisions on the selecting and scheduling of PMR actions that lead to improved asset replacement value and/or longer useful life, fewer and shorter road closures for PMR actions, and lower agency operating costs. Improved Organizational Processes and Efficiencies Many of the PMR emerging and innovative practices require significant changes in agency business and technical processes, such as internalization of business processes, information, decision­support, and knowledge management systems, as well as a specially trained workforce. These practices contribute to achieving the agency’s objective of serving customer needs and improving system­level performance. Specifically, emerging and innovative PMR practices, which include integrated building information modeling systems for highway projects, enter­ prise informa tion systems for business process streamlining and automation, self­reporting and work ordering systems, and sophisticated game­ and simulation­based workforce training methods improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the agency’s internal processes by providing the following: • Structured planning, streamlining, and automation of work order processes. • Integrated or federated repository of asset inventory, engineering, human resources, procure­ ment, supply chain, and financial and customer feedback information. • Real­time sharing of information across multiple disciplines for better decision making. • Early detection of deficiencies and timely initiation of work orders. • Enhanced gathering and reporting of key performance indicators.

44 Strategic Issues Facing Transportation These practices collectively could help provide the following benefits: • Deliver projects within time and budget constraints. • Consolidate business process for life­cycle management of projects. • Lower agency operating expenditure (due to reduced staff time or duplication of effort associ­ ated with information gathering and processing). • Reduce overall whole­life costs. • Shorten duration for workflow processes. • Increase degree of transparency, accountability, and efficiency. Lower Capital and Life-Cycle Costs Several emerging PMR practices have the potential of improving asset management of high­ ways. Practices that improve the maintenance methods of highway asset management often allow transportation agencies to reduce annual costs associated with operations and mainte­ nance. Emerging practices that improve the materials used in construction would reduce asset maintenance costs and yield savings in the long­term by delaying the need for asset rehabilita­ tion, reconstruction, or renewal. In this manner, a highway agency can economize on its use of monetary and other resources and more efficiently manage the assets. Improved PMR Project Delivery Improved project delivery in terms of cost, schedule, and quality (and incentive to innovate) is closely related to private­sector involvement and competition in areas supportive of improved PMR. Many emerging and innovative PMR practices pertaining to materials (e.g., green chemistry), production (e.g., 3D printing), methods (e.g., robotics), information (e.g., artificial intelligence) and communications (e.g., V2I) will contribute to reduced cost, shorter schedules, higher quality (through material and workmanship benefits), improved construction safety, and higher customer satisfaction outcomes.

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The transportation industry faces a wide range of plausible future drivers and scenarios that could affect standard practices over the next 30 to 50 years. Because the range of plausible futures over such a long-term period is very broad, making a focused prediction of the implications for highway infrastructure preservation, maintenance, and renewal (PMR) is quite challenging.

The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Report 750: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 7: Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal of Highway Infrastructure focuses on the issues affecting the PMR of highway infrastructure. The study places emphasis on preparing for plausible future scenarios and develops a pathway to guide transportation agencies in advancing the implementation of emerging PMR practices through a process involving awareness, advocacy, assessment, adoption, and action planning.

The appendices to Parts A and B of this report are available as part of NCHRP Web-Only Document 272: Existing and Emerging Highway Infrastructure Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal Definitions, Practices, and Scenarios.

In addition, there are two guides included within the report that help with the understanding, identification, application, and implementation of emerging PMR practices. They are also available as standalone guides:

Practitioner's Guide to Emerging Highway Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal Practices

Leadership's Guide to Emerging Highway Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal Practices

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