Review and Analysis of Pavement Management Practices in Kentucky

Pavement Management is becoming increasingly more important in an era of limited budgets and aging pavement structures, State Highway Agencies (SHA) are attempting to manage the pavements under their jurisdiction more carefully and economically. All pavement management systems include all or some of the following items as inputs: (1) pavement distress, (2) serviceability or rideability, (3) inventory of the system, (4) structural adequacy, (5) traffic volumes and loadings, and (6) some form of performance history. This report documents Kentucky's present pavement management system. In addition, the duties and goals of the Pavement Management Branch are catalogged and described. Methods for rating pavements are described. The allocation of funds and how this allocation is calculated are described. Methods of determining estimates for rehabilitation needs are also described. A description of the organization and flow of information in the PMS is given in detail. Comparisons are made between Kentucky's PMS and the elements of a pavement management system to be required by the Federal Highway Administration in 1993. Kentucky's PMS is well advanced and most of the elements in the Federal Guidelines are already in place or are in some stage of development. Life-cycle costs analysis procedures need to be developed and adopted. Greater use of the present data bases is encouraged.