Current international practices on pavement condition assessment

Due to aging, exposure and maintenance backlog, infrastructures are deteriorating and their capacity to provide adequate service is decreasing. Accordingly, pavement management systems have been gaining ground as a systematic process, which combines engineering principles with optimal management practices, to achieve assets’ objectives. This paper reports on technical parameters and performance indicators used in current worldwide practices for pavement condition assessment. These parameters and indicators can differ from country to country, as each country as its specific context. The analysis and comparison of these different experiences is a fruitful learning approach, which fosters a critical thinking process and leads to the continuous improvement of practices. The results of this study show that international practice on condition assessment is based on similar technical parameters and performance indicators. Furthermore, it also suggests that modern road management is performance based and trends towards a more business-like approach.