Overview of pavement management systems

Formal pavement management systems (PMS) have been established and operated by road authorities for the last thirty-forty years. They include systems that are operated at a network level with the aim of determining expenditure levels, identifying candidate sections for major treatments, including generic treatment types, and establishing priorities between competing sections. In the intervening years considerable developments have taken place, and considerable experience has been gained in the design and operation of such systems. This paper provides an overview of modern pavement management systems by first placing pavement management in context by asking and answering the following questions, namely What is pavement management aiming to achieve? How do pavement management objectives translate to key performance indicators? How does pavement management relate to the broader subject of road asset management? What does pavement management embrace in terms of the various road management functions? What activities and processes does it involve? What do these systems look like? What do we mean by the terms network level and project level in the context of pavement management? How should I establish and prioritise my needs? The paper then continues by offering examples of pavement management system development drawn from Asia and Australasia, and summarises the current trends in PMS development and usage.