Pavement management technology: South African experience

There has been a growing interest among South African road authorities in formal systems for managing their networks of pavements. This paper gives a review of the work being done in implementing pavement management systems and discusses the technology involved. Particular attention is paid to the difficulties that have been experienced in applying this technology. These include technical, human and practical problems. Attention is given to the benefits of the informal system by which pavement management has operated previously and the care that must be taken to preserve them. It is concluded that formal pavement management methods are useful and practical for road authorities provided that account is taken of certain factors in their design and implementation (a).