The metropolitan pavement data system - supporting pavement management of urban declared roads in Queensland

As part of its strategy for development of pavement management systems, the Queensland Department of Transport has developed the Metropolitan Pavement Data System as the Data Management Level, initially serving urban Districts in Brisbane, but ultimately designed to serve all Districts in Queensland. The system provides multi-user access to an integrated database of location reference, inventory, traffic, condition and job history information. Pavement condition types encompass roughness, rutting, cracking, surface texture, patching, potholes, edgebreak, surface deflection (Benkelman Beam) and skid resistance. A range of output options is available, addressing different information perspectives defined by management. The reporting capabilities make use of a data summarisation hierarchy for condition data, to aid assimilation of quantities of detailed information, and will make increasing use of graphical presentation in the future. The MPDS database in its present form provides information support to network managers in the form of current and historical information. It also forms the foundation database for providing systems which optimise the commitments of funds to pavement upkeep for the benefit of the road user community (A).