THE ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) of the San Francisco Bay Area is responsible for nearly 29,000 km (18,000 mi) of local streets and roads, which represent a multibillion dollar investment. To protect this investment, the MTC developed and implemented a pavement management system for the cities and counties in the Bay Area. For 10 years, MTC's system has helped numerous local agencies to analyze and document their pavement needs. Sixty-eight Bay Area cities and counties use MTC's Pavement Management System, serving more than 60 percent of the region's network of streets and roads. The lessons learned by MTC can be usefully applied to others, particularly in light of new federal regulations about the management of pavement dollars. This paper examines MTC's decade of experience in developing and implementing a pavement management system, and also, in using it to support regional and local decisions.