Asset management - getting it right

Australia's current 851 municipal bodies share with the state road authorities and other road agencies the enormous task of maintaining the nation's vast network of roads, estimated to be over 800,000 km. Our road network is aging, most being constructed well over 20 years ago, and is required to carry much more traffic and with greatly increased vehicle loads. Large amounts of money are being required for road maintenance, in an economic climate which sees a reduction in real terms of money allocated to maintaining and upgrading our road network. All road authorities are therefore looking for ways of making the most out of the available maintenance dollar and are turning to and applying various asset management systems as a way of achieving this requirement. The purpose of this paper is to outline the essential requirements of an asset management system as applied to roads, in particular the critical importance of collecting the appropriate road condition data to ensure better decision making with respect to maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction programs.