TRANSPORTATION, ENERGY, AND THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The importance and implications of well-planned road maintenance programs were the subject of an Intergovernment Meeting of Highway Experts conducted by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand in February 1982. Intensive analysis and data collection over the past decade suggest that the largest benefits of highway maintenance actually accrue not to the highway authority but to the highway users through lower vehicle operating costs, and that this is most often the dominant factor in making the best economic decisions for highway maintenance. For example, empirical analysis has shown that a paved surface in reasonably good condition can, through lessened vehicle and tire wear, reduce vehicle operating costs 15 to 40 percent below those on a poorly maintained surface, more than enough to compensate an economy for maintenance costs. Furthermore, regular execution of maintenance work can also permit rehabilitation or overlay to be postponed for five years or longer, saving very substantial capital charges, given current prices.