ROLE OF THE NEW HDM-4 IN HIGHWAY MANAGEMENT

An international study has been carried out to extend the scope of the World Bank HDM-III model, and to provide a harmonised systems approach to road management, with adaptable and user-friendly software tools. This has resulted in the development of a new set of Highway Development and Management Tools collectively referred to as HDM-4. The scope of the new HDM-4 tools have been broadened considerably beyond traditional project appraisals, to provide a powerful system for the analysis of road management and investment alternatives. The paper describes the HDM-4 software applications developed to cater for the following components within the highway management process: Strategic Planning, Work Programming, and Project Preparation. Strategic planning involves the analysis of the road system as a whole, typically requiring the preparation of long term, or strategic, planning estimates of expenditure for road development and presevation under various budgetary and economic scenarios. Work Programming involves the preparation, under budget constraints, of multi-year road work and expenditure programmes in which sections of the network likely to require improvement, are identified and prioritised. Project preparation is the final stage where the economic benefits of road schemes are analysed prior to implementation. (A) For the covering abstract see ITRD E105786.