A 10-year prioritized roadmap for pavement management

The implementation and use of pavement management tools have progressed significantly over the last several decades. A number of transportation agencies have well established pavement management systems that are routinely used to estimate pavement needs, to summarize network conditions, to identify budgetary requirements, and to recommend pavement preservation and rehabilitation treatments. However, the degree to which pavement management information influences decisions varies widely among transportation agencies because of factors such as the reliability of the pavement condition data, the agency’s philosophy for funding pavement improvements, and the agency’s confidence in the pavement management models. Therefore, efforts to increase the use of pavement management information to support agency decisions are dependent on addressing any gaps that exist between the state of the practice and the state of the art. As a means of addressing current gaps in the use of pavement management and to promote a more focused research effort, the FHWA sponsored the development of a “pavement management roadmap.” The ultimate goal of this activity was to guide future research, development, and workforce development initiatives that will lead to improved approaches to pavement management. The roadmap was developed through a series of regional workshops attended by practitioners who helped identify the existing gaps and needs in pavement management. The workshops produced a total of forty seven research, development, and technology transfer needs, which included twenty-three short-term needs (to be conducted within the next 5 years) and twenty-four long-term needs (that should be addressed in the next 6 to 10 years). The needs statements were later organized by the four theme areas listed below: • Theme 1: Use of Existing Tools and Technology. • Theme 2: Institutional and Organizational Issues. • Theme 3: The Broad Role of Pavement Management. • Theme 4: New Tools, Methodologies, and Technology. This paper documents the process of developing the pavement management roadmap and presents the final list of prioritized short-term and long-term needs. In addition, the paper summarizes some of the recent initiatives that have been undertaken to advance the implementation of the roadmap through research, training, and other activities.