Download or read book Comprehensively Optimized Pavement Management System for Low-volume Paved Roads written by Marwan Hafez and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are trying to utilize the best practices of managing low-volume roads (LVRs) due to limited resources and declined transportation funding. Diverse maintenance practices and fluctuating budget allocations are noticed on LVRs which significantly impact the overall pavement performance. In this study, the optimal scheduling of maintenance strategies and effectiveness of treatment options are investigated. Pavement maintenance decision making is supported by three approaches: subjective judgment of pavement engineers; historical data on past practice (i.e., historical pavement performance plots); and optimization-based procedures. The three approaches are integrated using a pavement management data of Colorado LVRs to provide guidelines and recommendations for Colorado DOT (CDOT) and other transportation agencies. The accumulated field experience of Colorado DOT’s pavement engineers is highlighted through a regional survey of practice. In addition, the effectiveness of low-cost treatments on the individual pavement distresses is evaluated using historical values of pavement condition indices. It was concluded that some surface treatments and recycling techniques are effective long-term treatments for fatigue, longitudinal, and transverse cracking. However, the effectiveness of these treatments depends mainly on the initial condition index. Then, an optimization analysis is conducted using genetic algorithms to provide cost-effective capital improvement plans statewide and for deteriorated LVRs with marginal pavement conditions. The large-scale optimization analysis is limited on LVRs for statewide maintenance planning. In this study, the developed optimization models have the ability to maximize the overall pavement condition of LVRs network considering an annual budget constraint. They can also minimize the maintenance costs to achieve desired performance targets by the end of the analysis period. It was concluded that most CDOT engineering regions do not have sufficient maintenance budgets to sustain the network-level pavement condition of LVRs. The results from optimization analysis provide more realistic solutions to define the budget needs on LVRs. Moreover, an effective decision-making process is achieved for each Colorado DOT’s engineering region using a machine-learning approach. Multiple treatment alternatives are proposed using artificial neural networks with pattern recognition algorithms. It was found that these approaches provide beneficial guidelines for managing LVRs in Colorado and nationwide. As a result of this study, transportation agencies can determine future budget needs, funding allocations, and treatment policies in order to demonstrate the best possible use of pavement management resources on LVRs.