PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE PRIORITY RANKING PROCEDURE FOR ROAD NETWORKS

 

 

Rezqallah H. Ramadhan, Hamad 1. Al-Abdul Wahhab, and Khalaf A. Al-Ofi

 

 

ABSTRACT:       

This paper describes the procedure followed to the development of pavement maintenance priority ranking using a composite index methodology. In this procedure, the factors affecting ranking of pavement sections were identified and their values were quantified. The weight of importance of each of these factors was determined by using specially designed questionnaire. The local perception towards the maintenance priority ranking was captured. Different groups of individuals such as managers, engineers, academicians, and other road users were asked to estimate the importance weight of priority factors. The factors included in this study were road class, pavement condition, operating traffic, riding quality, safety condition, maintenance cost, and the overall importance of road section to community. The weight of importance scale obtained in this study was verified by using another questionnaire following the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) using pair-wise comparison technique.

The developed composite index priority ranking procedure was validated by two real case studies where the results of local experience of engineering judgment for maintenance projects priority ranking were compared to the ranking of the developed procedure for the same cases. This comparison was found to be logical and statistically sound which implies that the developed procedure can capture the engineering judgment and efficiently handles the ranking of huge number of pavement sections according to their importance or urgency for maintenance and repair.