Document Library

A brochure on the benefits of using ground penetrating radar to measure pavement layer thickness.

For this NCHRP Project 20-07/Task 120 Asset Management, the consultant assisted the AASHTO Task Force on Transportation Asset Management by coordinating numerous on-going activities and by contributing to the development of the AASHTO Strategic Plan for Asset Management. The consultant coordinated the business of the Task Force with the FHWA, AASHTO members, and other public and private agencies regarding the operation, improvement, and preservation of transportation assets. The consultant helped coordinate and facilitate a workshop on asset management held in Scottsdale, Arizona, on December 1-3, 1999.

This workbook was developed to assist participants in following the information presented in the Pavement Preventive Maintenance course. It contains information on the benefits, challenges, techniques, and costs of pavement preservation programs, as well as providing findings from recent case studies.

Asset management--the cost-effective operation, maintenance, and preservation of transportation systems--is not a new concept for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA); but with the opening of the agency's first Office of Asset Management on February 1, 1999, the concept received a new emphasis and a new focal point. The Office of Asset Management is dedicated to putting into practice FHWA's belief in an integrated asset management system that incorporates highways, bridges, tunnels, hardware, and other assets. One of the primary roles of the new office is to act as a consultant to the states as they implement asset management practices. Knowledge-sharing is the root of this effort. In encouraging the states to move away from a purely engineering-based system to more of an economic system, part of the office's role is helping the states to think more like the private sector when managing their assets--that is, to consider the costs and benefits. The result ideally should be transportation systems that are effectively managed from a user perspective. The office is also helping the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Transportation Research Board prepare an asset management guidebook for state use.

According to this primer, asset management is a systematic process of maintaining, upgrading, and operating physical assets cost-effectively. It combines engineering principles with sound business practices and economic theory, and it provides tools to facilitate a more organized, logical approach to decision-making. Thus, asset management provides a framework for handling both short- and long-range planning. Asset management has come of age because of (1) changes in the transportation environment, (2) changes in public expectations, and (3) extraordinary advances in technology. Today's transportation environment is characterized by high user demand, budgets stretched by significant and growing requirements, past and projected declines in staff resources, and a mature system that is experiencing ongoing deterioration. This document answers basic questions about Asset Management.

A report on the significance of pavement preservation, and its role in the future of asset management practices.

A document that provides guidance on strategies for enhancing pavement smoothness to optimize highway performance.

A document that provides guidance on strategies for enhancing pavement smoothness to optimize highway performance.

This guide provides materials for the instructor of a Pavement Maintenance Effectiveness: Preventive Maintenance Treatments Workshop. The guide was developed to facilitate a slide presentation on state of the practice for pavement preventative maintenance treatments across nine sections.

Pavement preventive maintenance is an important tool for extending the service life of pavements in a cost effective manner. Many of the available treatments are currently used by state highway agencies for pavement preservation. However, to be effective as a preventive maintenance practice, these treatments must be placed on the pavement much earlier in the pavement service life than is currently the practice. The purpose of this document is to describe the need for and benefits of preventive maintenance, discuss the engineering applications of these treatments, review the materials used for preventive maintenance, and describe the application process for these treatments. The treatments described in this document include: fog seals, slurry seals, micro-surfacing, chip seals, thin hot-mix overlays, and crack sealing of flexible pavements; crack and joint sealing, subsealing, and retrofit of dowel bars of rigid pavements. This Participant's Handbook was developed to support a one day workshop on pavement Maintenance Effectiveness - Preventive Maintenance Treatments.

This guide provides supplemental materials for participants in a Pavement Maintenance Effectiveness: Innovative Materials Workshop. The workshop covers various aspects of pavement maintenance, including research trends, methods for repair, evaluating treatment effectiveness, and more.

The objectives of this project, NCHRP 14-09(4) Role of Highway Maintenance in Integrated Management Systems, were to design an idealized Maintenance Management Information System (MMIS) based on data available from all transportation information systems and develop a guide to assist state transportation agencies in moving toward implementation. 
The final report has been published as NCHRP Report 363, "Role of Highway Maintenance in Integrated Management Systems." This report outlines a framework for integrating maintenance management with other highway and administrative management functions. This framework considers the next generation of maintenance management systems, and how they must respond to the organizational, political, and technological trends that have emerged in recent years.
The report can be found at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rpt_363.pdf