Developing a transition probability matrix as a measure of road network maintenance effectiveness.

Mandiartha, Putu; Duffield, Colin F; Thompson, Russell G; Wigan, Marcus

Abstract

This paper presents a study that assesses the effectiveness of road network maintenance based on historical costs and road roughness progression. The study is intended to measure the effectiveness of routine maintenance and a combination of routine and periodic maintenance. The study analysis is based on a database developed from the State of Victoria consisting of 898 low volume sealed road sections. A new effectiveness measure is introduced based whether road sections remain in the same state condition or move to next worst condition based on a predefined roughness value. Analysis shows that under routine maintenance (without periodic maintenance), the probability of road sections remaining in the same condition exhibit a declining tendency from good to worst state of conditions in comparison with a result when the maintenance budget is spent on a combination of routine and periodic maintenance. Following this, a stochastic prediction model is developed by converting the results into transition probability matrices. These results demonstrate a new and important rationale for road authorities to optimize the selection of appropriate maintenance measures.

• Conference Name: 90th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
• Start Date: Jan 23, 2011
• End Date: Jan 27, 2011
• Publication Date: 2011
• Deposit Date: Jul 9, 2013
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Condition surveys; Low volume roads; Maintenance practices; Pavement maintenance; Roughness; Sealing compounds; Test sections
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/6162