APPLICATION OF MARKOV PROCESS TO PROJECT LEVEL PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

A methodology for the effective allocation of the maintenance budget for project level management of a highway based on Markovian decision process is presented. The pavements sections on a National highway in India are evaluated and grouped into forty five condition states. The optimum maintenance policy to achieve the specified performance standards with minimum cost are determined. The annual cost of maintenance is found to increase yearly, but tends to follow a steady state after the fifth year. The optimum proportion of roads in different condition states leads to the minimum cost rehabilitation policy with the lowest future maintenance cost. 1