BEST PRACTICES TO SUPPORT AND IMPROVE PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR LOW-VOLUME PAVED ROADS \u2013 PHASE I

2018PDFTech ReportCDOT-2018-03Low volume roadsPavement management systemsMaintenance managementPavement maintenanceLow-Volume RoadsPavement Management SystemPavement MaintenanceState Maintenance StrategiesColoradoUnited StatesColorado. Dept. of Transportation. Research BranchHafez, MarwanKsaibati, KhaledAtadero, RebeccaColorado State UniversityColorado. Dept. of Transportation. Research BranchUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionThe Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has been trying to identify the most effective methods for managing low-volume roads (LVRs). These roads are facing multiple challenges including: reductions in maintenance budgets, impact of industrial activities, and potentially not receiving the most cost effective treatments. Considerable savings can be secured by implementing an effective and informed management system for all LVRs engineering issues, including: planning, design, and maintenance. This report documents current national and local practices and investigates treatment policies that are in place on LVRs by summarizing the results of multiple surveys. Four online surveys were sent to the TRB low-volume roads committee, eight state DOTs, local governments in Colorado, and the material advisory committee in the CDOT. Seventy-one transportation agencies and individuals responded to the survey. The findings of this study provide CDOT and transportation agencies nationwide with comprehensive guidelines and state-of-the-practice information for managing LVRs. These guidelines include information about defining low-volume paved roads and types of PMS data recommended on these roads. It also gives insight about the effectiveness of some of treatment strategies applied to LVRs by different states at different management levels. The participants emphasized the need for some innovative maintenance activities for LVRs and integrating optimization techniques. A comprehensive literature review is introduced showing the most commonly applied treatments and new technologies for maintaining LVRs. This report is a useful reference to present key planning, design, and maintenance that are successfully meeting LVRs management needs. Implementation The results of this synthesis report are used to inform the second phase of the project studying CDOT maintenance strategies for low-volume roads