Pavement Preservation Journal, Spring, 2012
Ken Maser, P.E.
A pavement management system (PMS) forecasts the remaining life of all pavement segments making up a network, and then projects rehabilitation activities and allocates resources based on these projections over the life cycle of the pavement.
A key element in projecting the remaining life of a pavement segment is the pavement structure, that is, the thickness and type of the pavement layers. Normally this information is recorded in the as-built drawings, but these drawings, if available, are often inaccurate and do not reflect the current pavement structure.
In addition, pavement segments in the PMS, which are supposed to be lengths of uniform pavement structure, are often not uniform at all. For example, some agencies have used “dynamic segmentation” which involves segmentation based on similar distress. Consequently, both the segment’s length and its starting and ending points change from year to year depending on variations in surface conditions.
