Pavement Preservation Plan
Posted by Jesse Willoughby on Wed, Apr 08, 2009 @ 05:35 AM
What is Pavement Preservation?
Pavement Preservation is a planned system of treating pavements to maximize their useful life.
All pavements require some form of maintenance due to the effects of traffic and the environment on the exposed pavement materials. Many times,the only treatment a pavement receives is crack filling or patching, while surface distresses are ignored. Applying a surface treatment to a pavement with light to moderate
distress can greatly increase the life of a pavement.
Pavement Preservation takes the maintenance process one step further by carefully choosing and timing pavement maintenance applications to extend the life of a pavement.
WhatAre the Benefits Of Pavement Preservation?
The most obvious benefit of Pavement Preservation is the extension of the life of the pavement. Other benefits of a Pavement Preservation program are:
• Lower costs over time - Studies show every additional dollar spent on preventive maintenance treatments saves up to $10 in future rehabilitation costs.
• More predictable costs - If you schedule your treatments and keep your pavements maintained, you should be better able to predict and plan future costs.
• Fewer premature pavement failures - Many premature pavement failures are caused by pavement damage that goes untreated, such as water seeping into cracks.
• Better condition pavements - Scheduled monitoring and pavement treatments keep pavements in better overall condition
than random or insufficient maintenance.
• Reduced user delays and user costs - The more extensive damage a pavement has, the longer drivers will be delayed
due to construction. Pavements that are in good condition are also easier on a vehicle's daily wear and tear.
• Better utilization of resources - Regularly scheduling treatments allows better use of available resources, and planning for those you may need (such as contractors, equipment, etc.).
• A happier driving public - Drivers will get to their destinations on time over safe,well-maintained roads and parking lots.
HowDo I Start A Pavement Preservation Program?
1 INVENTORY your road system and components - This will give you a starting point.You might also want to consider gathering Average Daily Traffic (ADT) or ESAL counts on those roads that seem to have heavier traffic, have a lot of growth nearby, or that have not been surveyed in a while.
2 FIELD SURVEYS determine your pavements' conditions - We've provided a Pavement Rating Form for you to use.The field surveys will give you information on how to prioritize your treatment strategy.
3 ANALYZE field surveys and reports to determine maintenance strategy - Pavements that are severely distressed aren't the best candidates for a surface treatment because you may have to reconstruct them fairly soon. Instead, it may be better to apply a surface treatment to a pavement with light or moderate distress.
4 PLAN STRATEGY using analysis from PMS as a tool (if available) - A Pavement Management System (PMS) makes your decisions easier, especially if you have many pavements that need attention in the near future.
5 IMPLEMENT, execute, and document costs and work performed for future use - Keeping track of the work performed and related costs can help determine the life of a treatment and the true costs over time.