Towards development of a pavement management framework for low volume road networks in Canada

• Main Author: Guha, Shajib Kumar
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 2021
• Subjects: Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/15483/; https://research.library.mun.ca/15483/1/thesis.pdf

The concept of the Pavement Management System (PMS) is to assist transportation agencies in making well-informed decisions utilizing pavement-related data and technical expertise. Canada has over 1.13 million kilometers of roads (two-lane equivalent km), which is the seventh-largest road network in the world. Approximately 80% of public roads in Canada are governed by the regional authorities, which refer to cities, towns, and municipalities, making them the most important contributors to the Canadian road management system. Based on the objective and scope of the agencies, the process of implementing the PMS varies. Regional authorities manage low-traffic roads exclusively, and they often lack resources, technical people, and budget. Therefore, it is extremely important to utilize these limited resources and budgets to make efficient decisions. This study represents a PMS framework for the agencies that own low-traffic roads, have resource shortage, and budget constraints. As part of this research, three different surveys were conducted with a view to understanding: PMS practices throughout the country, PMS practices in the municipalities within Newfoundland and Labrador, and road user's feedback on roadway asset conditions. A new PMS framework is proposed using the data from the surveys and following an exclusive literature review on PMS. Finally, municipalities of Newfoundland and Labrador are considered as a case study to apply the proposed framework after an extensive study on these municipalities.