Application of Highway Development and Management Tool in Rural Road Asset Management

K. B. Rathnakara Reddy and A. Veeraragavan

Road asset management is a systematic process of maintaining, upgrading, and operating road assets cost-effectively. Several thousand kilometers of rural roads have been constructed during the past few years in India. The performance of these newly constructed roads under actual traffic, climate, and environmental conditions will be monitored periodically; and a database with data on their performance will be created. The database can be used in planning and scheduling of maintenance activities to preserve the rural road infrastructure by use of sound engineering principles. This paper is an attempt to highlight the various issues that need special attention to preserve the rural road infrastructure assets that are created in the country. The paper presents the effect of timing of maintenance on the pavement condition during the design life and the increased agency cost due to the delay in maintenance intervention. The application of computer-based pavement management tools such as the Highway Development and Management Tool in planning and scheduling of appropriate maintenance strategies is highlighted.

Development of good road infrastructure and its efficient management are important for the economic and social development of any country. The benets from the investment in the road sector are indirect and long-term and are not immediately visible. Roads are important assets for any nation. However, mere creation of this asset is not enough; it must be carefully preserved. A pavement that is not protected and maintained deteriorates fast, and the society must pay heavily for an inefficient and ill-preserved road network. Over the years, as Indias economy started growing, user expectations and demand for better levels of service from roads have also been increasing and the demand for quality and speed in maintenance operations has been rising. Thus, although the road authorities make a case for enhanced allocations, they must be innovative and strive not only for better management and durability of maintenance work but also for better management of the road assets as a whole. India has over 3.3 million km of road network, at present making it one of the largest road networks in the world. State and central governments have started many road infrastructure projects to rebuild the roads at various levels and are spending billions of rupees. In the past few years, the country has added several thousand kilometers of new
K. B. R. Reddy, Infra Support Engineering Consultants Pvt. Ltd., 934, 3rd Cross, HRBR Layout 1st Block, Bangalore-560043, India. A. Veeraragavan, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. Corresponding author: A. Veeraragavan, av@iitm.ac.in. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2204, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2011, pp. 2934. DOI: 10.3141/2204-04

roads built to appropriate standards at levels ranging from national highways to village roads. The task of maintaining the road network requires not only adequate resources but also proper planning and innovative ways of maintenance. Road maintenance managers recognize the value of timely preventive maintenance. However, because the benets are often poorly dened, preventive maintenance programs are, in many cases, not able to compete with other programs. More effort is needed to inform decision makers of the benets and cost-effectiveness of preventive maintenance for pavements in particular. In addition, engineers associated with the rural road development programs face the problem of inadequate funds for maintenance, and hence, they need dedicated funds for the maintenance of these roads. It has often been believed that the construction and maintenance practices that are followed in the country need improvement. The need to train practicing engineers and the engineers of the contractors on good design, construction, and maintenance practices is urgent. Practicing engineers also need to be educated on the benets of timely maintenance, so that the assets created by spending huge investments last longer, serve their intended purpose, and offer the required performance to rural India.

ROAD ASSET MANAGEMENT As outlined above, the government builds several thousand kilometers of roads under various schemes. These are all assets of the country. Unlike other assets, however, the roads are sensitive to traffic and environment and always deteriorate with time. According to AASHTO, Asset management is a systematic process of maintaining, upgrading, and operating physical assets cost-effectively (1). It combines engineering principles with sound business practices and economic theory, and it provides tools to facilitate a more organized, logical approach to decision making. Thus, asset management provides a framework for handling both short- and long-range planning.

Asset Management of Rural Roads Over the past several years, pavement management systems have emerged as important tools to aid with the identication and prioritization of maintenance and rehabilitation treatments on low-volume roads. A rural pavement management system is composed of the following major elements: A regular inventory of the condition of roads, A database for storing pavement performance condition and inventory information,
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