Using Highway Maintenance Management System Information to Select Optimum Levels of Service

State highway agencies in the United States are responsible for maintaining highways so that users are provided with a safe and comfortable highway system and that the investment in the facility is protected. To assist field supervisors in maintaining desired conditions, guidelines that describe recommended levels of service for various highway elements are prepared by maintenance engineers. Selection of levels of service is influenced by a number of considerations that include safety, riding comfort, economics, environmental impact, protection of investment, and aesthetics. State highway agencies selected the development of such a method for research projects 14-5 and 14-5(2) in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). The objectives of Project 14-5 were to: (1) determine existing practices used to establish levels of service; (2) formulate a method to establish levels of service that consider user values and tradeoffs among safety, riding comfort, economics, environmental impact, protection of investment and aesthetics; (3) develop a manual containing step-by-step procedures for highway maintenance organizations to implement the method when establishing levels of service; and (4) demonstrate and document how the method would be used to develop the levels of service for two diverse maintenance problems—traveled way drop-off and control of roadside vegetation growth. The objectives of Project 14-5(2) were to: (1) improve upon the manual and, where possible, simplify it and (2) test the manual sequentially in three agencies to produce a self-sufficient manual that could be used without consultant assistance.

• Corporate Authors:

  University of British Columbia, Vancouver

  Centre for Transportation Studies
  Vancouver, British Columbia  Canada  V6T 1W5
• Authors:
  • Kingham, R Ian
  • Kulkarni, Ram B
• Conference:
  • Research for Tomorrow's Transport Requirements. Proceedings of the Fourth World Conference on Transport Research
  • Location: Vancouver British Columbia, Canada
  • Date: 1986-5-0 to 1986-5-0
• Publication Date: 1986

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 529-536
• Monograph Title: Research for Tomorrow’s Transport Requirements

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Field studies; Highway maintenance; Level of service; Maintenance; Maintenance management; Maintenance personnel; Maintenance practices; Ride quality; State highway departments; Supervisors
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; I60: Maintenance;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01082468
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 18 2007 11:29AM