PREDICTING MAINTENANCE COST FOR USE IN TRADE-OFF ANALYSES

THERE ARE OPPORTUNITIES FOR LOWERING THE COST OF HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION BY ANALYTICALLY CONSIDERING THE COST OF FUTURE MAINTENANCE DURING HIGHWAY DESIGN. SELECTION OF MAINTENANCE POLICY CAN ALSO BE APPROACHED AS A PROBLEM OF MINIMIZING THE COST OF TRANSPORTATION. SUITABLE TECHNIQUES FOR PREDICTING FUTURE MAINTENANCE COST ARE REQUIRED, HOWEVER, TO QUANTITATIVELY CONSIDER THESE TRADE-OFFS. THIS STUDY CONSIDERS THE TRADE-OFFS BETWEEN MAINTENANCE COSTS AND OTHER HIGHWAY COSTS BY LOOKING AT MAINTENANCE AS ONE PART OF THE OVERALL SYSTEM INSTEAD OF TREATING MAINTENANCE AS AN INDEPENDENT PROBLEM. SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS WAS AIDED BY DEVELOPING A METHOD OF PREDICTING FUTURE MAINTENANCE COST FOR A SPECIFIED ENVIRONMENT, DESIGN, TRAFFIC LOAD, AND MAINTENANCE POLICY. THE ESTIMATING METHOD IS BASED ON SIMULATION OF THE TOTAL PROCESS FROM DESIGN THROUGH OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE, FOR THE ECONOMIC LIFE OF THE PROJECT. THE PHYSICAL CYCLE OF DETERIORATION AND REPAIR IS SIMULATED IN SUFFICIENT DETAIL TO ALLOW SPECIFIC ADJUSTMENTS TO BE MADE. THE MODEL CAN BE ADAPTED TO A WIDE RANGE OF CONDITIONS. PRELIMINARY USE OF THE MODEL ON ACTUAL PROJECTS HAS ILLUSTRATED ITS POTENTIAL FOR INCORPORATING FUTURE MAINTENANCE COSTS INTO THE DESIGN PROCESS AND IN EXPLORING THE EFFECT OF COMPETING MAINTENANCE POLICIES ON TOTAL TRANSPORTATION COST. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1972/391/391-001.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsored by Committee on Maintenance and Operations Costs. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Alexander, John A
  • Moavenzadeh, Fred
• Conference:
  • 51st Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1972-1-17 to 1972-1-21
• Publication Date: 1972

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1-9
• Monograph Title: Maintenance systems: estimating maintenance costs, solid-waste disposal systems, maintenance station locations, manager training, and equipment management
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 391
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Forecasting; Highway maintenance; Highway planning; Life cycle analysis; Maintenance management; Simulation; Systems analysis
• Uncontrolled Terms: Maintenance costs
• Old TRIS Terms: Projection
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00219001
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Sep 30 1972 12:00AM