Pavement Management System Based on Financial Consequence (05-1481) - MP-10**
Sohila Bemanian, Parsons
Patricia L. Polish, Nevada Department of Transportation
Gayle Maurer, Nevada Department of Transportation

One of the biggest challenges that any public organization is concerned with is how to prioritize projects to maximize the existing funding. Today, with so many programs competing for the same funding, it is more important than ever to optimize the pavement rehabilitation program in order to allow funding for other programs such as safety, capacity improvements, and environmental improvement projects. The objective of this report is to describe how the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) optimized its available funding while improving pavement condition using an eight step financial consequence-based pavement management system. This eight step procedure includes administration support, contract database implementation, roadway system division, performance models, project prioritization, and strategy selection. This procedure can easily be adopted by other states. A nominal amount of information is required to initiate this financial consequence-based system and the reward can be exceptional. NDOT saves $42M per year using this methodology. Another advantage of a financial consequence-based pavement management system over a conventional network optimization system is that this process allows engineers to communicate with top administration in a very nontechnical way. Administrators can understand the concept and make the right roadway funding choices without needing a great deal of technical input from engineers. For example, administration understands that the cost of delaying a 10-mile roadway section on an interstate system by two years can cost the agency an additional $6M for rehabilitation. However, a financial consequence of delaying a 10-mile roadway section on a relatively low volume road might be only a few thousand dollars.