A GIS-enabled Multi-Year Pavement Rehabilitation Needs Analysis System

Abstract

This dissertation presents the algorithm, methodology, modeling, and system development of a GIS-enabled multi-year pavement rehabilitation needs analysis system which can perform multi-year network-level pavement rehabilitation needs analysis subject to funding availability, minimum performance requirements, and balancing constraints. The system links network-level analysis results directly with project-level maintenance plans and, therefore, can generate not only network-level results but also detailed project-level rehabilitation plans, such as when to treat, where to treat and what treatment method to use.

The system first utilizes the current and historical project level pavement condition evaluation information stored in the central Oracle database to forecast future project performance ratings and distresses, to determine appropriate treatment methods and costs, and to calculate life-cycle cost effectiveness ratios for all the projects in the pavement network. Based on this information, a methodology was developed to perform various network-level analyses to determine multi-year funding requirements to meet various prescribed pavement performance requirements and to determine optimum pavement rehabilitation plans subject to funding availability and other requirements, such as balancing funding distribution or future pavement performance among Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) Engineering Districts or State Congressional Districts. The system integrates graphical information on GIS maps with information in the central Oracle database and the needs analysis results seamlessly so that engineers can perform interactive map-based multi-year what-if needs analysis directly on the maps using the framework and methodology presented in this dissertation. Several case studies using the actual historical pavement condition evaluation data from the GDOT are presented to illustrate the capabilities of the system. The dissertation concludes with a summary of major conclusions and recommendations for future research.

Besides linking network-level analysis results directly with project-level maintenance plans, the following major advantages of the system are also recognized: GIS technology is fully utilized in the system. The system is one of the first pavement needs analysis systems that allows an engineer to perform interactive map-based what-if scenario analyses on multi-year pavement needs analysis. The system allows the rehabilitation plans to balance pavement rehabilitation costs and performances among different political jurisdictions. The system can perform various types of analyses to develop multi-year rehabilitation plans subject to various budget and performance constraints together with the balancing constraints. Although the system was developed for GDOT, with slight modifications, the system can be used by engineers in other transportation agencies to perform the same analyses.