Recent Developments in Pavement Management for Road Maintenance: Equipment, Software, and Standard

During the past decades, pavement management systems (PMS) have been developed and implemented widely by road maintenance agencies and highway authorities around the world. China initiated its work in this area in 1984 following the implementation of a highway pavement evaluation and management system, developed by the UK for developing countries, and has established a compressive system from data collection to results visualization to assistant decision-making in road asset management. This paper describes the application of the decision-making procedures adopted by highway authorities and recent developments in data collection equipment, information software, and national standard. With the guidance and support of the Ministry of Transport PRC, a series of nation-wide technical specifications and administrative policies were constituted with an extensive coverage of equipment, information software, road condition evaluation, and maintenance project construction. Each year, provincial and national level road condition monitoring was conducted, which improved the accuracy of determination of the maintenance project plan and the management process at different administration levels.