Annualized Road Works Cost Estimates for Unpaved Roads
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 10
Abstract
Providing locally elected officials with reasonable information about the cost of maintaining and improving an unpaved road network is part of the job for those directly responsible for maintaining such a network. This paper describes a simple method for generating estimates of the annualized maintenance and construction costs incurred by small agencies, three Wyoming counties in this case. Several simple inputs are used to estimate the total annualized cost of operating an unpaved road network. Road segments are assigned to one of four functional classes. Treatment costs and frequencies are determined for each functional class. These inputs are used to generate annualized network-level cost estimates for each county. The most difficult aspect of this procedure is generating reasonable treatment cost and frequency information, particularly for rehabilitation and reconstruction costs. The process of generating these inputs, along with the process of assigning roads to functional classes, is described in this paper. Comparisons between the estimates generated using the method presented in this paper and actual costs incurred by two of the counties both demonstrate the feasibility of this method and highlight aspects of this procedure that will benefit from further refinement. Tailoring treatment costs and frequencies to in-place cost tracking methods will make for more precise projection of future costs, particularly for maintenance tasks. The methods presented here are particularly useful for smaller agencies without the resources to undertake highly sophisticated, expensive asset management programs. This methodology may be applied to a wide and diverse range of agencies.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers thank Carbon, Johnson, and Sheridan Counties and the UNSPECIFIEDWyoming Department of Transportation. Without the assistance and support of these agencies and their employees, this project would not have been possible.
References
Archondo-Callao, R. (2007a). “RONET—Road network evaluation tools user guide version 1.0. SSATP Working Paper No. 85-A, Sub-Saharan African transport policy program.” ⟨http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTAFRSUBSAHTRA/Resources/RONET-UsersGuide-85A.pdf⟩ (Dec. 1, 2008).
Archondo-Callao, R. (2007b). “Evaluating economically justified road works expenditures on unpaved roads in developing countries.” Transportation Research Record. 1989, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 41–49.
ASCE. (1992). “Local low volume roads and streets.” Publication No. FHwA-SA-93-006, Office of Technology Applications, FHwA, Washington, D.C.
Cambridge Systematics, Inc. (2007). “U.S. domestic scan program: Best practices in transportation asset management: Scan report.” Rep. Prepared for NCHRP Project 20-68, FHwA, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies (TRB), 3-1–3-14.
Giumarra, G. J. (2003). “Establishment of a road classification system and geometric design and maintenance standards of low-volume roads.” Proc., 8th Int. Conf. on Low-Volume Roads, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 132–140.
HDMGlobal. (2008). “Summary of improvements in HDM-4 Version 2.0.” ⟨http://www.hdmglobal.com/hdm4version2.asp⟩ (Dec. 9, 2008).
Huntington, G., and Ksaibati, K. (2005). “Gravel roads asset management.” Transportation Research Circular No. E-C078, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies (TRB), Washington, D.C., 214–228.
McManus, K. J., and Metcalf, J. B. (2003). “Analysis of deterioration models for lightly loaded thin seal flexible pavements.” Proc., 8th Int. Conf. on Low-Volume Roads, Transportation Research Board (TRB), Washington, D.C., 294–298.
Paige-Green, P., and Visser, A. T. (1991). “Comparison of the impact of various unpaved road performance models on management decisions.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Low-Volume Roads, Transportation Research Board (TRB), Washington, D.C., 137–142.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management. (1982). Road standards: Excepts from BLM manual Section 9113, Denver Service Center, Denver.
van Zyl, G. D., Henderson, M. G., and Foure, H. G. (2003). “Optimizing low-volume road network performance through improved management, design, and construction.” Proc., 8th Int. Conf. on Low-Volume Roads, Transportation Research Board (TRB), Washington, D.C., 299–305.
Walker, D. (1989). Gravel—PASER manual, Wisconsin Transportation Information Center, Madison, Wis.
World Bank. (1999). “Road user charges model.” Road software tools, ⟨http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTTRANSPORT/EXTROADSHIGHWAYS/0,contentMDK:20483189~menuPK:1097394~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:338661,00.html#ruc⟩ (Feb. 20, 2008).
Wyoming Technology Transfer Center. (2007). “Asset management for Wyoming counties.” Rep. Prepared for Carbon, Johnson, and Sheridan Counties and the Wyoming Dept. of Transportation, Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyo., ⟨http://wwweng.uwyo.edu/wyt2/assetmanagement/reports/⟩ (Jan. 23, 2008).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 11, 2008
Accepted: Mar 24, 2009
Published online: Sep 15, 2009
Published in print: Oct 2009
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.