Paper ID#: 97
Paper Title: Pavement Management Systems in Sweden
Primary Author: J. Lang
Abstract Text : Ten years back engineering judgment was the backbone at different decision levels and the need to have objective information to support decisions was significant. Three decision levels were identified: 1. Strategic level. 2. Programming level. 3. Project level. The objective of the PMS strategic level is to produce objective information as decision support in fund raising, in allocation of available budget to the regions and to monitor the change in network condition. The implementation of PMS Strategic level started 1996 and the system is today accepted as an important tool at the main office. The core of this level is the Finnish system HIPS (Highway Investment Programming System). HIPS is based on a probabilistic approach, using Markov models. The database for HIPS is extracted from the database at the PMS programming level. Further development of HIPS is performed in co-operation with the Finnish National Road Administration. Due to the fact that the Swedish State road network has been measured in a consistent way since 1987 there is good possibilities to monitor the performance of the network. The measured condition (rut depth and roughness) show an improvement of the condition during the last ten years. This is controversial because the results does not correspond to the public opinion that the condition is getting worse. The objective of the PMS programming level is to serve as a tool to identify candidate projects to be analyzed more in detail at the project level. The first version of PMS programming level, was implemented 1988. This system was 1995 replaced by a new modern system (Windows NT). The programming level is today well accepted throughout the 7 regions but the high degree of complexity has reduced the number of users. In order to increase the number of users several steps have been taken. 1. One person is appointed as system manager that maintains the system and support users. The system manager is considered to be the key to a successful implementation. 2. A user-friendly planning module is under development and will be implemented in November 2001. A modified version of the Norwegian PMS will be used as planning module. 3. New modules for condition prediction, road user effects and cost-benefit analysis are implemented. The objective of the PMS project level is to serve as a tool for pavement and overlay design. The first step of the project level was implemented 2000 and further steps are under development. The PMS project level has today sub modules for calculation of traffic load, bearing capacity and frost heave.