Jointly optimal policies for pavement maintenance, resurfacing and reconstruction

We present a methodology for the joint optimization of flexible pavement maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction (MR&R) activities. The majority of existing Pavement Management Systems do not optimize reconstruction jointly with maintenance and rehabilitation policies. We show that not accounting for reconstruction in maintenance and rehabilitation planning results in suboptimal policies for pavements undergoing cumulative damages in the underlying layers (base, sub-base or subgrade). We use a history-dependent pavement deterioration model to account for the influence of MR&R history on the deterioration rate. We present dynamic programming solutions using an augmented state which includes current surface condition and age. The optimal maintenance and resurfacing policies and the optimal time between reconstructions are obtained and graphically represented for a range of real-world pavements.