Pavement Management Planning

Pavement Management Planning consists of a planned, systematic approach in optimizing pavement maintenance and rehabilitation activities to provide the desired level of pavement condition and life span with available funding. Implementation of PMP results in identification of needs of the pavement system and schedules for maintenance and rehabilitation to address identified needs. PMP considers current and future pavement condition, maintenance and rehabilitation alternatives, funding, priorities and other factors to develop maintenance and rehabilitation plans and schedules to achieve desired goals.

Individual maintenance options such as Asphalt Repairs, Sealcoating, Cracksealing and striping should all be used in the maintenance of your parking lots. But employment of only one or two of these techniques is (at best) a one-shot effort to forestall the inevitable deterioration of the asphalt pavement. By using several maintenance approaches together, one to support the other, you compound the advantages of each singular approach which will significantly extend the life of your pavement - and save money.

Perdue' Sealcoat & Paving uses this powerful technique with many of its customers to maintain their pavement needs and it really should be the foundation of your efforts to maintain the quality of your pavements and extend their life. This program is designed to stretch dollars and simplify the job of the facility manager, and is based on the idea that the timing of the repair is as important as the repairs themselves.

Pavement Management Planning: A Management Tool
As a management tool this plan enables you to plan your pavement maintenance so you can maintain your parking lots in the most cost-effective way. Pavement Management Planning is a systematic, long-term approach (we recommend looking anywhere from two to five years down the line) that ties together all the various maintenance options under one plan. Because it is a long-range plan, it enables you to budget your repairs, giving you greater control over your maintenance expenses - and it gives you the best chance you can have of getting the most bang for your maintenance buck.

PMP Pavements in Varying Conditions
Pavements in different condition ranges require different types of maintenance and rehabilitation activities. Applicable procedures range from minor routine maintenance to total reconstruction depending on pavement condition. Specific procedures selected may vary depending on performance levels in different areas and for different functions. Each procedure used in PMP has an associated cost, pavement condition improvement level and life cycle.

Steps in Pavement Management

Inventory
Initially, we conduct a physical inventory of each parking lot. This function consists of identifying, describing, and logging the pavement system into our database which describes the entire pavement system to be managed. We evaluate what's concrete and what's asphalt, we analyze automobile and pedestrian traffic flow, noting entrances and exits, drainage, islands, delivery areas and dumpsters, etc., measuring and recording what we find. We note depressions, rutting, all cracking by type and severity, potholes, saw cut repairs, etc.

Condition Survey
The condition of each inventory section is assessed by various methods. This phase identifies the pavement condition of each section. Therefore, once the inventory is completed, we convert all this information on paper and correlate it with a diagram of your parking lot, with each damaged area and type of repair indicated. Condition surveys are generally performed each year to monitor performance of the pavement system.

Identify Maintenance and Rehabilitation Alternatives
Next, we rank the pavement defects and recommend repairs. But rather than rank them from the worst pavement areas to the best, we rank them from the most cost-effective repair to least cost-effective repair. In other words, we rank the pavement defects starting with the most important to fix first - not in order of severity, and here's why. In many cases, it is more cost effective to let certain defects go a year or two and repair other defects in the meantime. That's because some repairs - rather than fix a defect - will prevent more costly defects from occurring.

Operate the System
Once hired, with the pavement inventory, condition survey and maintenance and rehabilitation alternatives it is then possible to model pavement condition with various rehabilitation strategies (procedures and timing) to determine future pavement condition and associated cost. Rehabilitation strategies can then be optimized considering goals and funding. Work schedules are then produced and priorities and budgets set. Maintenance and rehabilitation are then performed as scheduled.

Monitoring the Schedule
During operation of PMP, condition data is collected to monitor and verify if maintenance and rehabilitation procedures used are producing predicted results. Performance predictions are updated as data becomes available. Other changes can be made in the system as data acquisition, rehabilitation and performance prediction technology improves.

Summary
The maintenance of your pavement is as important as the maintenance on your car. You wouldn't risk not taking your car in for routine tune-ups or oil changes, so why take chances with your parking lot. Viewing pavement maintenance as an investment and not as an expense is one way to avoid costly repairs. If you rely on the Pavement Management Plan, you will be able to better schedule your pavement repairs for a time when they will be the most cost-effective, and, you will be able to plan your maintenance expenses better, which means you will be able to budget your expenses more accurately.