Elements of the Austrian PMS and Experiences From the First Application

With its decision, in July 1998, to implement a harmonized Pavement Management System (PMS) for the systematic maintenance of Austria’s approximately 2,000 km of motorways and expressways, Autobahnen- und Schnellstrassen-Finanzierungs-Aktiengesellschaft (ASFINAG) and the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) took a first step towards future-oriented road maintenance planning. ASFINAG and the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology commissioned the Institute for Road Construction and Maintenance at Vienna’s University of Technology (ISTU) with the implementation of a computer-assisted pavement management system for motorways and expressways, in cooperation with the road administration authorities of Austria’s 9 provinces and the two motorway companies ASG (Alpenstrassen Aktiengesellschaft) and OESAG (Oesterreichische Autobahnen und Schnellstrassen Aktiengesellschaft), which maintain the road network on behalf of ASFINAG. The aim of the project, apart from the unification of systematic road maintenance, has been the medium- and long-term improvement of the efficiency of maintenance strategies, as well as a more equitable distribution of funds allocated for the constantly increasing share of structural maintenance in total road construction expenditure among individual administration authorities.