Measures for Highway Maintenance Quality Assurance

This paper contains the findings of an investigation into the measures used in highway maintenance quality assurance. The study is an outgrowth of the Maintenance Quality Assurance (MQA) Peer Exchange held in October 2004 in Madison, WI. The peer exchange focused on highway maintenance and involved 74 participants representing 35 U.S. states and Canadian provinces. The conference’s online document library, consisting of documents submitted by participating state DOTs, is the primary resource used to complete this study. Highway agencies practicing MQA have become increasingly interested in what other agencies are doing; what measures are being used, and what works. The purpose of this study is to provide a resource for those agencies. The goals of this paper are to present a set of terms used in MQA, illustrate a process for identifying common measures for quantifying maintenance performance, and highlight some of the measures identified. The process is illustrated with the development of measures for maintenance features related to traffic management. A synthesis of the information gathered using results from previous workshops and surveys leads to conclusions about whether consensus exists about measures among agencies practicing MQA.