Benefits and Assessment of Annual Budget Requirements for Pavement Preservation

This research identifies methods and best practices that can be used by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) in performing various strategies for pavement preservation. It also identifies various methods of calculating the benefits of pavement preservation and a methodology for allocation of funds for pavement preservation, which are the two main objectives of this research. In order to achieve these objectives, several tasks were performed: literature review, data collection through Surveys and telephone interviews, data analysis and recommendations. For the data collection process, all the department of transportation (DOTs) across the US and three Canadian provinces were sent a Survey. A total of 26 responses were received, and by analyzing them thoroughly, seven state DOTs were identified as candidates for telephone interviews. In order to quantify the benefits of pavement preservation, a method called Annualized Costs was identified and recommended to INDOT. Furthermore, a methodology was developed for budget allocation. This methodology was developed to create more consistent demands for resources (i.e., budget) by using a resource leveling algorithm. This algorithm overcame the discrepancies in the budget requirements, providing more balanced budgetary needs over the entire life cycle of the projects. With this model, INDOT will know in advance how much budget will be needed or should be allocated for optimum results. All these recommendations were made on the basis of collected data and literature review performed by researchers during the course of this project