ORGANIZATION, PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION OF ROAD MAINTENANCE

IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES AND IN SOME COUNTRIES IN AMERICA THE SYSTEM OF MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS IS BEING RADICALLY CHANGED SO THAT, THROUGH MODERN METHODS OF INSPECTION AND SURVEILLANCE, IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO OBTAIN A MECHANIZED CLASSIFICATION OF PRIORITIES FOR AN OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT OF ANNUAL MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS. FRANCE IS SETTING UP A DATA BANK FOR THE WHOLE OF THE NATIONAL NETWORK WITH A VIEW TO ESTABLISHING MAINTENANCE PROGRAMMES ACCORDING TO OBJECTIVES AND PRIORITIES AS REGARDS PLANNING, PRELIMINARY TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC STUDIES, CONTROL OF MAINTENANCE, STRENGTHENING, OPERATION AND SAFETY. THE FOLLOWING DATA ARE USED: GENERAL, GEOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS, ADDITIONAL DATA, PAVEMENT STRUCTURE DATA, NON-DESTRUCTIVE TEST RESULTS, TRAFFIC AND ACCIDENT DATA. THESE DATA ARE COLLECTED BY 6 SPECIALIZED TEAMS WHICH ARE COMPLETELY MECHANIZED. THE UNITED KINGDOM HAS DEVELOPED THE CHART SYSTEM WHICH DETECTS DETERIORATION LEVELS BY MEANS OF SYSTEMATIC INSPECTION; DEFECTS ARE EVALUATED VISUALLY EXCEPT FOR TWO: THE COEFFICIENT OF TRANSVERSE FRICTION AND ROUGHNESS. OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS THE OECD AND PIARC ARE ALSO CONSIDERING THIS PROBLEM.