Road infrastructure maintenance: Operative method for interventions’ ranking

Abstract

Planned maintenance of transportation infrastructure is a milestone in maintaining the functionality and safety of road networks. This paper is part of this process and aims to propose an easily applicable and versatile operational methodology for prioritizing maintenance interventions generally scheduled on road networks of considerable extent. An operational methodology for ranking and prioritizing maintenance interventions is proposed; this method is applicable to road networks of such size that direct inspection of each situation is impossible. The core of the paper is the analytical description of this methodology, based on a weighted sum function of three blocks: i) Category − is a score related to the purpose of the intervention; ii) Asset − is a score due to the road on which the intervention is located (considering Average Daily Traffic, Accidentality, Social Cost, Road Type, Routes); iii) Typology − is a score related to the element on which the intervention is being carried out. After describing the parameters and the implementation procedure for each block, the calibration of the relative weights is described, and a sensitivity analysis is performed. In the case study, the proposed methodology is applied to the ANAS corporate network in Italy. This case study will highlight the usefulness, versatility, and operability of the methodology with GIS (Geographic Information System) tools for implementing thematic maps. A concluding section concerns the addition of a scoring block − Spatial Context − as an additional differentiating factor due to the spatial context of each road.

Keywords

• Decision support system
• Maintenance ranking
• Road maintenance
• Road infrastructure
• Road management
• Transportation management