Institutional Issues in Implementation of Pavement Management Systems by Local Agencies

Abstract

To optimize available funds in preserving the national transportation infrastructure, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) mandates that state and local agencies develop and implement various infrastructure management systems. One of these systems is a pavement management system (PMS). To comply with ISTEA, jurisdictions must implement a working PMS in order to continue to qualify for federal funds. Institutional issues that obstruct the implementation of PMS by local agencies are identified and analyzed. For effective implementation and continued use, PMS is viewed as both a new philosophy that must be incorporated into the overall organizational goals of an agency and a support tool for better decision making. Since pavement management is usually only one of several agency functions, the large expenditure of resources associated with PMS implementation is impractical for smaller agencies with limited budgets. This situation has lead to the abandonment of several PMS programs. Through a case study of the San Francisco Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission, strategies for the effective implementation and continued use of PMS are examined, as is the umbrella role of larger metropolitan planning organizations in successfully implementing PMS at local levels. Competing pavement budget requirements between local agencies are examined within the new context of ISTEA's comprehensive system. Finally, it is suggested that implementing PMS within the broader context of an overall infrastructure management apparatus is a strong incentive for optimizing the complete infrastructure system and achieving ISTEA's goal.

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