Relationship Between Pavement Performance and Routine Maintenance: Mixed Logit Approach

A mixed logit approach was used to investigate the relationship between routine maintenance and pavement performance. A discrete model was developed to examine how pavement performance levels affect the probability of performing maintenance on pavement sections. Another continuous model was formulated to investigate the effect of maintenance on the level of pavement performance. Maintenance was considered a discrete event representing a binary choice of its being performed on a pavement section or not. Pavement performance levels were represented by roughness numbers. Other variables included were pavement thickness, pavement loading, and a regional factor. Pavement thickness was assumed to represent initial construction, and traffic loadings were in the form of equivalent single-axle loads. The regional factor represented the weather and climatic differences between the northern and southern regions. A two-stage procedure was applied to evaluate the mixed logit approach. The data from the Interstate highways in Indiana for 1984 to 1985 were used for model estimation. The mixed logit approach produced much better results than the single-equation method in specifying the models in terms of coefficient signs and their significances. The results confirmed that pavement roughness was affected by maintenance and that the decision to undertake maintenance was influenced by the expected level of pavement roughness.