Abstract
This paper presents a new optimization model for addressing the problem of planning pavement maintenance, rehabilitation, and reconstruction (MRR) for a large-scale road network. In the past, this problem has usually been formulated as a linear programming or integer programming model. The solutions obtained from those models determine the timing, location, and type of treatment needed to perform the MRR operation for a given planning horizon. A shortcoming of such models is that the sections selected for MRR are usually distributed spatially across the network, and this distribution makes it difficult to plan and implement MRR activities in a coordinated manner. To take advantage of economies of scale, adjacent road sections with similar MRR needs should be maintained within a single project. However, the idea of automatically combining adjacent sections into one large project has not been given serious attention in existing optimization models for pavement MRR planning. This paper proposes a new approach to pavement MRR planning that utilizes the spatial structure of the road network. The road network is first partitioned into groups of adjacent sections, or MRR projects, with similar MRR needs. Then a knapsack problem is solved to optimally allocate resources to selected MRR projects with the objective of maximizing system performance.
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