Development of a Pavement Management System to be Used in Highway Pavement Evaluation in Jordan

Abstract

Since year 2000, the main road network in Jordan has witnessed large developments in the fields of design, construction, evaluation and maintenance. This development aimed at keeping up with the socio-economical and social development and to accommodate the large increase in the number of vehicles of heavy loads and to contribute in reducing traffic accidents through constructing more corridors around the capital city of Amman. In addition, to rehabilitate and develop the present main roads and construct more new roads that link isolated areas with industrial centers and residential communities.The road network length in Jordan has increased to reach up to 8200km of major and minor roads. During the last ten years, expenditure on roads rose up to 547 million JD. This means that 76% of the allocated budget for roads was spent on road construction.The Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MPW&H) has paid a particular attention to road maintenance with the purpose of conserving this national wealth in spite of the limited allocated amounts for maintenance and rapid increase in maintenance costs. MPW&H took the initiative and awarded maintenance of some of the major roads to Private Sector so that they could contribute in improving this sector. This helped in opening up the opportunity to exchange experiences and to be aware of the sate- of –the- art in road maintenance. The total expenditures on road maintenance for the same period rose up to 173 million JD representing 24% of the road financial budget. Road maintenance includes periodical maintenance, rehabilitation, improvement and reconstruction.

This study aims at introducing the presently adopted pavement management system by MPW&H, showing its positive and negative points, along with suggestions for development.

Keywords: Pavement management, Road maintenance, Pavement evaluation, Roughness, Serviceability, Cracks