Chapter 39: Highway Performance

Under the prevailing conditions of financial stringency and competitive pressure, the analysis of many highway service decisions warrants multi-disciplinary collaboration between highway engineers and management accountants on issues of investment, performance analysis as well as cost and productivity measurement. This chapter aims to improve value for money outcomes by building an integrated platform of understanding of the key issues and available tools, and give interested stakeholders a wider view of important considerations at the highway network level.

The particular focus of this chapter is highway maintenance, a pervasive world-wide transportation concern. Maintenance policy is defined as actions directed towards preserving and enhancing the integrity, serviceability and safety of highways, through timely and cost effective intervention aimed at offsetting ongoing physical surface and sub-surface changes. Specific management concerns addressed are the maintenance of the existing highway network and the “life-time cost” planning and analysis for highway investments.