Briefing: New developments in pavement maintenance

This briefing presents a new method of optimising highway maintenance in a pavement management system. It describes how Genepav-HDM4, a maintenance optimisation system (MOS), has been developed for inclusion in Portuguese pavement management systems (PMS). It could be developed for application in other areas where the PMS needs to be upgraded. Portuguese law no. 110/2009, of 18 May, requires highway operators to submit a quality control plan and a maintenance and operation manual to the Portuguese Road Infrastructures Institute (InIR). The results obtained by the application of this new MOS to Portuguese road networks clearly indicate that it responds to these requirements and is a valuable addition to the road engineer’s toolbox.