Development of road management systems in China

Since the introduction of pavement management systems (PMS) in China in 1984, there has been significant progress in research and development of such systems. This paper reviews the development of pavement management systems in China. Three main aspects are presented: the development of China PMS (CPMS) by the China Highway Institute, university-based work on PMS, and integration of facility management systems and integration of PMS with geographical information systems based applications. Significant contributions by researchers at Tongji University on PMS in the past 20 years are also discussed. The paper presents current problems in the full implementation of PMS, and further development in the future in China. Based on the understanding of the application of the Chinese PMS and the efforts of various highways departments, the authors provide some recommendations to help tackle real-world problems. It is estimated that full implementation of PMS in the whole country will take another 5–10 years.