Pavement Condition Management Coupled with Skid Management at the Network Level: A Multi-Choice Goal Programming Approach

Highways promote economic growth and social development. Traditionally, pavement management considers pavement conditions for maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) decision-making along with system constraints. One of the major tasks of highway agencies is to promote safety. Highway safety involves a complicated interaction of multiple factors. However, it is well established that there is a link between pavement surface friction and safety. Pavement surface characteristics affect the safety and comfort of passengers. Since the pavement management process considers only pavement physical conditions in M&R decision-making, there is a need to include safety indicators in the process to promote both riding comfort and safety. This study aims to integrate the pavement surface friction, that is, the skid resistance, into traditional pavement management. An optimization model has been proposed based on multi-choice goal programming by systematically integrating skid resistance into pavement M&R decision-making along with pavement conditions. Multi-choice goal programming allows setting interval aspirations rather than a fixed target. A case study has been conducted to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed model in managing pavement conditions and pavement skids together. The case study considered five goals related to pavement conditions, skid states, and M&R costs. Interaction among the goals is discussed in different scenarios. The case study also uses friction treatment with traditional pavement management treatments. The model can capture the interaction between pavement conditions and pavement skids and determine the program that best achieves the goals. The proposed method provides a simple approach to selecting a network-level M&R program and obtaining insights into the management of conditions and skid together.