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Mobility Pavement Management
Pavement Management System training is available numerous times during the year at CRAB's office, or can be brought directly to a county. We also offer two training sessions a year in an Eastern Washington county location. CRAB continues their commitment of providing quality Pavement Management System support and training for all 39 counties of Washington State.
What's hiding in your road system?
Introduction to PMS - Pavement Management System
1980's - WSC2 PMS (Washington State, City, and County Pavement Management System) developed, the microcomputer implementation of the WSDOT pavement management system for use by local agencies. CRAB provided WSC2 PMS to the counties, with training and support. Several counties implemented a PMS program at that time.
1990 - Washington State Legislature established the County Arterial Preservation Account (CAPA). The County Arterial Preservation Program (CAPP) funds are provided to the counties for pavement preservation activities on their paved arterials. Codified in RCW 46.68.095(4), one of the criteria is that '. . . a pavement management system is used.'
October 1990 - CRABoard adopted WAC rules for the administration of the County Arterial Preservation Program (CAPP), including WAC 136-70, 'Pavement Management System Requirement for County Arterial Preservation Eligibility'. All counties shall use a PMS to guide the pavement preservation and rehabilitation activities on all county paved arterial roads. This requirement would not take effect until CRAB provided a PMS computer program (was CRIS now Mobility) for the counties to use.
1993 - County Pavement Management Planning System (CPMPS), a PMS module in the County Road Information System (CRIS) provided to counties. WAC 136-320 revised - the Executive Director of CRAB shall, beginning in 1993, review the implementation of and, beginning in 1995, the compliance with the requirements of WAC 136-70.
1993 - Annually, Crab's Executive Director has reviewed each county's compliance with WAC 136-320. The Director presents the findings to the CRABoard each year at the January meeting, where the CRAB Board has concurred that each county is in substantial compliance with WAC 136-320 and is eligible to receive CAPA funds.
2004 - CRAB replaces CRIS software with Mobility, a windows based software package.
NOTE: WAC 136-70 does not mandate that all counties use a PMS provided by CRAB. A county can use any PMS that meets the requirements of WAC 136-70.
What is PMS, and how does it Guide Me?
A PMS is a methodology for maintaining road surfaces by systematically analyzing pavement life cycles and pavement ratings to determine timing of a pavement preservation; as well as what the most cost effective pavement rehabilitation type. Also to develop pavement rehabilitation budgets that will prevent major road deterioration.
There are three levels of work to be done on pavements:
- Routine maintenance (pothole repair, patching, crack sealing, etc), done on an as-needed basis
- Preservation or rehabilitation (installing a new wearing surface, a seal coat or overlay), done on a cyclic basis
- Reconstruction (remove and replace the pavement and base structure), done when the road has failed or needs widening or realigning.
There are three phases in the life of a pavement:
- when the pavement is in good or better condition and does not need a preservation (PSC above 60)
- when a pavement preservation is cost effective (PSC between 60 and 40)
- when the pavement is in such a poor condition that a pavement preservation is no longer cost effective (PSC less than 40), reconstruction is needed.
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Overview of the Mobility Pavement Management System (MPMS)
In 1993 CRAB released the County Pavement Management Planning System (CPMPS), a PMS module in the County Road Information System (CRIS) provided to counties. In 2004 CRAB replaced CRIS with Mobility which implemented its own PMS module referred to as Mobility PMS or MPMS.
The PMS strategy applied in MPMS consists of four major parts:
- Surface Conditions - Recording visible distresses on the pavement surfaces, which are calculated into a Pavement Structural Condition (PSC) score.
- Generate Project File - Define a road system as a rational set of projects.
- When Analysis - Formulate a Pavement Performance Curve to predict the PSC score for each project segment.
- What Analysis - Define and apply a budget and strategy, comparing the results of multiple iterations to determine the best course of action.
Download the complete report that describes the four major parts of the MPMS strategy in detail.
By knowing when pavement preservation is cost effective, the county can spend their limited pavement preservation funds on the most cost-effective rehabilitations. By properly preserving their pavements, they reduce the need for and cost of routine pavement maintenance.
As of 2011 the typical estimated cost of work on a two-lane road is:
| Chip Seal | $35,000 per mile | PSC = 60 | 6 year life |
| Overlay | $200,000 per mile | PSC = 40 | 12 year life |
| Reconstruction | $200,000 per mile | PSC < 40 | design life |
(The reconstruction cost is to reconstruct the pavement structure, and does not include major changes in width, alignment, drainage, or environmental concerns)
The results of the PMS program are not the final answer. The PMS results are but one of the items that must be considered during the engineering analysis of the proposed pavement preservation program. Each proposed project needs to be reviewed to make sure it is the right thing to do.
A benefit of a Pavement Management System is the determination that a preservation activity will not be cost effective. One of the reports (Below Must) provided by the PMS is a list of all roads in such a poor condition that a preservation activity will not be cost effective, and that these roads need to be reconstructed. These roads need an in-depth engineering analysis to determine what can be done to improve the road. If reconstruction is needed, funds must be located, such as RAP funds for rural arterials, TIB funds for urban arterials, state and federal funds.
The use of a PMS to determine if a preservation project is cost effective does not prevent the county from doing non-cost effective preservation projects. If it is determined that a preservation activity will be done, for whatever reason, that project will be done. The PMS provides an engineering reason for not doing the project, that the pavement is in such poor condition that a pavement preservation will not last and is not cost effective.
How Counties Operate the PMS Program
The roadway and pavement information is in the County Road Log, and is updated annually as part of the Road Log update process. The Mobility PMS uses the road log information directly; counties using another PMS program have a routine to transfer the current road log information to their program.
The next step in building your PMS is to design a Decision Tree that best fits your county needs and expectations of your road network. A Decision Tree is basically a set of "Rules" by which each road segment is evaluated. A Rehabilitation Type, Rehabilitation Date, and Rehabilitation Cost are then calculated for each road segment based on your Decision Tree. A sample decision tree is pictured below.
Counties perform a visual rating of their paved roads. Arterials must be rated at least once every two years (WAC 136-70); access roads are rated based on each counties schedule. Rating can be done by county personnel (full time or part time) or by an automated pavement rating service. When county personnel do the visual rating, they usually drive the roads at low speed and rate the distresses. The time needed depends on the rating methodology and the number of miles to be rated. Depending on the number of miles rated, it will take anywhere from two weeks to one month. Numerous counties use computerized data collection, entering the data directly into a computer; counties using paper need to enter their data into the computer data base.
Visual Road Rating Software - VisRate
CRAB has developed a new visual road rating software program called VisRate. See image below. VisRate is now being taught as part of our Mobility training course or can be brought to your county for individual training. VisRate can also be down loaded from the CRAB website. CRAB also has a Laptop Loaner Program, (currently 4 laptops) with VisRate installed. These laptops are signed out to a county for a period of up to one year to assist them in their road rating data collection. View large image.
Once all the data is in, running the PMS processes takes only a day or two. The engineering analysis of the proposed preservation program can take as long as needed to develop the most reasonable pavement preservation program. This is where all the "what if" scenarios take place. What if I only spend this much on my network, what happens to the over all network condition? What if I elect to only Chip Seal roads above a PSC score of 60?
Mobility Management Pavement Reports
Now that we know what to do to each road segment and when to do it there are two basic reports available to us:
Network Condition Report
Sample Network Condition Report - 
This report is a summary of roads, by year, either based on a user defined budget amount or a zero budget amount, by Pavement Type, Federal Function Class, and mileage of Pavement Structural Condition range for each FFC. This report also includes the projected system-wide pavement condition. By allowing the user to select different strategies this report becomes a very useful tool in analyzing budgetary constraints on your overall network condition.
Pavement Management Project List Report
Sample Pavement Management Project List -
This is a report, year by year, listing all road rehabilitation projects that might be done given a defined budget scenario and project prioritization scheme. Each year lists all projects that can be done under the constraints of your defined budget and suggested rehabilitations. All current Below Must roads are in the first year of this report. Roads that fall into the Below Must category after the first year are then put into the appropriate year's list. The report also includes the projected system-wide pavement condition status that is a result of the given yearly budget scenario.
What the Future Holds
As counties gain more understanding of their PMS, we will provide whatever assistance they may need. We want them to have full working knowledge of their PMS and what it provides. We will continue to provide classroom training, telephone support, and hands-on training at their office. We will assist in the preparation of reports and presentations, and be available for support and assistance when presentations are made.
One great source for information and support is the Northwest Pavement Management Association. The NWPMA is comprised of the local agencies in Washington, Idaho and Oregon, WSDOT and ODOT, contractors, vendors and consultants. By sharing what works and what doesn't, participating agencies can use their PMS programs to the fullest. CRAB supports the NWPMA, and is involved in all of their activities.
Contact PMS@crab.wa.gov, 360.350.6084