WHAT CAN BE MEASURED CAN BE IMPROVED

As a pavement management professional of over 20 years, the question I most commonly get from public works professionals throughout the U.S. is “What are the benefits of having a pavement management program?”

Then, as I make my way into City Council Chambers to provide them with a solid overview of the pavement management process and deliver these same answers regarding benefits, the most common question I receive from council members is “What is the ROI of having a pavement management program?”

I have some great news for all of you, regardless of your role within public service, I have the answers!

The best way to address these common questions is to deliver what I believe to be the five major benefits of establishing a pavement management program within your city, while defining the ROI as well through a classic, real world example.

Let’s look at a City responsible for approximately 250 centerline miles, operating on a worst to first maintenance policy using just mill and overlay as their primary tool for repair and at current budget of $1.5 Million dollars.

Now, let’s say that the average cost per mile for this specific City to effectively repair 1 mile of roadway is at $150 thousand dollars. To determine the current ROI in terms of impact and roadway lifecycle, let’s do some basic math:

260 total miles x $150,000 to repair 1 mile = a network budget need of $39 million dollars!

Now, to determine the cycle or period before we are able to visit that roadway again for a major repair, let’s take that $32.5 million of budgetary needs and divide it by the current $1.5 million-dollar annual budget:

$39,000,000 / $1,500,000 = 26 years!

Finally, and probably the most staggering number in terms of ROI is to determine the percentage of the roadway that is improved against this annual budget and maintenance and repair strategy. This becomes your impact.

In this case, 10 miles are improved each year, $1,500,000 spent / $150,000 to repair a mile. By dividing the 10 miles improved by the 260 total miles in the network, the answer is just 4%! Quite shocking when, you think about it, especially when thinking of it in terms of residents, the community and tax dollars. In other words, just 4% of all taxpayers and the traveling public are receiving a benefit.

Unfortunately, this an all too familiar narrative that our public officials are facing each year while our infrastructure continues to decline, and at a rapid pace. But no worries, there is a solution to create more impact with the budget dollars you currently have, and that solution begins with establishing a standardized and objective pavement management program.

Based on the example I provided alone, I believe we can all agree that the costs of performing maintenance and repairs each year is expensive. Instead of focusing on just maintaining roadways, we need to shift the mindset towards managing our roadways, and making decisions based against data, not politics. We need to protect the investment we are making in our improved roadways as well, to create a roadway network that always lasts longer while performing at a condition level at or above a critical condition. Potholes do not have to be the norm, slowly but surely, they can be eradicated and become a thing of the past!

At this stage I know what you are thinking, sounds great James, but where are we going to get the extra money. This within itself is the issue. Yes, if we want to continue with just milling and overlaying and reduce the current life cycle of 26 years down to my recommended 15 years, you are right. It will not just take more money, but a substantial amount of money. As a matter of fact, in using the above example, that City would need to increase their annual budget from the current $1.5 million to approximately $2.6 million. I think we can all agree that this is a tough sell, at least initially.

Instead, let’s focus on a data driven process that leverages distress-based condition assessment and specific tools that will allow us to maximize the current budget while optimizing conditions across the entire roadway network.

Here’s a key phrase I want to introduce to you, and for me, is the true definition of pavement management: Right Pavement, Right Treatment, Right Time.

This is the real value here folks, and the only way to truly identify this is through a systematic approach and process, backed by industry standards.

I get it, sounds complicated and expensive, right? I think you’d be surprised! The typical cost of implementing a turn-key, managed and supported pavement management program within your City is just 3-5% of your current annual budget. Yep, that’s it.

In our current City example of a $1.5 million-dollar annual budget, the pavement management project cost should be right around $75 thousand dollars. In other words, instead of milling the typical 10 miles of roadways next budget year, you could still do 9.5, which is still an impact of 3.65% by the way, but the upside of losing that half of a mile of new roadway surface is huge!

Let’s look at just what you get for that 3-5% of your budget, and by only losing a half of a mile of new road next budget year:

-         An industry standard pavement management system

-         A complete and accurate inventory of your roadway network

-         1080P HD videos of your entire roadway network

-         ASTM D6433 standardized condition assessment of your roadways network

-         All pavement management data tied to your current GIS system for mapping

-         Understanding the current budget and maintenance needs of your roadway network

-         Condition analysis of the roadway network to determine past, current and future conditions

-         Target/budget driven scenarios to compare multiple funding or maintenance options

-         A complete state of the network condition report backed by expertise and standards

-         A managed and supported solution to achieving a true pavement management program

That is the typical scope of a pavement management program, and the return on investment is extremely high. The average City employing a pavement management program is able to leverage the information provided to determine the right treatment, to apply to the right road, and at the right time. This proactive approach introduces the concept of preventive and preservation measures to the annual maintenance and repair program, right along with the current major repair strategy. This approach allows the City to leverage the same budget to create more impact in terms of improvement and life extension of their roadways. Improved roads begin to last longer, millions are saved in deferred maintenance over time, while overall conditions are raised!

Let’s break it down using our continued example from above of $1.5 million dollars, however, lets employ the 70/20/10 rule that I’ve created. 70% of that budget will go directly toward major repairs such as mill and overlay, 20% will go directly toward preservation applications such as rejuvenators and surface treatments, while 10% will go directly to preventive maintenance measures such as crack sealing.

Time to bring it full circle!

The pavement management program allows us to identify exactly what we have, what condition it is in, and what maintenance action it is a candidate for. It allows us to identify and qualify the right treatments for the right roadways and when to apply for maximum impact.

If you subscribe to the notion of what can be measure can be improved as I do, you are probably tracking right along with me, great!

Looking more closely, if this same City were to implement a pavement management program and employ the 70/20/10 rule that I just laid out, we can quickly find the ROI in terms of impact and condition immediately.

For year 1, instead of operating on the $1.5 million budget, it is now $1.425 million due to the cost of the initial pavement management program. Applying the 70/20/10 rule, let’s say that $1,000,000 will still go towards major road improvements, $300,000 will go towards a rejuvenating and surface treatment program, and the remaining $$125,000 will go towards a crack sealing program.

Boom! Leveraging our brand-new pavement management program, this City can expect to increase their annual impact from just touching 10 miles of roadways to now touching over 25 miles of roadways. The impact jumps from just 4% each year to a whopping 10% each year. Not to mention, the City expect a 3-point increase in overall pavement condition across the network. It’s safe to say that millions in backlog are being reduce over time due to the life extension value we are providing to our roadway network.

Now, I want you to imagine employing this type of strategy over an extended amount of time. What would that impact look like? How about the conditions of your roadways? Are you seeing fewer potholes? Happier citizens? How about the overall perception by the community? Are the complaint phone calls on the decline?

This is just a simple example and has been provided to get you thinking and to make the connection between managing roadways vs simply maintaining roadways. Obviously, in situations where your City has been underfunded, there will be a backlog of roadways that are in desperate need of repairs and applying the 70/20/20 rule alone can’t solve this problem. Without question, this approach will certainly help to maximize your budget, create more impact and optimize conditions, but there will come a time a time when the discussion surrounding clearing this backlog and increasing the budget will need to be addressed.

This is the perfect time to turn to your pavement management system and trusted consultant! The system can provide all the answers to your many questions in an objective and data driven manner. It takes the politics right of the equation, leveraging past and current data points against your proposed goals to make better decisions.

For example, what if you your current roadway network condition comes back at a 65 PCI. You are gung-ho for applying the right treatment to the right pavement and at the right time, but the pavement management process has recognized a significant backlog issue that needs to be addressed. What is it going to take get this cleared and get our roadways to a determined average condition standard of 75 PCI.

Without a pavement management program in place, I’d venture to guess that answers to questions just like this, and the countless other “what if” questions are tough to get, buy into, support and believe. With a pavement management program on board, the answers are easily obtained, and in a matter of hours, not days, weeks or months!

The goal of any pavement management program should be to provide the key performance and budget indicators necessary that our public officials and administrators need to provide the best level of service to their clients, the taxpayer and local community, and in a fiscally responsible manner.

It’s time to get back to managing our pavements vs. simply maintaining them. Let’s build a better roadway network through a standardized, objective, cost effective approach that takes out the politics, maximizes the tax payer dollar, crates the most impact and optimizes overall conditions.

“What can be measured, can be improved”

James Golden

CEO, Pavement Management Group