Efforts Toward Developing a Regional Pavement Management System in Utah

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 has challenged metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), such as the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) in Utah, with no traditional involvement in pavement management to cooperate with states and local agencies in developing regional pavement management systems (PMSs). The development is particularly difficult when some of the local agencies already have well-established PMSs that are sufficient for their needs. Eight PMSs were being used in the Salt Lake City-Ogden area by those communities having a formal PMS; local pavement management specialists expressed concern about having their PMSs altered to serve a new, regional PMS. Fourteen localities had no PMS. The disparity between local pavement management activities indicated that the responsibility for pavement data collection and condition and performance analyses should be allocated to the state. Doing this would eliminate the potential inconsistencies associated with having the localities report pavement condition. The plan also relieved the WFRC from the burden of operating a PMS. This approach may be applicable in similar urban regions in which there is extreme variation in the degree of local pavement management. The state department of transportation must be willing to expand its PMS to include not only state highways and the National Highway System, but all Federal-aid highways. The MPO can then focus its efforts on prioritizing pavement improvement projects and selecting candidates for federal funding. Other roles of the MPO would include promotion of, education and training for, and dissemination of information to local agencies and the public on pavement management.