Road Surface Management System

New Hampshire Association of Regional Planning Commissions

Andrew Smeltz, Planner Southwest Region Planning Commission - Keene, NH

Dave Jeffers, Regional Planner & GIS Ryan Paterson, Planning Technician Lakes Region Planning Commission - Meredith, NH

Stephen Geis, Planning Technician Jackson Rand, GIS Planner Strafford Regional Planning Commission - Rochester, NH

Chris Dowd, SADES Manager UNH Technology Transfer Center (UNH T ² ) - Durham NH

Matt Waitkins, MPO Coordinator Tyrel Borowitz, GIS Specialist Vince Noga, Transportation/Planning Analyst Nashua Regional Planning Commission - Nashua, NH

Matt Baronas, Region Planner Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission

• Non-profit, membership organizations comprised of local municipalities
• Governed by commissioners appointed by the municipal officers
• Primary role to assist municipalities with planning and community development

RPC Services include: · Master Planning, Zoning, and Land Use Regulation · Intermunicipal Coordination · Transportation Planning · Housing Build-Out and Suitability Analyses · Economic Development Planning ·   Emergency Management Planning ·   Water Resource Planning · And More!

RSMS is a methodology which provides an overview of a road system’s condition and the anticipated costs for future maintenance and improvement.

RSMS provides a systematic approach for local officials to answer basic questions about their road system.

The RSMS process includes:

• Road inventory

• Paved surface condition survey

• Pavement Condition Index (PCI) values

• Priority analysis

• Repair selection

• Forecasting future pavement conditions and repair costs

• Paving plan

Pavement Preservation • Repairs that improve or sustain the condition of pavement already in good condition   • Non-structural, surface applications • Seal paved surface and prevent water intrusion • Example: crack seal, surface treatments that utilize spray emulsions and thin overlays  

Importance of Pavement Preservation • Protects the significant investment made in road network • Corrects surface deficiencies • Preserves the pavement system • Maintains or improves the functional condition of the pavement system • Practices to extend pavement life • $$$ Saves budget dollars

Pavement Life

• After installation, pavement requires little maintenance
• For about 75% of pavement life, maintenance costs are low
• Pavement will deteriorate rapidly in the last quarter of life
  • Maintenance costs are high
• Pavement deteriorates at different rates
  • There is an “art” to management in knowing when a road has reached the critical 75% mark
• A RSMS will help track pavement deterioration across the road network and implement cost-effective maintenance strategies

RSMS Provides objective data on road network, including maps and visual representations of condition across entire road network and detailed road attributes.

Potential Inventory Deliverables: Maps, Summary Reports, Dashboards and Web Maps, Excel Tables

Web Maps:

Dashboards:

• RSMS promotes communication between DPW/Highway Department and Select Board and Budget Committees

• Data allows DPW/Highway Department to communicate and justify maintenance need

• RSMS communicates road maintenance needs and consequences of deferred maintenance
• RSMS predicts future repair cost and future pavement conditions

• During RSMS process, roads roads are assigned a priority value based on:
  • Pavement Condition Index (PCI)
  • Traffic Volume
  • Road Importance Value

• Prioritizing roads is important to avoid a “worst-first” approach to maintenance
  • Worst-first approach to pavement maintenance can lead to expensive repairs and leaving inadequate funding for preservation and other maintenance

• Prioritizing roads provides an objective, unbiased approach for selecting roads for repair
  • Citizens can see when their road will be repaired

• RSMS will assist in implementing well-timed pavement preservation

• RSMS can generate future cost savings by preventing the rapid decline of pavement and costly future repairs

• Using a RSMS to create a multi-year paving plan will make it easier for a new road agent to step in

• Regional Planning Commissions (RPC) will provide technical expertise

• RPC staff receive training from UNH Technology Transfer Center (UNH T2) on technology and paving from subject matter experts

• RPC staff work independently to collect data and perform analyses with computerized applications

• NH Department of Transportation provides some funding that can help make this a cost-efficient option

• RPC's have existing relationships and familiarity with Towns in their Region

• Before 2015, Regional Planning Commissions used pencil and paper to collect field data for RSMS

• In 2015, NH RPC’s partnered with the Statewide Asset Data Exchange System (SADES) to provide a computerized system for field data collection and analysis

• In 2015, the SADES RSMS program was launched. Each RPC conducted a RSMS for a Town in their Region

• To date NH RPC's have assessed:
  • 59 Towns and 1 Condo association
  • 2,170 miles of road

• SADES and the University of New Hampshire Technology Transfer Center (UNH T ² ) provide RPC staff with:
  • Training and access to technology applications for data collection and data analysis
  • Training on pavement fundamentals and repair

• Services and support provided by UNH T ²  include:
  • ArcGIS online module for off-line, field data collection with tablet
  • Custom web-based analysis tool for forecasting
  • Central, secure data storage
  • Consistent methodolgy for data collection and analysis
  • System maintenance and technology support

• RPC staff meet with municipal officials to provide project overview and discuss pavement management goals

• Define road network and local factors

• Explain data collection protocol

RPC Staff collect data on local factors from municipal officials:

• Road importance value
• Traffic volume value
• Road maintenance history
• Local observations

• Technicians trained by NH DOT and UNH T ²  assess road surface conditions every 0.25 mile of local paved roads.
• Severity and extent of multiple categories pavement distress is assessed.

Pavement Distress

Pavement Distress Categories

Other attributes:

• Length and width

• Shoulder

• Number of lanes

• Local factors:
  • Road importance value
  • Traffic volume value

Data Input

• Field data collected with offline tables through ArcGIS Online

• Data syncs across platforms

• PC and tablet editing

• Online tools for sharing

• Value representing pavement condition ranging from 0 (failed) to 100 (perfect)

• PCI is rated invidiually for each segment (0.25 mile)

• PCI is based on pavement conditions observed during field data collection

• PCI is also determined for the entire road network

• Repair treatments are assigned to roads based on condition in the year of need

• The RSMS program uses a set of recommended repair treatments

• Repair treatments and repair costs can be customized

• Repair strategies can be analyzed with scenarios

• Balancing preservation with rehabilitation

Isolated Patch

Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Overlay

• RSMS software will predict:
  • Future pavement condition
  • Cost of future repairs

• RPC Staff and works with public works staff to create 10-year Scenarios
  • Select roads for repair
  • Select repair type
  • Select repair year

• Comprehensive final product

• Maps

• Summary of data and scenarios

• Key findings and recommendations

• List of roads for repair by year and intended repair type

• Educational presentation for staff, committees, and public

Final deliverable may take on different forms:

Henry Underwood - hunderwood@swrpc.org Dave Jeffers - djeffers@lakesrpc.org Stephen Geis - sgeis@strafford.org Tyrel Borowitz - tyrelb@nashuarpc.org