Network-Level Maintenance and Rehabilitation Budget Planning Based on the Reliability of Large-Scale Pavement Networks

Performing cost-effective maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) budget planning is crucial for any large-scale pavement network. This paper presents a novel model to maximize the reliability of large-scale pavement networks to obtain M&R options for their segments. The weight of pavement segments, composed of service and spatial weights, plays a major role in the reliability of the pavement network. Service weight can be defined using the traffic performance index, which comprehensively represents the level of congestion in a pavement network. Additionally, a dual network that describes the topological connection relationship among roadways of the pavement network is applied to generalize the spatial weight of pavement segments that constitute the pavement network. A case study was conducted using the networks of the Dongcheng and Chaoyang districts in a large city in China to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed methodology. The results demonstrated the optimal marginal reliability rule, and the inflection point was identified. The increase in marginal reliability induced the generation of efficient M&R options after the inflection point. The budget was applied to implement the M&R options by employing the optimal marginal reliability. Furthermore, the M&R options of the pavement network shifted from light rehabilitation to preventive maintenance. Sensitivity analysis of weight coefficient θ in the integrated M&R budget framework for large-scale pavement networks shows higher θ (prioritizing spatial weights) achieves maximum reliability benefit with less budget, verifying spatial weights’ value in enhancing budget efficiency. The study findings provide valuable insights to transportation agencies in terms of implementing different M&R options under various budget conditions.