From data gaps to governance: a pavement management maturity index

This study investigates institutional deficits in municipal pavement management through an empirical assessment of 13 municipalities in Brazil, with potential relevance to comparable Global South contexts. The Urban Pavement Management Maturity Index (UPMMI) was developed as a pre-implementation readiness framework to evaluate institutional capabilities for adopting pavement management systems in resource-constrained municipalities, considering Triple Bottom Line principles and their relationship with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 9 and 11. This paper presents Phase I of a Design Science Research approach, detailing the development and assessment of seven UPMMI dimensions to establish the index structure. Institutional diagnostics were compared with socioeconomic indicators and sustainable development measures. Results indicate low maturity: all municipalities were classified at Level 1 (Incipient, 0.07–0.11), characterised by fragmented data, uncoordinated utility interference, and predominantly reactive maintenance. The greatest deficits were identified in Governance (D1), Data Infrastructure (D3), and Territorial Integration (D6), providing empirical support for the proposed Strategic Tripod as a set of institutional capabilities associated with pavement management maturity. The UPMMI offers an audit-traceable diagnostic and decision-support tool that may help preserve organisational memory during administrative transitions, providing a structured approach to municipal engineering planning before pavement management system adoption, with potential application in similar contexts.