A Few Words on
Pavement Preservation

Pavement Preservation is a planned system of treating pavements to maximize their useful life. A renewed emphasis on Pavement Preservation calls for industry, federal, state and local agencies to work together to provide highway users with a higher level of quality and cost-effectiveness.

Pavement Preservation takes the maintenance process one step further by carefully choosing and timing pavement maintenance applications to extend the life of a pavement. It includes preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance, and both minor and major rehabilitation.

All pavements require some form of maintenance due to the effects of traffic and the environment on the exposed pavement materials. The only treatment a pavement may receive is crackfilling or patching, while surface distresses are ignored. Applying a surface treatment to a pavement with light to moderate distress can greatly increase the life of that pavement.

Benefits
The most obvious benefit to Pavement Preservation is the extension of the life of the pavement. Other benefits to a Pavement Preservation program are:

• Lower costs over time - Studies have shown that for every additional dollar spent on preventive maintenance treatments, you may save up to $4, $6, or even $10.
  
  
• More predictable costs - If you schedule your treatments, and keep your pavements maintained, you should be better able to predict and plan future costs.
  
  
• Better utilization of resources - Planning and regularly scheduling treatments allows you to better use the resources you have, and properly plan for those you may need to bring in (such as contractors, equipment, etc.).
  
  
• Fewer premature pavement failures - Many premature pavement failures are caused by pavement damage that goes untreated, such as water seeping into open cracks.
  
  
• Better condition pavements - Scheduled monitoring and pavement treatments keep pavements in better overall condition than random or insufficient maintenance.
  
  
• Reduced user delays and user costs - The more extensive damage a pavement has, the longer drivers will be delayed due to construction. Pavements that are in good condition are also easier on a vehicle's daily wear and tear.

How To Start A Pavement Preservation Program

1) Inventory your road system and components - This will give you a starting point. You might also want to consider gathering Average Daily Traffic (ADT) counts on those roads that seem to have heavier traffic, have a lot of growth nearby, or that have not been surveyed in a while.

2) Perform Field Surveys to determine your pavements' conditions - Distress identification information and Pavement Rating Forms can be found in SHRP-P-338, Distress Identification Manual for the Long-Term Pavement Performance Project, which is available from the FHWA. The Field Surveys will give you information on how to prioritize your treatment strategy.

3) Store inventory and condition data in a database, if possible - Databases allow for easier storage, access and recall of your information. Data can also be easily sorted.

4) Analyze Field Surveys and reports to determine maintenance strategy - Pavements that are severely distressed aren't the best candidates for a surface treatment because you may have to reconstruct them fairly soon. Instead, it may be better to apply a surface treatment to a pavement with light or moderate distress.

5) Use analysis from PMS as a tool in determining your maintenance strategy (if available) - A Pavement Management System (PMS) can help make your decision making easier, especially if you have many pavements that need attention in the near future.

6) Implement decisions and document costs and work performed for future use - Keeping track of the work performed and related costs can help you determine the life of a treatment in that application, and what its true costs over time are.