Pavement Management System Background
Using dTIMS, NDDOT makes data driven decisions to preserve the pavement condition and reduce freight bottlenecks. The software tool acts as a manager, integrator, and analyzer of asset information enabling the department to make more objective and consistent decisions by providing quality information and forecasts to all decision levels.
In its simplest form, dTIMS comprises a ‘database’ component and an ‘analysis’ component. The ‘database’ component allows the department to input infrastructure data and analysis parameter data. The ‘analysis’ component determines the best preservation and improvement actions for each pavement segment based on the budgetary and technical constraints. This enables the department to create outputs such as forecasted long term impacts and a recommended construction program optimized to preserve the existing pavements and make the most progress toward system performance goals.
Currently, there are two investment classes within dTIMS: Pavement Preservation and Freight and Personal Mobility (also referred to as Functional Capacity). Each investment class:
- is set up individually within dTIMS BA and is analyzed separately of each other
- is assigned its own budget(s) when the analyses are run
- has its own set of triggers, resets, deterioration rates, and treatments that are used for project recommendations
Pavement preservation focuses on pavement condition and keeping the overall network in as good a physical condition as possible with the treatments that are recommended from the analysis. The pavement preservation analysis focuses strongly on picking preservation treatments to keep the network in good condition rather than waiting and letting the network segments deteriorate to a condition of needing a much higher cost treatment like reconstruction. Freight and Personal Mobility focuses on what the system is intended to do by monitoring the operational restrictions of the roadway and removing as many of them as possible with the treatments that are recommended. Therefore, this investment class improves the services delivered by the transportation system.
