Motorway Maintenance in Croatia

prof.dr. Jure Radi , PhD, CE dr. Goran Pu, PhD, CE dr. Jelena Bleiziffer, PhD, C E Institut IGH, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract
There are several models to organize works and financing concerning the maintenance of motorway networks. These differ with respect to ownership, organization of network operation as well as the legacy left by the previous approach to maintenance. This paper shall present the general information on Croatian motorway management system, emphasizing the organization of activities related to maintenance of civil structures. Asset management system addressing motorway structures is presented as a part of the overall maintenance activities that are within the responsibilities of certified civil engineers. The paper analyzes differentiation between the works carried out by the concessionaire, who is responsible for regular maintenance using its own resources, and those for which external expertise is acquired through public procurement. The authors subsequently discuss the need for further development of codes and provisions that would regulate the infrastructure maintenance and management. Keywords: motorway maintenance, motorway management, motorway network

Povzetek
Za organizacijo in financiranje vzdrevalnih del avtocestnega omreja obstaja ve modelov. Razlikujejo se po lastnitvu, organizaciji delovanja omreja in posledicah prejnjih pristopov k vzdrevanju. Ta prispevek predstavlja splone informacije o hrvakem sistemu vzdrevanja avtocest s poudarkom na organizaciji dejavnosti, povezanih z vzdrevanjem gradbenih objektov. Sistem vzdrevanja sredstev, ki zadeva avtocestne objekte, je predstavljen kot del celotnih vzdrevalnih dejavnosti, za katere so odgovorni poobla eni inenirji gradbenitva. Prispevek analizira razlikovanje med deli koncesionarja, odgovornega za redno vzdrevanje, ki opravlja delo s svojimi sredstvi, in deli, za katere se zunanje strokovno znanje pridobi na podlagi javnih naro il. Avtorji nato predstavljajo potrebo po nadaljnjem razvoju pravil in dolo b, ki bi urejale vzdrevanje in upravljanje infrastrukture. Klju ne besede: vzdrevanje avtocest, upravljanje avtocest, avtocestno omreje

Radi , J., Pu, G., Bleiziffer, J.: Vzdrevanje avtocest na Hrvakem

Radi , J., Pu, G., Bleiziffer, J.: Motorway Maintenance in Croatia

1 Introduction
One of the greatest values of the Croatian national territory is its position in the Central European, Mediterranean and Danube region which is the point of intersection of major historical and modern routes running from the east towards the west and from the north towards the south. These values will be fully and properly used when the completion of the major motorways in Croatia has reached the level comparable to the one in the developed European countries. In this context, over the last few years Croatian road network has been greatly extended. At this moment (year 2010) 1,241 km of motorways are in operation. The total motorway length in the Republic of Croatia in accordance with the planning documents shall be about 1,500 km. An efficient transportation network is of utmost importance for economic and social development of a country. As in many European countries, the road network in Croatia is by far the most important element of the land transport. Concurrently with an increasing number of vehicles on motorways and ever larger and more complex traffic system a need arises for more efficient infrastructure that would permit quality management of the existing and future motorways, efficient operation and traffic control as well as the possibility to provide timely information to users. Planning, construction, operation and management of motorways that is the whole motorway management system is a highly demanding and costly project that requires reliable and realistic data. Building on past experience, current legislation prescribes the minimum durability of structures and structural components. Civil works, such as roads and bridges, are constructed to a requirement of a 50 to 100 years designed service life. However, some structural components have a much shorter service life of 5 to 35 years (e.g. wearing course, bridge expansion joints). Design of each structure assumes, either implicitly or explicitly, its durability i.e. its service life, at the end of which the structure should be removed. The service life of a structure is expressed in the number of years, while durability is its dimensionless property that defines the relationship between the service life and maintenance costs. Implementation of a management system is aimed at

analyzing the costs associated to a structure throughout its service life, for alternative maintenance strategies. It should be noted that there is no single optimum strategy, but an optimum strategy tied to a certain time period. For instance, from a technical point of view, optimum works should result in minimum investment during the service life of a structure (let us assume service life of 50 years). However, the management is aimed at reaching certain business related goals during their appointment which may last only 5 years. It is evident that the two approaches are completely opposite. Management system should clearly indicate advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and assist in deciding on appropriate strategy and analyzing trade-offs.

2 Motorway maintenance
The construction of Croatian motorway network started in 1970s, so the oldest motorway structures are less than 40 years old, and the majority was built during the last 15 years. This is contrary to most of the countries in the Western Europe, where motorway construction was at its peak in 1970s. The motorway network development imposes new challenges on the maintenance service especially considering that the newly built sections include complex structures: long tunnels, large bridges and demanding environmental protection systems. In addition to the existing and established systems of routine and periodic maintenance the new supporting systems are being introduced. Among important projects in this field it is worth mentioning the Highway Database and the Structures Management System. However, even a brief outline of these projects requires an explanation of some expressions which are incorporated into the legal and financial framework. The Book of Rules on the Public Roads Maintenance and Protection regulates the scopes, volumes and time limits for the routine and periodic maintenance activities as well as the control and supervision over these works. The Book of Rules classifies the public roads maintenance as routine and periodic maintenance. Routine maintenance includes a set of measures and activities that are performed throughout the year or for most of the year on motorways including all structures and installations with the purpose of maintaining the

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capacity and the proper condition of motorways and road safety. The routine maintenance activities include supervision and inspection of motorways and structures, cleaning of motorways and structures, maintenance of pavement, drainage system, traffic signs and road furniture as well as of the system for supervision, control and operation of traffic, electric power supply and plants, electric power devices and installations, grass areas and the winter maintenance of motorways. Periodic maintenance includes provisional activities aimed at improvement of some deteriorated elements of motorway and which shall improve the road safety and ensure the stability and durability of motorways and engineering structures and which require the preparation of the engineering documents.

The Routine Maintenance Standard establishes the required level of motorway efficiency and the systems related with it. The maintenance standard is supplements and interprets legal provisions as well as the provisions of applicable rulebooks and principles. Motorway management in Croatia is entrusted to four companies: Croatian Motorways Ltd. (management of tolled motorways and tolled engineering structures) and three concession companies for construction and management of motorways and structures Rijeka-Zagreb Motorway PLC, ZagrebMacelj Motorway and Bina Istra (Istrian Y). Croatian Roads Ltd. is responsible for managing state roads. It would be beneficial to implement the same asset management system within all authorities (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Concessions on Croatian Motorways [1].

3 Legislation
The founding document that prescribes the use and maintenance of structures is Law on physical planning and construction [2]. The framework for establishing the management system is introduced in article 271: Owner of a structure, i.e. a person who is according to a special regulation responsible for operating a structure has to entrust

maintenance of a structure and works associated with monitoring of structures, periodic annual inspections of structures, developing an overview of maintenance works and works to upgrade on fulfillment of essential requirements on structures, identifying the need for repair works on structures and other similar expert doings to persons that comply with the requirements prescribed by a special regulation to carry out those works.

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Radi , J., Pu, G., Bleiziffer, J.: Motorway Maintenance in Croatia

The special regulation that will define maintenance related issues is also mentioned in article 272, as well as a bylaw that will prescribe maintenance requirements. Unfortunately, such document is not yet available in Croatia. Testing and engineering surveys on structures are addressed in article 20 of Law on physical planning and construction. This article prescribes that such works shall be conducted by certified persons, with certificates awarded by the Minister. The requirements for conducting testing and engineering surveys, as well as the manner in which those works shall be performed and documented will be prescribed by a separate bylaw. This document is essential in regulating the specified works in a similar way to how competences and responsibilities are defined for construction works. Establishing a database of structures represents the first step in introducing proper level of monitoring of structures. The law [2] prescribes implementation of a physical planning information system, defining the basics for operating an information system with geographical (GIS), administrative and other file records on public, utility and other infrastructure. The law entrusts development of this information system to Croatian Institute for Physical Planning. Management of a certain type of structures is not under jurisdiction of only Ministry of environmental protection, physical planning and construction. For instance, Law on public roads [3] prescribes that routine maintenance and repair works are regulated by the Minister of transport and infrastructure. This law obliges to set up Public roads database, which would include basic data on structures requiring maintenance. The schedule and scope of road and road structures inspections is defined in Bylaw on maintenance and protection of public roads [4]. It also prescribes that establishing rules on conducting

and documenting road inspection is the responsibility of Croatian Roads Ltd. Consequently, in addition to Law on physical planning and construction and its bylaws, there are other documents that regulate the monitoring and maintenance of structures. A problem that arises in structuring a management system is to identify types of structures that need to be addressed, namely in differentiating between a structure and equipment. Structure management system may be separated from operation maintenance system by restricting it to segments in which essential requirements on structure may be compromised. In other words, management system address structural members and works that, according to the law, need to be conducted by a certified person.

4 Meintenance works in a management system

A comprehensive management system considers three aspects of the problem: technical, financial and organizational, while taking into account time as a parameter. It analyzes deterioration of structures over time building on past experience to predict future trends. Alternative maintenance strategies which define allocation of funds are created on a basis of the technical assessment and defined business goals. Optimization of the process includes elaboration of organization of works, and the result of the process should be support for operational and strategic decision making regarding subsequent works and investments in infrastructure maintenance. The system should be adjusted to organization of the road authority, human resources available to carry out the works, as well as type and quantity of assets. The analysis should include answering to the questions listed in table 1 as the first step.

Table 1. Issues considered in a management system. Technical aspect Domain definition: inventory and asset (structures) classification Basic data on all structures in the management system (book on structure) Structural condition Endangered section (urgent repairs) Financial aspect Initial value Current value Value of a new asset with the same level of serviceability Maintenance works budget Organizational aspect Regulations Maintenance personnel Records (document storage) In-house rules Execution of urgent repairs (organization of emergency maintenance)

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Radi , J., Pu, G., Bleiziffer, J.: Motorway Maintenance in Croatia Technical aspect Prediction of future condition deterioration processes Preventive maintenance procedures Repair procedures Medium-term plans Long-term maintenance strategy Financial aspect Financial consequences of deterioration Cost estimates of typical works Prediction of whole life costs Long-term financial maintenance plan Organizational aspect Future organization of maintenance service Schedule of works and organization of execution of works Monitoring maintenance works Goods and services procurement and control procedures

Additionally, it should be noted that a management system is not: making decisions software nor database intended to monitor routine maintenance works From a technical aspect, it is essential to have an inventory of structures that require maintenance, describing the number of assets and their properties, damage that might occur and works required to repair the damage. The first issue to be addressed is how to define and categorize structures. The simplest method from a technical aspect is to select a single type of structure and adapt management system to that particular type of asset. For instance, there are bridge and pavement management systems. However, that approach is not taking into account organizational and financial aspects, as different types of assets are competing in allocation of maintenance budget. Management systems adapted for a single type of assets have difficulty in balancing budget so as to achieve an optimum in functioning of the entire set of assets. Categorization of individual assets of the management system should follow the logic of how the entire system works. Individual assets (structures) in maintenance systems are those elements that may function individually, and have certain common attributes. Recently, Croatian Motorways Ltd. started a comprehensive project for this purpose, aimed at development of a management system that would properly address maintenance and management of all motorways structures. At present, only physical assets are included, and categorized as follows: bridges (incl. viaducts, overpasses, underpasses, animal crossings), tunnels, pavements (incl. all paved surfaces), drainage (gutters, ditches, drains, separators, overflow structures etc.),

geotechnical structures (retaining walls, embankment and cut slopes), other roadway components (safety barriers, wind barriers, sound barriers), buildings (roadside service facilities, maintenance and traffic control centres). The framework for Croatian motorways asset management system was developed on following principles: asset management system should provide for daily maintenance and management activities (operation, maintenance, inspection, repair etc.) asset management system should provide support for agencys decision in resource allocation (applying objective information to decision-making, considering alternatives, focusing on outcomes). Another principle was to identify common attributes of a variety of structures on Croatian motorways covered by asset management system in order to integrate the management of bridges, tunnels, pavements, drainage, geotechnical structures, equipment and buildings in making decisions across assets. The management system should also allow for understanding implications of different levels and distributions of expenditures across geographic areas and sections of motorway network. Subsequently to defining the domain the set of structures with a description of its elements (structures), it is necessary to identify the activities to be carried out within the structure management framework. A potential problem might arise in differentiating between investments in maintenance works such as repair or strengthening, and routine maintenance and maintenance of road equipment. Structure management implies, and the management system may even define conditions of service and routine maintenance activities, but, generally, those works are treated separately which is in accordance to definitions

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of Law on physical planning and construction. Maintenance and repair works that are considered in the management system do not include financing or carrying out activities that are primarily aimed at securing normal service, construction works which will result in changing the purpose of the structure or extending the service life beyond the specifications of the original design.

5 Financial aspect
Considerations of financial aspect of maintenance works includes the analysis of maintenance works financing options, as well as cost and benefit analysis at the road network level, the level of a set of structures and at the level of a single structure. Development of a management system starts with calculating the asset value. This value may be determined as follows: original investment value net present value, taking into account inflation present value of acquiring or constructing a new asset, which would replace the existing one asset value for the user (service value) market asset value. Most authorities keep records on original investment cost of individual assets, but calculating the real asset value at certain point in time is not an easy task. Once the asset value is defined, it is necessary to identify the following parameters: a. investments necessary to maintain the serviceability of the asset throughout its service life b. current maintenance works budgeting procedure. Rough estimate of annual maintenance works costs is between 2 % and 4 % of their investment value. The difference between the required and allocated funds is deferred maintenance value. Calculating that value is very important for making strategic decisions. Financial analysis of completed repair works are of interest at the level of a set of structures. First, one needs to identify typical works and related items in bill of quantities. Then, the costs are analyzed to estimate the consequences of deferred maintenance on future repair costs, thus providing financial parameters describing deterioration rate.

Collecting parameters for different types of asset enables more objective analysis in defining global investment strategy over a defined period of time. 6 ORGANIZATION OF MAINTENANCE WORKS The starting point for more systematic organization of the maintenance works must always be the currently employed system. It is usually not very advanced: very often only the urgent repairs are carried out. Still, there are more or less skilled personnel in each system, as well as certain resources allocated to maintenance works. Introduction of new procedures within that system, should provide for adopting a more comprehensive view on execution of repair works, and shift to preventive maintenance as a way of optimizing the cost. The following works need to be regulated within the system: periodic inspections of structures operation and administration testing of endangered structural elements routine repairs larger construction works procurement and control over execution of works. There are different users of management systems. Large infrastructure systems are operated and managed by state agencies, public or private companies. Duties of these authorities are prescribes by legislation in order to protect the public interest. In addition, the managers need to analyze the cost and benefits ratio the maintenance, repair and rehabilitation costs are calculated on a basis of the technical parameters, and are measured against the technical and functionality benefits of applied solutions. This requires data collection and analysis. However, at present, the legislation does not adequately cover the aspect of roles, competences and responsibilities for maintenance works as it does for new construction, even though the consequences of poor management are similar to consequences of poor construction. The structuring of a management system is also influenced by the manner in which decisions are made within an authority. Owners or managers may subcontract part of their obligations related to maintenance works to certified persons outside their organization, and carry out the remaining part using their own resources. Therefore, the

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structure of ownership and operational organization must be included as an underlying principle of the management system. In most cases, an integrated infrastructure system is composed of individual components that have to be considered, assessed and maintained as a single asset and as a part of the entire set. Taking a broader perspective, the priorities of maintenance works may be defined in terms of domain, region or organization. In each system there are existing resources and organization for assessing need and/or carrying out some maintenance works. Generally, three key roles are identified in structure management: manager sets up the system, takes care of financing and communication to the owner of the structure administrator administers procedures, documents and operates the information system tehnician (certified person in the field of civil engineering) carries out and supervises construction works. Entirely new challenges in management arise when ownership or operator changes, as that requires re-defining the processes within the management system. Nowadays, parts of infrastructure systems that were traditionally under state jurisdiction, are either privatizing or adopting a concession operation, while some structures are constructed in publicprivate partnerships. In these cases, the contract must define required maintenance level during concession period or service life of a structure, as well as mechanisms to measure, control and penalize the failure to comply with terms of contract. The payments are not made to cover directly the maintenance works that have been executed; rather the contracted sum allocated to maintenance on a periodic basis is reduced by penalties. The procedure to charge penalties has to be prescribed, and relate to decline in serviceability of a structure. For such a contract, a sophisticated structure management system is essential to strictly define the level of maintenance and ensure the control over execution of maintenance works.

special operation since it is conducted on a large territory and consists of many different activities. The quality performance of works within the motorway management and maintenance is not possible without good planning and work monitoring which is now made possible by modern information technology. Law on physical planning and construction delivers the framework for a systematic approach to activities that need to be carried out for proper management of structures. However, the bylaws that would regulate the field in more detail are still missing. Elaboration of competences and responsibilities in maintenance related works is necessary to have a similar system that exists for construction works. Implementation of a management system implies changes in business processes, but also in the way the maintenance works are address, with a gradual shift from reactive to preventive maintenance. Information technology is indispensable in this process, as there is a requirement to collect and analyze huge amount of data. However, in order to turn that data into information it is essential to accurately define the founding business process and build the system around it.

References
1 www.huka.hr The Croatian Association of Toll Motorways Concessionaires (HUKA) website 2 Zakon o prostornom ure enju i gradnji, http://www.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeno/2007/2395.ht m 3 Zakon o javnim cestama, NN 180/04 4 Pravilnik o odravanju i zatiti javnih cesta, NN 25/98 5 Radi ,J. i suradnici: Betonske konstrukcije sanacije, Hrvatska sveu ilina naklada, Zagreb, 2008. 6 panovi , R.; aki , D.; Mlinarevi , I.; Pu, G.: Gospodarenje mostovima na autocestama, J. Radi (ur): Zbornik radova Prvog sabora hrvatskih mostograditelja, SECON HDGK d.o.o., Brijuni 2005., str. 635 640 7 Radi , J.; avor, Z.; Pu, G.; Bleiziffer, J.; Balai , A.: Asset management system for Croatian motorways, J. Radi (ed): Proceedings of the fib Symposium Dubrovnik 2007 Concrete Structures Stimulators of Development, SECON HDGK, Dubrovnik, 2007., pp. 881-888.

Conclusion
Motorways are a great public good for our country. The motorway management is a

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