KNE556 Road Asset Management

Matthew Ryeland, Assignment 1

KNE556 Road Asset Management Assignment 1

In preparing for this assignment, you will need to obtain a range of asset management information from
a small number of organisations that manage road networks, such as state and territory road
authorities, local government councils, private sector companies, and individuals involved in the
management side of road network asset management.

Suitable information will be found in annual reports, strategy documents, and the like. In some cases
documents are produced specifically to support community involvement in road asset management, and
these would be helpful.

Annual reports are freely available from most government bodies and public companies. As a general
rule, larger organisations are more likely to have suitable information in a readily available form.

During the assignment, it may be helpful to have discussions with asset managers or other senior
personnel involved with managing road networks.

If you are having trouble obtaining suitable information, you may seek assistance from the Unit Chair.

Before commencing written responses to the questions in this assignment, be sure to read all the
questions because they are inter-related.

Question 1
State the vision and/or overall strategy adopted by at least one entity that manages a road
network, and discuss the meaning and relevance of the vision and strategy to road network
asset management. (3 marks)
Lockyer Valley Regional Council (LVRC) is located approximately 80km west of Brisbane between
Ipswich and Toowoomba in the Lockyer Valley, one of the most productive agricultural areas in
Queensland and Australia.

Figure 1 – Lockyer Valley Regional Council, Location (Lockyer Valley Regional Council Annual Report 2013-14)

The Council is responsible for approximately 1400km of roads made up of:

 Sealed roads - 922km

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 Gravelled roads - 436km

 Formed roads - 36km

The roads owned and managed by LVRC are the highest value assets owned by Council.

From the 2013-14 Annual report LVRC’s, Mission, Vision and Values are:

Figure 2 – LVRC, Mission Statement, Vision and Values (Lockyer Valley Regional Council Annual Report 2013-14)

The vision of LVRC is to promote sustainable development of the region for the community. To do this
Council has stated:

“As part of our vision to create a high performing organisation with a strong focus on strategy
and service delivery, we went through a period of renewal and development and introduced a
new corporate structure.” (Lockyer Valley regional Council Annual Report 2013-14)

To achieve the vision and goals of Council for the management of the road network, LVRC is currently
using a risk management strategy to meet the obligations and goals of providing a road network to a
standard of service acceptable to both regulators and the community. From the Infrastructure Works
and Services Asset Maintenance Manual, V4:

“The Lockyer Valley Regional Council’s ability to maintain its assets is limited by the availability
of resources both physical and financial. The intention of this maintenance manual is to define
how maintenance is undertaken using the resources council has at its disposal. By utilising a
risk management approach council is able to mitigate risks to the council and community
through the proper identification of defects, prioritisation of repairs and the planned approach to
remedial action.”

“Council undertakes programmed inspections to its assets, the frequency of which is based on
the asset class, hierarchy based on usage/criticality and/or regulatory requirements utilizing a

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risk management approach. Other maintenance defects may come through as a customer
request. Once defects have been identified they are entered into the Technology One corporate
applications system as a defect and form part of Council’s defect backlog. The defect backlog is
used to prioritise and programme maintenance activities for the various asset classes. Defects
are sorted by type, priority and geographic location so that planned maintenance can be
undertaken in an efficient manner. Council will respond to defects in a reactive manner if the
severity of the defect is such that an unacceptable safety hazard presents to the public or the
integrity of a council asset is under threat.” (Infrastructure Works & Services Assets
Maintenance Manual V4, John Keen, LVRC, July 2014)

As the Council is responsible for a broad range of services from animal control, community facilities,
roads, recreation, town planning and development, the vision of the organisation is by necessity broad,
and in terms of managing a road network, could be said to be irrelevant, especially when compared to
the vision and goals of the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads.

The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) is responsible for some 33, 350km of
state controlled roads. From the 2013-14 annual report the vision, goal and strategic objectives are:

 Vision - Connecting Queensland – delivering transport for prosperity;

 Goal - An integrated, safe, efficient and reliable transport system for Queensland, and;

 Strategic Objectives –

o Integrated transport system that supports the safe, efficient and reliable movement of
people and goods

o Safe and cost-efficient transport infrastructure that meets the current and future needs
of Queensland

o Customer, safety and regulatory services that improve community safety and
satisfaction

o Integrated passenger transport services that are safe and accessible

o Strategic corporate services that enable business outcomes and create a great
workplace that values our people

From the TMR Asset Maintenance Policy and Strategy document:

“The overall aim of RAMPS is to optimise the performance of the road asset, by taking a ‘whole-
of-life’ view taking both road user costs and Main Roads costs into account. This optimisation is
to have regard for the various objectives of the Government and Main Roads, including road
safety, the environment, employment, regional development, and social equity. Implementation
of the key strategies in RAMPS and ongoing improvement will put Main Roads in a stronger
position to provide the community with a road system which returns optimum economic benefit
for the life of the asset, while recognising social, safety, environmental and community needs.”

The TMR approach to road maintenance strategies more closely aligns with the approach to asset
management, specifically requirements for road networks as described in various Austroads
publications for asset and road maintenance.

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Figure 3 – Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads controlled roads (Queensland TMR Website,
https://publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/guide-to-queensland-roads/resource/7192389e-d0f1-4809-9270-3b8e83751c40)

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As you can see between the two organisations, the different structures, responsibilities, functions,
budget and deliverables to the community dictate a different approach to the overall management of the
assets under the control of the organisation.

For LVRC, the road network is only one asset type they are responsible for, and the general asset
management approach for the organisation is influenced by many factors including regulatory,
resources and community. The general approach for road maintenance is a risk management one.
Council is also looking at improving its asset management practices and capabilities, using the
International Infrastructure Management Manual, published by the IPWEA as the guiding influence, as
this best meets the needs of Council.

For TMR, the requirements of the organisation are very different, as is the size and length of road
network under its ownership. TMR is using a “whole of life” approach that looks at both the costs to the
organisation to build, maintain and dispose of the road asset, as well as the costs to the road user,
including vehicle operation costs and travel time costs.

Question 2
Name at least one large entity that manages a road network (e.g. a state road authority) and
one smaller road agency (e.g. a large local government council) that you have information
on, and describe how these bodies approach road network asset management.
(6 marks)

Small Agency – Lockyer Valley regional Council

As described above, Lockyer Valley Regional Council is located approximately 80km west of Brisbane,
between Ipswich City Council and Toowoomba Regional Council. LVRC is responsible for
approximately 1400km of roads, made up of:

 Sealed roads - 922km

 Gravelled roads - 436km

 Formed roads - 36km

As part of the road network LVRC also owns and maintains:

 31 bridges

 2592 concrete culverts

 5km of floodways

 240km of concrete kerb and channel.

LVRC is a relatively small council in terms of revenue, approximately $97,616,000 for 2013/14 and a
total budgeted expenditure of $97,247,000. From Council’s expenditure, 50% is for maintenance and
services for all of Council.

For 2015/16 LVRC has budgeted $9.8 million for roads and drainage capital works. The road and
drainage maintenance budget was unavailable as a separate item in the annual report or budget
documents available on line.

LVRC have also only just implemented a new corporate financial system that also includes modules for
asset management and work management. The implementation of the Asset Information Management
System (AIMS) that integrates into Council’s corporate financial system has stressed the resources
available within Council. The Asset Management team within Council is made up of three people, the
Asset and Fleet Manager, Asset Technician and Asset Inspector. Because of the limited resources

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available, LVRC has adopted a risk management approach to the management of its infrastructure
assets, specifically roads, drainage and footpaths. Parks and facilities, such as community buildings are
managed by another unit within Council.

As described in the Infrastructure Works and Services Asset Maintenance Manual:

“Council undertakes programmed inspections to its assets, the frequency of which is based on
the asset class, hierarchy based on usage/criticality and/or regulatory requirements utilizing a
risk management approach. Other maintenance defects may come through as a customer
request. Once defects have been identified they are entered into the Technology One corporate
applications system as a defect and form part of Council’s defect backlog. The defect backlog is
used to prioritise and programme maintenance activities for the various asset classes. Defects
are sorted by type, priority and geographic location so that planned maintenance can be
undertaken in an efficient manner. Council will respond to defects in a reactive manner if the
severity of the defect is such that an unacceptable safety hazard presents to the public or the
integrity of a council asset is under threat.”

Council undertakes physical inspections of its road, drainage and footpath networks to programme
maintenance activities on an as needed basis. The assets are inspected at set intervals depending on
asset hierarchy, for example:

 Arterial Roads - 3 monthly

 Collector Roads - 6 monthly (sealed)

9 monthly (unsealed0

 Access Roads - 12 monthly, and

 Access Tracks - 12 monthly

The identified defect are then prioritised based on weighted criteria for risk, hierarchy, and priority. The
maintenance program is then compiled using the prioritised defect list and grouped by geographic
location and type for efficiency in completion.

Information collected for the road network is minimal, and includes reference, location, and type. The
road network is segmented as per industry practice within local government in Queensland. That is
segments are created between intersections, changes in road construction, seal type, width, formation
and terrain. Where available construction dates are included as is condition information such as
roughness, rutting and surface defects.

Aside from visual inspection of the road network as part of the maintenance strategy, condition
monitoring of the road network is undertaken when budget allows. Network based condition assessment
has been undertaken in the past, with full network video surveys undertaken in 2011 and 2013.
Roughness and rutting surveys, though planned to be undertaken when budget constraints allow, have
yet to be completed. This leaves Council in the position of not really knowing how the road network,
especially the pavement is performing over time and what the rate of deterioration is for particular
pavement segments, making it difficult to plan rehabilitation works to be undertaken as and when
required.

Large Agency – Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads

(TMR)
As above, TMR is responsible for the management of some 33,350km of state controlled roads,
associated bridges and drainage assets. TMR was formed in March 2009 when the former Queensland
Department of Transport and Department of Main Roads were merged. From the TMR Annual report of
2013-14:

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“The Department of Transport and Main Roads plans, manages and delivers Queensland’s
integrated transport environment to achieve sustainable transport solutions for road, rail, air and
sea.”

As would be expected, when compared to LVRC, TMR is a much more mature organisation in terms of
asset management. It is also a much larger organisation with a much larger capital and operating
budget. TMT also has unique challenges when compared to other eastern states, in that the area
covered by the road network is much larger and presents another set of challenges for the road asset
manager.

As described in Question 1 above, TMR has adopted a “whole of life” approach to road network asset
management that includes both costs to the agency and the user in defining its asset management
goals.

With the larger amount of resources available to TMR a much more strategic approach to the overall
management of the road network can be undertaken that is:

“focused on developing policy frameworks for the future development of the transport system
and to plan and prioritise strategic investment in effective, efficient and sustainable integrated
transport infrastructure, systems and services” (Queensland department of Transport and Main
Roads Annual report 2013-14 Volume 1)

Relevant to the management of the road network is the objectives of the transport infrastructure
management and delivery by TMR:

“The objective of this service area is to construct, maintain, manage and operate an integrated
transport network accessible to all. Works and management activities are delivered using cost
effective safe and fit for-purpose engineering solutions and innovative delivery mechanisms to
achieve value for money.” (Queensland department of Transport and Main Roads Annual report
2013-14 Volume 2)

From the annual report, the activities undertaken include:

 delivering, managing and maintaining transport infrastructure

 managing road operations, including traffic incidents, heavy vehicle operations and traveller and
traffic information

 managing use of the road corridor including environmental preservation and third party road
access

 controlling access to and recovering the road network during and following emergency events

TMR’s approach to road asset management aligns closely with the methods and philosophy outlined in
the study notes and described in the various Austroads documents as referenced in the study notes.
The asset maintenance strategy and policies for TMR are outlined in the Main Roads Asset
Maintenance Policy and Strategy Document, first issued by the old Department of Main Roads in 1999.

The policy and strategy document outlines the requirements for various activities for the management of
the road network including:

 design and construction consideration to reduce maintenance issues;

 preventative maintenance;

 maintenance management;

o inspection and data collection

o record management

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o programming

o post activity review

 training and knowledge transfer.

Question 3
List and briefly explain the strengths and weaknesses of the approach of each of these bodies to
road network asset management. (3 marks)

Small Agency – Lockyer Valley regional Council

As described above, LVRC approach the management of their road network using a risk management
strategy due to the limited resources available to Council.

The strengths of this approach to Council include:

 Flexibility
Council can quickly make changes to the inspection regime for their assets to better suit their
needs as well as the needs of the community to meet the levels of service expected from the
community.
Council can tailor their work force to suit the maintenance required and location of the work
force to complete the activities required.

 Transparency
Council can show and explain to the community the criteria for intervention that triggers various
maintenance works activities on the network.

 Planning
Council can plan the maintenance activities for both activity type, location and timing to best
make use of the limited resources available to Council

Weaknesses of the risk management strategy used by Council include:

 Condition monitoring
The visual inspection regime employed only gives Council a basic overview of the actual
condition of the road network. Whilst surface defects and some pavement issues can be
identified from the visual inspections, it is difficult to see the underlying condition of the
pavement and when and if more major activities, such as pavement replacement or
rehabilitation is required. The visual inspections cannot give Council a history of condition for
indicators such as roughness and rutting over time to be able to ascertain the rate of
degradation of the road network.

 Long term maintenance planning

The current inspection regime does not provide a quantitative measure of the condition of the
road network. As Council only undertakes this type of condition assessment on an ad-hoc basis
when funds are available, it is very difficult for Council to see the rate of deterioration of the road
network and where best to spend the limited funds available to provide the best value for the
community.

 Road-centric
The risk assessment strategy is biased to Council’s needs for the existing road network status
and condition, without really focusing on the actual needs of the community. This strategy also
does not take into consideration the costs to the community for vehicle running costs or travel
time costs.

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 Outside Influences
The strategy still allows for “the squeaky wheel” to influence maintenance programming, this
could be from members of the community who are more vocal than others, or from political
influence, such as a Councillor directing work be undertaken on a certain road, whether it
actually meets the intervention criteria or not.

 Reactive maintenance focus

The risk management strategy is still very much focus on reactive maintenance, that is
identifying a problem and fixing that problem, rather than a preventative maintenance regime
where maintenance activities are carried before there is an issue with the road surface or
pavement.

Large Agency – Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads

(TMR)
TMR prescribes a “whole of life” approach to the maintenance of the State road network which includes
both the overall cost of maintenance to the agency, but also the costs to the community and road users
into account when planning and executing road maintenance works at all levels and to optimise the
performance of the road network to provide the best value to the community and users.

Strengths of this approach include:

 Maintenance planning
Allows for the systematic planning, implementation and review of maintenance strategies for all
asset types.
Maintenance issues and activities will be considered at the design phase to improve the
performance of assets and reduce maintenance costs by using a collaborative approach with
input from design, construction and maintenance teams.

 Preventative maintenance
A good planned maintenance strategy will identify maintenance requirements before the
identified defects have reached intervention levels. Most of these activities can be carried out in
conjunction with other works, or by specialist teams that perform only that task, for example
cleaning drains, sealing cracks and replacement of sealant in bridge deck or concrete pavement
joints.

 Maintenance management
A systematic approach to the planning and completion of maintenance works can lead to cost
savings through operational efficiencies.

The main weakness that I can see in using the “whole of life” approach is that it is very process driven
and also relies on the “buy in” of the various levels and areas of the agency to be effective in the overall
management of the performance of the road network.

If one area of operations, or one manager, does not see the value of the overall maintenance strategy,
or does not see how the strategy will benefit them then the whole strategy will fall over. The strategy
relies on the whole organisation seeing the value and benefits to both the organisation and community
to be successful.

There is a great reliance on accurate record keeping and documentation, again something that is not
cheap or easy to achieve, and again the organisation needs to realise the benefits in following the
processes for the strategy to work.

Another perceived weakness is also the lack of flexibility. Although the strategy does encourage the
constant review of management processes and maintenance activities, the structure of the overall
system means that change can be slow with associated frustrations from the people completing the
work to try to bring innovation and improvements to the overall maintenance strategies.

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Question 4
For the weaknesses listed in your response to question 3, discuss the likely reasons, the action
necessary to improve the present approach, and the potential benefits of an improved approach.
(3 marks)

Small Agency – Lockyer Valley regional Council

Weaknesses listed above are:

 Condition monitoring

 Long term maintenance planning

 Road-centric

 Outside Influences

 Reactive maintenance focus

For LVRC, the reason for the weaknesses in their road network maintenance strategy comes down to
the one factor, a limit to the resources available. As discussed above, LVRC have a very small Asset
Management team, made up of three people to manage the infrastructure assets for Council. Along with
the small team, they are also limited by a relatively small budget to complete the necessary work, and
the usual expectation within local government to do more with less.

This problem is also exacerbated by the recent implementation of an AIMS that, in my opinion, is too
complex for the maturity of the organisation in terms of asset management. The resources available for
asset management are tied up in developing and administration of the AIMS processes and procedures.
This does not give the asset management team the time or budget to carry out the condition
assessment and data collection necessary to properly plan and manage the maintenance activities
required for the long term. Because of this, they are forced to revert to the risk management strategy to
ensure the road network will provide the basic service required, but this is still a “band aid” approach in
in the long term will not be sustainable.

To improve the situation at LVRC, senior management and Councillors need to be educated in the
importance of appropriate asset management practices that best suit the organisation. Unfortunately,
this is only just coming to light as senior management are asking questions as to why there are
problems with both the system and the road network.

Hopefully, for LVRC, this current situation, with strong leadership and buy in and an understanding of
the asset management process from senior management and Councillors will result in better resourcing
for Council. This needs to include additional staff for the asset management team as well as a better
budget to manage and maintain the asset owned by Council.

If better resourcing of the asset management team can be accomplished, then the current shortfalls can
be addressed and a better understanding and estimation of resources needed for the management of
the infrastructure, not just roads, can be made. This should include better data collection and
management to build on the foundations that LVRC already have with a well-constructed asset register
that allows for the addition of data as required. Once the asset management team have the data
required to manage their assets, then programming of both preventative and reactive maintenance can
be undertaken, providing Council with the information required to properly budget for the actual costs
required to maintain the network. Over the longer term this can be refined as cheaper activities that
extend the life of the asset at the required level of service can be undertaken without the guess work
that is necessary at the moment.

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Large Agency – Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads

(TMR)
As discussed in Question 4 above, the main weakness of the “whole of life” approach used by TMR to
manage the road assets is the process itself as well as the size of the organisation and the road
network, that encompasses some of the remotest areas in Australia to one the largest growth areas in
Australia.

To combat the size of the organisation, TMR has set up regions to manage the maintenance of the
network, however the processes are still based on a centralised system that is bureaucratic, and tends
to be inflexible and slow moving when it comes to change.

Also as stated above, for the strategy to work, all areas of the organisation at all levels need to “buy in”
to the strategy and see the benefits to them.

As set out in the TMR Asset Maintenance Guidelines, investment in the organisation’s people is also
needed, and if undertaken correctly will strengthen the policies and the strategy for the overall
management of the road network. This includes ensuring that the appropriate people get the
appropriate training at all levels of the management of the road network, from training and
understanding of the actual processes through to the high level strategic management goals and
strategies needed to successfully manage the road network to provide the appropriate levels of service
and achieve the stated objectives and outcomes:

“to achieve the full range of safer roads, efficient and effective transport, fair access, and
amenity and environmental management outcomes;

to provide a basic right of transport infrastructure and services for all road users by maintaining
access;

project selection and priorities that reflect consistency and strategic fit with long-term directions
in road system and corridor planning choices;

investment in the road network that achieves best impact for the whole road system;

to improve consistency in road travel and quality across the state;

better use of existing infrastructure through a greater focus on maintenance, and lower cost
solutions; and

to achieve a road network that provides users with a seamless integration betweenstate and
local government roads.”

Question 5
For the strengths listed in your response to question 3, discuss the issues that would have been
faced, decisions made and processes followed to develop these strengths. (3 marks)

Small Agency – Lockyer Valley regional Council

With LVRC being a small organisation with limited resources, both people and budgetary, the risk
management strategy for the management of the road network has some inherent strengths as listed in
Question 3 above.

The major issues faced by LVRC are resourcing and it immaturity as an organisation in terms of asset
management, still generally operating in a reactive maintenance phase rather than a planned or
preventative maintenance regime. This has “pushed” Council into the strategy used.

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The risk management strategy allows Council to be flexible in its approach to the overall maintenance of
the road network and associated assets.

The flexibility inherent in the approach allows Council to modify the levels of service and intervention
levels to better match the available resourcing to Council. For example, if the budget does allow for all
gravelled roads to be graded every six months, the levels of service or defect intervention levels can be
changed so that only specified roads are graded at the time interval, and other roads are either graded
after a major rain event, or after a certain number of customer complaints.

This allows Council to make the best use of its resources. Over time a picture of the performance of the
overall network can be compiled based on customer complaints, whilst not as beneficial or
comprehensive as a formal condition assessment of the road network, it does give Council a good idea
of where performance for a section of road may be lacking.

As Council’s resourcing improves, through additional budget and more efficiencies, opportunities can
then be taken to progress from the risk based strategy towards the “whole of life” strategy of
management, still keeping within the requirements and abilities of Council.

Large Agency – Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads

(TMR)
The overall strategy of “whole of life” for both the user and agency has been derived from many years of
managing road networks. With TMR responsible for one the largest road networks in the country, the
organisation is one the leaders in management of road networks. The huge geographical area covered
by Queensland has also influenced the abilities of the organisation to successfully maintain the road
network and provide the service required by the community and to achieve the goals of the
organisation.

The current strategy was implemented in the old Department of Main Roads, prior to the creation of
TMR in 2009. From the Asset maintenance Policy and Strategy document:

“The first edition of the Road Asset Maintenance Policy and Strategy (RAMPS) for the
Queensland state-controlled road network was issued in September 1999. It signalled a shift in
emphasis by Main Roads towards stronger management of the performance and condition of
the existing road network.”

Given the progress since 1999 in implementing the directions established in RAMPS, proposals
to update RAMPS are beginning to emerge within Main Roads.

RAMPS covers all state-controlled road assets, including pavements, bridges, traffic control
systems and other associated infrastructure.

The overall aim of RAMPS is to optimise the performance of the road asset, by taking a ‘whole-
of-life’ view taking both road user costs and Main Roads costs into account. This optimisation is
to have regard for the various objectives of the Government and Main Roads, including road
safety, the environment, employment, regional development, and social equity.

Implementation of the key strategies in RAMPS and ongoing improvement will put Main Roads
in a stronger position to provide the community with a road system which returns optimum
economic benefit for the life of the asset, while recognising social, safety, environmental and
community needs.”

RAMPS is the major tool used by TMR to implement maintenance strategy for all facets of the road
network, from the initial transport planning phases, through to design and construction and then to the
maintenance of the road network.

TMR is focused on two main areas in delivering its services to the community:

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 The type of road systems that will best serve the community, and;

 The expectations of road users and the general community of their road network.

Question 6
List at least three of the more useful published quantitative indicators of road network
performance that you have encountered and, if possible, state their source. (3 marks)
As described in the study notes there are many quantitative performance indicators that can be used by
the road manager to measure performance of the road.

Indicators can be used to define:

 Safety of the road;

 Travel time along the road;

 Road use and utilisation, and;

 Road condition.

For most road network owners, especially local government, the performance measures monitored on a
regular basis tend to be for road condition as the data collection is generally relatively easy and cost
effective to collect and can be used for more than one purpose, e.g. condition data such as roughness,
rutting and surface defects can be used to calculate remaining life for valuation as well as prioritising
maintenance and renewal programs.

With nearly ten years working in the road industry, with Cardno’s DRIVE video survey system, most of
my experience is in condition data capture for road networks, typically roughness, rutting and local
surface defect data collection for local government.

I am currently working on a project for Australia Aid in Indonesia to monitor the condition and
improvements in various road links throughout eight provinces in Eastern Indonesia. The data collected
in the field for this project includes roughness, travel time and traffic speed. Maintenance expenditure as
well as crash data is also collected and submitted to Australia Aid for further analysis.

Roughness
The roughness of a road is generally defined as:

“a condition parameter used to measure deviations from the intended longitudinal profile of a
road surface, with characteristic dimensions that affect vehicle dynamics, ride quality and
dynamic pavement loading.” (The Local Government & Municipal Knowledge Base,
http://www.lgam.info/road-roughness)

There are two main units used in Australia for the calculation of road roughness, the International
Roughness Index (IRI, m/km) or NAASRA roughness meter counts (NRM, counts/km). In my
experience most agencies collect roughness data using IRI as this value is used in in most HDM based
road condition modelling software. The road roughness is generally measured by either a mechanical
device, such as ARRB’s roughometer, or by, multi laser profilometer, which may also measure rutting
and surface texture of a road surface.

Roughness measurement of roads was developed in the early 1980’s, originally research was
undertaken by the United States National Cooperative Highway Research Program to help road
agencies improve the use of roughness measurement equipment. The World Bank further continued the
work to determine how the comparison, or conversion of data obtained from different countries involved
in World Bank projects.

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Surface Condition Rating

The surface condition rating or index (SCI) of a road is used to measure the performance of the road
surface. The overall surface rating of a road is determined by both the roughness of the road and the
severity of cracking, stripping and potholes in the road surface.

The calculation of the SCI is undertaken by identifying the extent and severity of defined defects in a
road segment, typically:

 Crocodile cracking;

 Environmental cracking (block, diagonal, longitudinal and transverse);

 Stripping;

 Potholes;

 Patching, and;

 Pavement defects such as corrugations, shoving and depressions

All the defects identified in a road segment are tallied for the area of the segment and the total area is
given a rating from 1 to 5 and the most predominant severity is applied to the segment.

EXTENT

Level Degree Area Affected

0 Nil No Defect Present

1 Negligible Evident <2% of Total Area

2 Minor Evident Between 2% To <5% of Total Area

3 Moderate Evident Between 5% To <15% of Total Area

4 Extensive Evident Between 15% To <50% of Total Area

5 Extreme Evident >50% of Total Area

Table 1. – SCI ratings (The Local Government & Municipal Knowledge Base,
http://www.lgam.info/pavement-condition-aPavssessment-manual)
A more formal definition and explanation of local surface defects can be found in Austroads guide to
asset management part 5 (Austroads 2011) and Austroads guide to pavement evaluation and treatment
design (Austroads 2009).

Surface Condition Rating

From Pavement Condition Monitoring in Australia: State of the Art, Graham Foley, May 1999, rutting is
defined as:

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“Rutting is a subset of pavement shape, the other major parameter being longitudinal profile. It
is also a function of the transverse profile of a pavement, and will typically include other
pavement shape loss parameters such as:

 Transverse shoving (of the surface(ing) material), and;

 Depressions and heaving, which are localised areas of the pavement which have
elevations lower and higher respectively than the surrounding area.”

Rutting data is collected by road agencies as it contributes to lower levels of safety as it allows water to
pond in wheel paths of the road surface. This can result in the potential aquaplaning of vehicles
traveling along the road section affected.

Rutting can be measured manually by using a 2.0m straight edge or by multi laser profilometer,
generally 13 laser.

For laser data collection, rutting is reported as a rating of 1 to 5 for a given road section, the percentage
of ruts that fall in the following “rut bins” are used as a minimum:

 >0 - ≤5mm

 >5 - ≤10mm

 >10 - ≤15mm

 >15 - ≤20mm

 >25 - ≤30mm

 >30 - ≤35mm

 >35 - ≤40mm

 >40mm

The percentages of road length for each rutting bin are calculated and the final rutting rating calculated
by adding these percentages and applying a multiplier. This score is then bought back to a 1 to 5 rating
based on the final score for the segment (due to current location in Jakarta Indonesia I cannot access
the Queensland Road Alliance Asset Management Kit to provide a graphical representation of the
rutting rating system).

Question 7
Discuss the relevance or suitability of these published performance indicators to the aims of
the road-managing organisation. Discuss how these indicators could be improved.
(4 marks)
The three performance indicators listed in Question 6, roughness, rutting and surface defects provide
various indications of the condition of the road surface and pavement. They are simple and easy
relatively easy indicators to measure, and can be collected cheaply, if required. The data can also be
collected on a network wide basis, or for certain segments of the road network only to help with
resourcing. The indicators are repeatable, in that the data from one assessment can be compared with
data from another assessment at the same location at different times. This provides the road owner with
a history of comparable data to analyse to see how the road is performing in terms of condition.

These indictors can provide a guide to the overall strength of the pavement, if there are any points of
localised, or wider failures in either or both the surface or pavement as well as how the pavement is
coping with the use, traffic volume and weight. They also provide an indication of the condition of the
wearing surface.

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In conjunction with data such as construction or rehabilitation dates, the degradation rate of the road
from new to unserviceable, or reaching maintenance intervention points can be estimated. From this
data, the information can also be used for the valuation of the road network and remaining life of the
roads.

Depending on the methods used to measure the indicators, which can vary from simple visual
inspections through to fully automated laser and video techniques, the costs to complete assessment of
these indicators can be varied to match the available, or appropriate budgets.

These indicators are also generally universally used throughout Australia, and through the work of
Austroads, state road authorities, private road owners, local government and other engineering bodies
such as the IPWEA and Road Alliance groups, the methodologies for the collection of the data are
constantly being improved as well as standardised.

There is also much work being done by these organisations to best make use of the collected data, and
also for how the data can be better used. For example, continual updating of road modelling software to
reflect what is happening in the real world provides better analysis and prediction of what will happen to
the condition of a road network over time. This in turn makes maintenance and renewal planning able to
be better planned and as a result savings are able to be made in the overall costs of managing the road
networks.

For a small rural local government with a relatively small and simple road network that does not need to
meet a high level of service, when compared to a major road like a motorway, the simple manual
techniques will provide the required data for that organisation to make informed and valuable decisions
for the ongoing management of the road network.

For a larger organisation, like a large urban local government area or state road owner, using more
appropriate automated equipment will generally be feasible due to the volume and quality of data
required and the economies of scale that automated surveys bring for a large road network.

Improvements for the measurement and reporting of these indicators is improving all the time as the
technologies used to undertake the condition surveys improves and becomes cheaper. For video
surveys, camera resolutions have increased by many times. In the early 2000’s a camera resolution of
480x480 pixels was acceptable and considered quite good, now resolutions of 1920x1920 and higher
are the norm as the price of cameras has decreased along with the associated computer and storage
hardware and software needed. The same improvements in technology are also occurring with laser
profilometers, with 13 laser profile bars becoming more common.

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Bibliography
Lockyer Valley regional Council, Lockyer Valley Regional Council Annual Report 2013-14

Lockyer Valley Regional Council, Mr John Keen (July 2014) Infrastructure Works and Services Asset
Maintenance Manual, V4

Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (2014) Annual Report 2013-14

Queensland Department of Main Roads (2002) Part1: Asset Maintenance Policy and Strategy

The Local Government & Municipal Knowledge Base, http://www.lgam.info/road-roughness

The Local Government & Municipal Knowledge Base, Pavement Condition Manual,
http://www.lgam.info/pavement-condition-aPavssessment-manual

Graham Foley (May 1999) State of the Art

Queensland Road Alliance, Asset Management Kit, Part 3

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