The New Paradigm
FEATURE STORY
by Kirk Landers
The
New Paradigm
s contractor groups go, the members of the Asphalt Recycling and Reclaiming Association are among the most connected to road agency professionals, especially those at the county and city government level.
But even the ARRA contractors expressed various degrees of amazement as Roger Cox, PE, took the podium of their 2010 Annual Meeting and explained the inner workings of the Hillsborough County (Florida) Transportation Infrastructure Management System. In his hour-long presentation, Cox showed the group how the Hillsborough County Department of Public Works inspected all segments of its nearly 7,000 lane miles of roads, how each segment’s condition and pavement management history was organized and stored, and the many ways that information is used, from summary reports to graphic representations of various geographic areas. Cox especially showed how his group used that information to plan projects based on budget and need, how they establish priorities based on long-term goals, how they decide on appropriate treatments based on lifecycle costs and long-term system goals, and how they evaluate the performance of the treatments they select. And he showed how the department used this information to maintain the entire system at Pavement Condition Index levels above 55 (on the 100-point PCI scale).
10 August 2010 Better Roads