التحليل المكاني لأداره صيانة الطرق الحضرية

Spatial Analysis of Urban Roadway Pavement Maintenance Management

Abstract

Road pavements are regarded as one of the most significant structural elements in all countries. Attention must be given to the management of maintenance work and its timely implementation to maintain the paving at a satisfactory service level. Pavement distress inspection assists greatly in improving the capabilities of the Pavement Management System (PMS). This study aims to create a heat-distress map that is produced by spatial analysis tools to assist decision-makers in evaluating the pavement condition and selecting the appropriate maintenance. A visual survey of the study area was performed to determine the type of defect, severity, and quantity. The data obtained from the visual survey was analyzed using the PAVER 6.5.7 software to determine the PCI values for each sample unit. The data resulted from PAVER software was linked with ArcGIS software to generate heat maps using spatial analysis tools such as Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) and Point Density Estimation (PDE). The IDW tool was used to create two types of heat maps: one for assessing pavement condition and the other for maintenance. This map provides the selection of optimum maintenance for the study area based on the PCI values. By looking at the heat map, users may identify the pavement condition as well as select appropriate maintenance based on the color. Each category of the PCI value is given a special color, starting with red, which means the pavement is in deteriorating condition and needs reconstruction, and ending with dark green, which means the pavement is in good condition and does not require maintenance. The assessment of heat maps created with PAVER and GIS software revealed that the present condition of the chosen roads in Karbala city is generally good. Whereas 56% of the selected roads do not require maintenance, 29% require preventative maintenance, 13% require rehabilitation, and 2% require reconstruction. However, the heat map facilitates pavement condition assessment because it provides all the information that is necessary for users, such as the location of the defects, the PCI value of each unit, the street name and direction, and the number of damaged units, in addition to the number of defects in each unit. Although the developed method of pavement condition presentation involves lengthy and hard data collection, it may be beneficial for the pavement maintenance management system.