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From Tech Transfer Newsletter, Fall 2005
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Taking The Same Route:
How Regional Coordination Can Improve Your Local Roads
By Theresa Romell, Metropolitan Transportation Commission and
Alyssa Sherman, Technology Transfer Program
Imagine for a moment the vastness of a nine-county region that includes some of California's most populous urban areas as well as suburban and rural communities.
It covers 7,000 square miles, and winding through its hills and valleys are nearly 20,000 miles of local streets and roads and 1,400 miles of highways.
Now think of the difficulty of monitoring the condition of those roads and deciding how improvement funds can be most efficiently spent.
With such a large network of roads and local jurisdictions, how are pavement improvement projects planned and managed?
How are funding decisions made?
The task of determining need, revenue, and shortfall in this region -
the San Francisco Bay Area - is not as daunting as one might think.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - the region's transportation planning agency - is blazing a new trail as the first region in California and one of the first in the country to introduce a Pavement Management System (PMS) used by nearly all of its local jurisdictions.
Of the 109 cities in the region, 107 use MTC PMS, which can be adapted to fit each local jurisdiction's needs.
The secret to the system's success is the Pavement Condition Index (PCI), a measure that each city and county uses to monitor its local streets and roads.
With a common measure used across the region, MTC can easily forecast regional funding and maintenance needs and produce analyses cities use to successfully lobby for increased funding.
Why You Need a Pavement Management System
Pavement maintenance is the most cost-effective long term method for managing a pavement network.
For repairs to be effective, a local jurisdiction must select the right treatment for the right road at the right time.
To receive funds for pavement maintenance and rehabilitation projects through California's State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), a local jurisdiction is required under State Highway Code Section 2108.1 to develop and periodically update a certified PMS.
In 1990 the City, County, State, Federal Cooperative Committee (CCSFCC) developed the guidelines a PMS must follow to be certified for STIP funds in accordance with the statute.
To be certified, a city or county must maintain a PMS that is updated biennially and keeps an inventory of arterial and collector routes;
assesses pavement condition for all routes in the system;
identifies all sections of pavement that need rehabilitation or replacement;
and determines the budget needs for rehabilitation or replacement of deficient sections over a four year period.
The certification process is a self-assessment performed by individual local jurisdictions, and there is no requirement that a regional transportation planning agency coordinate systems to receive funds.
The CCSFCC's requirements leave room for regions to develop guidelines for STIP funding to meet their region's requirements.
In some regions, a certified PMS can be anything from a sophisticated software program to an Excel spreadsheet, or even "Engineer's Judgment." Usually, a PMS is automated, allowing users to store and easily retrieve data, make multiple complex calculations quickly and efficiently, and produce results in easily understandable reports.
Impetus for the MTC PMS Program
MTC created its comprehensive PMS program in 1983 in response to a study that revealed the region was spending only 60 percent of the funds required to maintain adequate roads.
MTC recognized the need to improve pavement maintenance and rehabilitation techniques and practices, and after evaluation of regional pavement management efforts, the standardized MTC PMS was developed.
Outside the Bay Area, local jurisdictions within a single planning region in California may use as many as 31 different pavement management systems, each measuring need and condition differently.
Using a single PMS that is coordinated among nearly all of its local jurisdictions allows MTC to collaboratively gauge roadway conditions and funding needs more efficiently.
MTC's Funding Requirements
To receive funding through STIP and the Surface Transportation Program (STP), pavement management systems maintained by MTC local jurisdictions must produce detailed information about pavement condition.
A PMS must store inventory data for all roads within the jurisdiction, assess the pavement condition based on distress information, identify all pavement sections that need rehabilitation or replacement, and calculate budget needs for rehabilitating or replacing deficient pavement sections.
MTC jurisdictions must also review and update the information for all roads every two years, calculate the budgetary needs for rehabilitating or replacing deficient pavement sections for the current year and the next three years, and re-inspect pavement for arterials and collectors every two years, and residential streets every five years.
Reports also must be submitted showing five-year predictions of roadway sections earmarked for treatment based on annual budget estimates, maintenance needed to maintain roads in the same condition, and possible scenarios in which pavement could be improved.
Overview of the MTC PMS Program
MTC's PMS software program (StreetSaver) is used to manage data and analyze pavement needs to meet MTC's data storage and assessment requirement.
The program is offered in user-friendly formats on the Internet or as a traditional computer database, and MTC offers support, training, and periodic meetings to users.
The Pavement Technical Assistance Program (P-TAP) helps MTC local jurisdictions establish pavement management systems and perform periodic roadway evaluations, also in accordance with MTC's PMS certification requirements.
Since implementation of the P-TAP program in 1998, the percentage of local jurisdictions within MTC that are certified to receive funding has risen from 50 percent to 95 percent.
StreetSaver Software and its Analyses
StreetSaver is a computer-assisted system designed to help cities and counties prevent pavement problems through maintenance and to diagnose and repair those that exist in a timely and cost effective manner.
The StreetSaver program calculates a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) - on a scale of 0 to 100 - based on information entered into the system once a section of pavement has been physically inspected for distresses.
The PCI is based on the type and severity of pavement distresses, which signal deterioration of the pavement and include cracking, rutting, weathering, and utility patching.
The PCI can help a local jurisdiction prioritize which areas of pavement to fix and to determine future funding needs.
Reports issued by the Federal Highway Administration reveal that the average serviceable life of a segment of pavement, if no treatment is applied to it, is about 20 years.
By the time a roadway reaches a PCI of 60, it has already lived 75 percent of its serviceable life (approximately 15 years) but it has only experienced a 40 percent drop in quality.
However, once a roadway reaches a PCI beyond 60, rapid deterioration begins to take place.
In only the next few years, the same roadway will experience another 40 percent drop in quality.
(See "Pavement Maintenance Timeframe" at the end of this article.)
The FHWA has determined that for every dollar needed to treat a roadway with a PCI of 70 or higher, it will cost approximately five dollars to fix the same roadway once it has deteriorated to the point where major rehabilitation or reconstruction is necessary.
Once the PCI is established, the software utilizes user input on revenue, costs, and treatment strategies in conjunction with the PCI to generate recommendations and provide analyses that help develop cost effective maintenance strategies including preventive maintenance treatments.
Preventive maintenance treatments usually have high cost effectiveness ratios because they greatly extend the life of the pavement if applied to a street with a PCI of 70 or above, and they are typically low cost treatments.
The program helps prioritize projects using a preferential weighting based on functional classification.
Arterials are weighted higher than collectors, and collectors are weighted higher than residential streets.
StreetSaver can also analyze data to estimate budgetary needs, produce funding strategy scenarios, and determine the expected effects of rehabilitation.
Pavement Technical Assistance Program (P-TAP)
To help local jurisdictions set up or update pavement management programs using the StreetSaver software, MTC established the Pavement Technical Assistance Program (P-TAP).
P-TAP provides funds to local jurisdictions for projects to analyze or re-analyze conditions on local streets and roads, perform budget analyses, set up plans for specific pavement rehabilitation projects, or integrate PMS data with a Geographical Information System (GIS).
Regional Benefits of MTC's PMS Program
Once MTC has collected pavement condition data from individual jurisdictions in the region, it compiles estimates of overall pavement maintenance revenue need.
Using the compiled information, MTC calculates regional average treatment costs that are reviewed by the local jurisdictions within MTC and then used to guide regional transportation investment decisions and planning.
The program is also geared toward regional long-range planning.
The fact that 98% of the Bay Area utilizes a common pavement management software provides MTC with a factual foundation on which to set regional funding priorities and develop responsible transportation policies.
Local jurisdictions that receive funds through P-TAP report back to MTC with new information about the condition of their roads, which can then be used to prove funding needs to regional transportation policy decision makers.
MTC also formed the Local Streets and Roads Committee, a group of public works directors from around the region who meet to oversee the shortfall projection process and to justify increased levels of regional transportation funding for local street and road maintenance.
The group has been highly influential and successful in dramatically increasing the amount of funding allocated regionally to local streets and roads.
Expanding StreetSaver's GIS capabilities
Although the StreetSaver software is capable of being integrated with GIS for a graphical display, local jurisdictions must currently seek outside assistance to integrate their systems.
Many jurisdictions use P-TAP grants to fund their integration.
A new version of the program that will be released in 2006 includes a GIS toolbox that will provide a user-friendly system for linking street network maps to reports.
MTC is currently working with Farallon Geographics to develop software with a built-in GIS component that would automate the linkage.
MTC recently completed a county-wide integration in Marin County, which provided linkage between maps of the cities in the county and the StreetSaver program.
MTC is currently undergoing a similar project in Sonoma County and its local jurisdictions.
The integration will allow staff to generate maps that detail pavement condition and maintenance information.
Case Study:
City of San Mateo
San Mateo is a city of over 90,000 located 20 miles south of San Francisco and covering 14 square miles.
The director of the city's Department of Public Works, Larry Patterson, said the city uses analyses generated by StreetSaver to direct its annual paving program and to show elected officials the cost of deferred maintenance.
San Mateo received two P-TAP grants in the past five years, which were used to fund pavement evaluations.
The city is currently working to integrate the system with a GIS.
The city's use of StreetSaver to do an analysis of shortfall ultimately resulted in an increase in the general fund contribution to the city's paving program.
Officials from San Mateo are also active on MTC's Local Streets and Roads Committee, which uses the coordinated information about pavement condition generated by each local jurisdiction to justify requests for increased regional local streets and roads funding.
The committee's efforts have resulted in a MTC policy change that increased regional funding for local street and road maintenance.
Case Study:
City of Santa Clara
In 2003, the City of Santa Clara, located in Silicon Valley, was recognized by MTC for having the highest average PCI in the network (86).
With a current PCI of 84, Santa Clara's Street and Storm Drain Superintendent Roger Lee said the city's goal is to maintain a PCI between 82 and 86.
The analyses provided by StreetSaver are used as a budgeting tool first, then as a planning tool.
Santa Clara runs scenarios on StreetSaver to determine what funding is required to reach that goal and what PCI is attainable at various levels of funding.
Using StreetSaver, city employees have determined that a PCI of 86 is the absolute maximum the city could hope to attain, because anything greater would indicate the city is performing maintenance treatments before actually needed.
Santa Clara uses StreetSaver to save time when the city begins planning for the next season's pavement improvement projects.
With the program, they are able to run reports then verify need in the field.
With a street network of 240 miles, Lee says that having a place to start is beneficial.
Lee cites the ability to logically store maintenance and rehabilitation history as another benefit of the program, because knowledge of a network can be transitory as people retire and the program institutionalizes the information.
Lee says that a coordinated system is a helpful means of comparison between street networks.
"Although every street network is different and any database is only as good as the information put in, StreetSaver is good at providing information that can be reasonably compared and contrasted.
For decision makers and the public, a coordinated PMS can provide quick, comparable information on how their agency or city is doing."
Lee said that, due to the condition of the city's network, Santa Clara does not use the PMS reports to justify bigger maintenance budgets.
Instead, the reports are a confirmation that the city is spending its current level of funding appropriately.
Santa Clara was approved for a P-TAP grant this year and will use it to integrate StreetSaver with a GIS, a project Lee expects to complete by the middle of 2006.
Santa Clara has used previous P-TAP funding to input inspection data and update maintenance rehabilitation history.
Case Study:
City of San Leandro
San Leandro, located in the East Bay just south of Oakland, covers 15 square miles and has a population of 80,000.
The city was also one of the original users of MTC PMS.
Rod Schurman, Associate Engineer in the Capital Improvements Division of the city's Engineering and Transportation Department, said San Leandro uses StreetSaver analyses to prepare charts and graphs of pavement condition and funding history, and to make projections that are presented to the City Council annually to assist in determining the level of funding for street maintenance, rehabilitation and construction.
The city uses the program to prepare internal annual reports that includes a complete list of city streets sorted by PCI.
As a planning tool, San Leandro uses the recommendations made by StreetSaver when determining which streets will receive maintenance, rehabilitation, or reconstruction with the limited funds available each year.
StreetSaver is capable of creating a list of streets to be fixed based on funding availability, but if the cost of rehabilitation of a major street is more than 50% above the annual amount of funds available, the program will not display the street as being feasible to fix.
San Leandro gets around this quirk in the system by inputting a funding level that is double or more than double the amount the city will have to spend so the program will create a larger list of streets.
This year Schurman used the information generated by the program to put together a list of streets that exceed the current budget, to be repaired over the next 10 years.
In 2001, San Leandro linked an earlier version of StreetSaver to their ArcView GIS map using GeoData Analytics' GeoPave(tm) product, but when the StreetSaver system was updated earlier this year, the city lost its GIS link.
The city just began working to reconnect the programs, with funding from P-TAP.
San Leandro's previous P-TAP grants were used to perform periodic condition inspections on roads, to analyze their project costs, and to prepare budget option reports.
In a recent round of funding, the city used the funds to hire a consultant to check and correct the description and dimensions of all the streets in the city.
The Experiences of Users Outside the Bay Area
There are nearly 200 StreetSaver users outside the Bay Area, including cities and counties nationwide, federal government agencies, private consultants, and universities.
Some of these users say they picked up the system because of its versatility and the user support services offered by MTC.
Case Study:
Nevada County
Rod McConnell, Transportation Planner for Nevada County, said the county started to use StreetSaver years ago because it was free at the time.
Nevada County is located along the northern route to Lake Tahoe, and is comprised of only two cities and one town.
The county maintains 560 miles of road, 410 miles of it paved.
Unlike cities in the mostly-urban MTC region, cities in Nevada County do not coordinate their pavement management systems.
Because the county is rural and small, McConnell said the benefit of coordination would be slighter than in a more urbanized area.
The county uses StreetSaver to generate a sorted list based on PCI and annual average daily traffic (AADT).
The list is used by the county's Road Maintenance Division as input for prioritizing preventative maintenance and rehabilitation projects and funding.
The county has recently started to provide segment reports of distress type percentages for the road maintenance division to utilize in determining the most effective treatment strategy.
The program is also used for Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) reporting and to produce budgetary scenarios and the resultant effect on pavement conditions.
The reports are then incorporated into presentations for the Board of Supervisors during the funding process.
Case Study:
City of Stockton
Stockton, California's 12th largest city, has a population near 280,000 and covers 56.5 square miles in the San Joaquin valley.
The city's Senior Civil Engineer, Vijay Sinha, said the city switched to StreetSaver from a DOS-based system because StreetSaver is a more versatile system with excellent user support and a strong user base in Northern California.
Stockton has already integrated its system with GIS, a process that Sinha said improved the city's ability to show need for increased funding.
Funding decision makers, he said, respond better to visual information, such as maps than to reports.
The integration was handled initially by Geodata Analytics.
Farallon Geographics provided Oracle street centerline database connectivity with Streetsaver's SQL server.
During the integration, about 80 percent of the work was automated, but the final 20 percent was done by hand, a process Sinha described as "labor intensive."
In the San Joaquin region immediately surrounding Stockton, pavement management systems are not coordinated.
Sinha said the region could benefit from a collaborative system because it would allow for useful comparisons of information between agencies, create a better inventory of data for analysis, and present critical infrastructure maintenance needs to federal agencies in a unified, rational manner.
Benefits Of A Coordinated System
Pavement management systems are widely used by local jurisdictions across the country.
A system can be anything from a simple spreadsheet to a software program packed with analytical features.
A system developed collaboratively between local jurisdictions has many benefits:
- Allows compilation of information on regional pavement conditions and average treatment costs
- Creates opportunities for interagency coordination
- Provides calculations of effective regional maintenance treatments and overall pavement maintenance revenue need that can be used to guide regional transportation investment decisions and planning
- Yields solid evidence of regional need for increased funding for local streets and roads
- Cities can easily learn the condition of pavement in neighboring areas, how much neighbors spend on maintenance treatments, and other cities' maintenance strategies and practices
- Builds cohesiveness among local jurisdictions in a region
- Encourages a stronger advocacy for local street and road funding
The authors express thanks to the following individuals for the information they provided:
- Sui Tan, Metropolitan Transportation Commission
- Roger Lee, City of Santa Clara
- Rod Schurman, PE, City of San Leandro
- Larry Patterson, City of San Mateo
- Vijay Sinha, City of Stockton
- Rod McConnell, Nevada County
- Rita Evans, Harmer E.
Davis Transportation Library
- Tom Glover, Caltrans
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