Sponsored by:

In cooperation with:

American Association of State Highway 

and Transportation Officials

National Cooperative Highway 

Research Program

International Technology 

Scanning Program

Managing Pavements and 

Monitoring Performance:

Best Practices in Australia, 

Europe, and New Zealand

August 2012
NOTICE

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the 

interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. This report does not 

constitute a standard, specification, or regulation. 

The U.S. Government does not endorse products or 

manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names 

appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand i

1. Report No.

FHWA-PL-12-031

2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient’s Catalog No.

4. Title and Subtitle

Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: 

Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand

5. Report Date

August 2012

6. Performing Organization Code

7. Author(s) 

Thomas E. Baker, Timothy K. Colling, Judith B. CorleyLay, Kevin L. McLaury, Nastaran Saadatmand, 

Roger L. Safford, Richard M. Tetreault, 

Julius B. Wlaschin, Kathryn A. Zimmerman

8. Performing Organization Report No.

9. Performing Organization Name and Address

American Trade Initiatives

3 Fairfield Court

Stafford, VA 22554-1716

10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)

11. Contract or Grant No.

DTFH61-10-C-00027

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

Office of International Programs

Federal Highway Administration

U.S. Department of Transportation

American Association of State Highway and 

Transportation Officials

13. Type of Report and Period Covered

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

15. Supplementary Notes

FHWA COTR: Hana Maier, Office of International Programs

16. Abstract

U.S. transportation agencies have seen the gap between available resources and investment needs widen 

while demand on infrastructure and pressure to preserve asset conditions have increased. The Federal Highway 

Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored a scanning study of Australia, Europe, and New Zealand to learn 

how international agencies have improved pavement management while facing decreased revenues, 

deteriorating conditions, and increased demand for transportation services. 

The scan team found that in the agencies it studied, pavement management is integrated into an asset management culture that supports agency business processes and long-term financial responsibilities. The team also 

observed that agencies help officials be better stewards of transportation assets and that they focus on outcomes 

and operate as service providers. 

Team recommendations for U.S. implementation include developing guidelines for asset management plans 

and long-term financial plans as the foundation for sound investment, improving accountability through the use 

of program assessments, and introducing the service-oriented approach observed in the international agencies.

17. Key Words

Asset management, pavement maintenance,

pavement management, performance measures

18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions. This document is available to the public 

from the: Office of International Programs, FHWA-HPIP, 

Room 3325, U.S. Department of Transportation, 

Washington, DC 20590

international@fhwa.dot.gov, www.international.fhwa.dot.gov

19. Security Classify. (of this report)

Unclassified

20. Security Classify. (of this page)

Unclassified

21. No. of Pages

76

22. Price

Free

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized

Technical Report Documentation Page

Managing Pavements and Monitoring 

Performance: Best Practices in Australia, 

Europe, and New Zealand

Prepared by the International Scanning Study Team:

Richard M. Tetreault

(Cochair)

Vermont Agency of 

Transportation

Julius B. Wlaschin (Cochair)

FHWA

Kathryn A. Zimmerman

(Report Facilitator)

Applied Pavement 

Technology, Inc.

Thomas E. Baker

Washington State DOT

Timothy K. Colling

Michigan Technology 

Transportation Institute

Judith B. Corley-Lay

North Carolina DOT

Kevin L. McLaury

FHWA

Nastaran Saadatmand

FHWA

Roger L. Safford

Michigan DOT

For

U.S. Department of Transportation

Federal Highway Administration

American Association of State Highway and 

Transportation Officials

National Cooperative Highway Research Program

August 2012
iv 

International Technology Scanning Program

The International Technology Scanning Program, 

sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration 

(FHWA), the American Association of State 

Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), 

and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program 

(NCHRP), evaluates innovative foreign technologies and 

practices that could significantly benefit U.S. highway 

transportation systems. This approach allows for advanced 

technology to be adapted and put into practice much more 

efficiently without spending scarce research funds to re-create advances already developed by other countries.

FHWA and AASHTO, with recommendations from NCHRP, 

jointly determine priority topics for teams of U.S. experts to 

study. Teams in the specific areas being investigated are 

formed and sent to countries where significant advances and 

innovations have been made in technology, management 

practices, organizational structure, program delivery, and 

financing. Scan teams usually include representatives from 

FHWA, State departments of transportation, local governments, transportation trade and research groups, the private 

sector, and academia. 

After a scan is completed, team members evaluate findings 

and develop comprehensive reports, including recommendations for further research and pilot projects to verify the 

value of adapting innovations for U.S. use. Scan reports, 

as well as the results of pilot programs and research, are 

circulated throughout the country to State and local transportation officials and the private sector. Since 1990, more 

than 85 international scans have been organized on topics 

such as pavements, bridge construction and maintenance, 

contracting, intermodal transport, organizational management, winter road maintenance, safety, intelligent transportation systems, planning, and policy. 

The International Technology Scanning Program has 

resulted in significant improvements and savings in road 

program technologies and practices throughout the United 

States. In some cases, scan studies have facilitated joint 

research and technology-sharing projects with international 

counterparts, further conserving resources and advancing the 

state of the art. Scan studies have also exposed transportation professionals to remarkable advancements and inspired 

implementation of hundreds of innovations. The result: 

large savings of research dollars and time, as well as significant improvements in the Nation’s transportation system.

Scan reports can be obtained through FHWA free of 

charge by e-mailing international@dot.gov. Scan reports 

are also available electronically and can be accessed on 

the FHWA Office of International Programs Web site at 

www.international.fhwa.dot.gov.
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand v

International Technology Scan Reports

International Technology Scanning Program: Bringing Global Innovations to U.S. Highways

Safety

Infrastructure Countermeasures to Mitigate Motorcyclist Crashes 

in Europe (2012)

Assuring Bridge Safety and Serviceability in Europe (2010)

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety and Mobility in Europe (2010)

Improving Safety and Mobility for Older Road Users in Australia 

and Japan (2008)

Safety Applications of Intelligent Transportation Systems in 

Europe and Japan (2006)

Traffic Incident Response Practices in Europe (2006)

Underground Transportation Systems in Europe: Safety, 

Operations, and Emergency Response (2006)

Roadway Human Factors and Behavioral Safety in Europe 

(2005) 

Traffic Safety Information Systems in Europe and Australia 

(2004) 

Signalized Intersection Safety in Europe (2003) 

Managing and Organizing Comprehensive Highway Safety 

in Europe (2003) 

European Road Lighting Technologies (2001) 

Commercial Vehicle Safety, Technology, and Practice in Europe

(2000) 

Methods and Procedures to Reduce Motorist Delays in European 

Work Zones (2000) 

Innovative Traffic Control Technology and Practice in Europe 

(1999) 

Road Safety Audits—Final Report and Case Studies (1997) 

Speed Management and Enforcement Technology: 

Europe and Australia (1996) 

Safety Management Practices in Japan, Australia, 

and New Zealand (1995) 

Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety in England, Germany, 

and the Netherlands (1994) 

Planning and Environment 

Reducing Congestion and Funding Transportation Using Road 

Pricing In Europe and Singapore (2010)

Linking Transportation Performance and Accountability (2010)

Streamlining and Integrating Right-of-Way and Utility Processes 

With Planning, Environmental, and Design Processes in 

Australia and Canada (2009)

Active Travel Management: The Next Step in Congestion 

Management (2007)

Managing Travel Demand: Applying European Perspectives 

to U.S. Practice (2006)

Transportation Asset Management in Australia, Canada, 

England, and New Zealand (2005)

Transportation Performance Measures in Australia, Canada, 

Japan, and New Zealand (2004) 

European Right-of-Way and Utilities Best Practices (2002) 

Geometric Design Practices for European Roads (2002) 

Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Across European Highways 

(2002)

Sustainable Transportation Practices in Europe (2001) 

Recycled Materials in European Highway Environments (1999) 
vi International Technology Scan Reports

European Intermodal Programs: Planning, Policy, 

and Technology (1999) 

National Travel Surveys (1994) 

Policy and Information 

Transportation Risk Management: International Practices for 

Program Development and Project Delivery (2012)

Understanding the Policy and Program Structure of National 

and International Freight Corridor Programs in the European 

Union (2012) 

Outdoor Advertising Control Practices in Australia, Europe, 

and Japan (2011)

Transportation Research Program Administration in Europe 

and Asia (2009)

Practices in Transportation Workforce Development (2003) 

Intelligent Transportation Systems and Winter Operations 

in Japan (2003) 

Emerging Models for Delivering Transportation Programs 

and Services (1999) 

National Travel Surveys (1994) 

Acquiring Highway Transportation Information From Abroad 

(1994) 

International Guide to Highway Transportation Information 

(1994)

International Contract Administration Techniques for 

Quality Enhancement (1994) 

European Intermodal Programs: Planning, Policy, 

and Technology (1994) 

Operations 

Freight Mobility and Intermodal Connectivity in China (2008)

Commercial Motor Vehicle Size and Weight Enforcement 

in Europe (2007)

Active Travel Management: The Next Step in Congestion 

Management (2007)

Managing Travel Demand: Applying European Perspectives 

to U.S. Practice (2006)

Traffic Incident Response Practices in Europe (2006)

Underground Transportation Systems in Europe: 

Safety, Operations, and Emergency Response (2006)

Superior Materials, Advanced Test Methods, and Specifications 

in Europe (2004)

Freight Transportation: The Latin American Market (2003) 

Meeting 21st Century Challenges of System Performance 

Through Better Operations (2003) 

Traveler Information Systems in Europe (2003) 

Freight Transportation: The European Market (2002) 

European Road Lighting Technologies (2001) 

Methods and Procedures to Reduce Motorist Delays in European 

Work Zones (2000) 

Innovative Traffic Control Technology and Practice in Europe 

(1999) 

European Winter Service Technology (1998) 

Traffic Management and Traveler Information Systems (1997) 

European Traffic Monitoring (1997) 

Highway/Commercial Vehicle Interaction (1996) 

Winter Maintenance Technology and Practices—

Learning from Abroad (1995) 

Advanced Transportation Technology (1994) 

Snowbreak Forest Book—Highway Snowstorm Countermeasure 

Manual (1990) 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand vii

Infrastructure—General 

Infrastructure Countermeasures to Mitigate Motorcyclist Crashes 

in Europe (2012)

Freeway Geometric Design for Active Traffic Management in 

Europe (2011)

Public-Private Partnerships for Highway Infrastructure: 

Capitalizing on International Experience (2009)

Audit Stewardship and Oversight of Large and Innovatively 

Funded Projects in Europe (2006)

Construction Management Practices in Canada and Europe 

(2005)

European Practices in Transportation Workforce Development 

(2003) 

Contract Administration: Technology and Practice in Europe 

(2002)

European Road Lighting Technologies (2001) 

Geometric Design Practices for European Roads (2001)

Geotechnical Engineering Practices in Canada and Europe 

(1999)

Geotechnology—Soil Nailing (1993) 

Infrastructure—Pavements

Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: 

Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand (2012)

Warm-Mix Asphalt: European Practice (2008)

Long-Life Concrete Pavements in Europe and Canada (2007)

Quiet Pavement Systems in Europe (2005)

Pavement Preservation Technology in France, South Africa, 

and Australia (2003) 

Recycled Materials in European Highway Environments (1999)

South African Pavement and Other Highway Technologies 

and Practices (1997) 

Highway/Commercial Vehicle Interaction (1996) 

European Concrete Highways (1992)

European Asphalt Technology (1990) 

Infrastructure—Bridges 

Assuring Bridge Safety and Serviceability in Europe (2010)

Bridge Evaluation Quality Assurance in Europe (2008)

Prefabricated Bridge Elements and Systems in Japan and Europe 

(2005) 

Bridge Preservation and Maintenance in Europe and 

South Africa (2005) 

Performance of Concrete Segmental and Cable-Stayed Bridges 

in Europe (2001) 

Steel Bridge Fabrication Technologies in Europe and Japan 

(2001) 

European Practices for Bridge Scour and Stream Instability 

Countermeasures (1999) 

Advanced Composites in Bridges in Europe and Japan (1997) 

Asian Bridge Structures (1997) 

Bridge Maintenance Coatings (1997) 

Northumberland Strait Crossing Project (1996) 

European Bridge Structures (1995) 

All publications are available on the Internet

at www.international.fhwa.dot.gov.
viii 

Abbreviations and Acronyms

AASHTO

American Association of State Highway and 

Transportation Officials

DOT

department of transportation

DPTI

Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure

FHWA

Federal Highway Administration

GIS

geographic information system

GPS

Government Policy Statement

IPWEA

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia

IT

information technology

ITS

intelligent transportation system

KPI

key performance indicator

LOS

level of service

MMS

maintenance management system

NCHRP

National Cooperative Highway Research Program

NZTA

New Zealand Transport Agency

NPRA

Norwegian Public Roads Administration

SLA

service-level agreement

TRB

Transportation Research Board

TRL

Transport Research Laboratory

VicRoads

Roads Corporation of Victoria
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand ix

Contents

Executive Summary.................................................................... 1

Introduction.......................................................................... 1

Participating Organizations............................................................... 1

Key Findings.......................................................................... 2

Application of Key Findings in the United States ............................................... 5

Implementation Strategies, Dissemination, and Recommendations ................................. 6

Chapter 1. Introduction................................................................. 7

Scan Team ........................................................................... 8

Participating Organizations............................................................... 8

Pavement Management Perspective and Terminology............................................ 9

Key Findings.......................................................................... 9

Report Organization .................................................................... 9

Chapter 2. Overview of Participating Agencies ............................................. 11

New Zealand and Australia .............................................................. 11

Europe ............................................................................. 13

Chapter 3. The Asset Management Culture Supports Agency Business Processes and 

Long-Term Financial Responsibilities ..................................................... 19

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia ............................................... 19

Transport for London .................................................................. 20

New Zealand Transport Agency ........................................................... 21

VicRoads............................................................................ 24

South Australia Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure .............................. 25

Highways Agency ..................................................................... 25

Transport Scotland .................................................................... 27

Finnish Transport Agency ............................................................... 27

Rijkswaterstaat ....................................................................... 27

Swedish Transport Administration......................................................... 28

Norwegian Public Roads Administration .................................................... 28

Danish Road Directorate................................................................ 29

Institute for Transport Sciences ........................................................... 29

Chapter 4. Agencies Help Elected and Appointed Officials Be Better Stewards of 

Transportation Assets ................................................................. 31

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia ............................................... 31

Highways Agency ..................................................................... 31

Transport Scotland .................................................................... 31
x Contents

New Zealand Transport Agency ........................................................... 32

VicRoads............................................................................ 32

Swedish Transport Administration and Finnish Transport Agency.................................. 32

Chapter 5. Agencies Focus on Outcomes and Operate as Service Providers....................... 33

New Zealand Transport Agency ........................................................... 33

Highways Agency ..................................................................... 34

Rijkswaterstaat ....................................................................... 35

VicRoads ........................................................................... 35

Transport for London .................................................................. 35

Transport Scotland .................................................................... 36

Finnish Transport Agency ............................................................... 36

Norwegian Public Roads Administration .................................................... 36

Swedish Transport Administration......................................................... 36

Danish Road Directorate................................................................ 37

South Australia Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure .............................. 37

Chapter 6. Investment Priorities Are Known and Stakeholders Are Held Accountable for 

Their Actions ........................................................................ 39

Highways Agency ..................................................................... 39

Transport Scotland .................................................................... 39

Rijkswaterstaat ....................................................................... 40

VicRoads............................................................................ 40

Finnish Transport Agency ............................................................... 40

Swedish Transport Administration......................................................... 40

Norwegian Public Roads Administration .................................................... 40

Danish Road Directorate................................................................ 41

New Zealand Transport Authority ......................................................... 41

Chapter 7. Agencies Invest in Workforce Capacity Development and Succession Planning .......... 43

Rijkswaterstaat ....................................................................... 43

Transport for London .................................................................. 43

New Zealand Transport Agency ........................................................... 44

VicRoads............................................................................ 46

Highways Agency ..................................................................... 46

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia ............................................... 46

Transport Scotland .................................................................... 47

Norwegian Public Roads Administration .................................................... 47

Finnish Transport Agency ............................................................... 47

Danish Road Directorate................................................................ 47
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand xi

Chapter 8. Efficiency and Value Drive Program Delivery Approaches............................ 49

Transport Scotland .................................................................... 49

Highways Agency ..................................................................... 50

VicRoads............................................................................ 50

New Zealand Transport Agency ........................................................... 51

Rijkswaterstaat ....................................................................... 51

South Australia Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure ............................. 51

Transport for London .................................................................. 51

Swedish Transport Administration......................................................... 52

Finnish Transport Agency ............................................................... 52

Chapter 9. Application of Key Findings in the United States .................................. 53

Chapter 10. Implementation Strategies, Dissemination, and Recommendations................... 55

Appendix A. Scan Team Members ....................................................... 56

Appendix B. Amplifying Questions ...................................................... 59

Appendix C. Host Country Contacts ...................................................... 62

Figures

Figure 1. Support provided by IPWEA. ......................................................... 13

Figure 2. Rijkswaterstaat roles and responsibilities. ............................................... 15

Figure 3. Transport roles, responsibilities, and governance in England. ................................. 16

Figure 4. Assets managed by Transport for London. ............................................... 17

Figure 5. Role of the long-term financial plan (IPWEA). ............................................ 20

Figure 6. Illustration of methods of accounting for pavement assets by component (IPWEA). ................ 21

Figure 7. Transport for London’s framework. .................................................... 22

Figure 8. Strategic plan for building a better land transport system in New Zealand (NZTA). ................. 23

Figure 9. Example of a two-coat seal (VicRoads). ................................................. 24

Figure 10. Spending opportunities for the Highways Agency (England)................................. 26

Figure 11. Highways Agency (England) spending opportunities on pavements. ........................... 26

Figure 12. Yellow line used to brand asset management in the Netherlands. ............................. 28

Figure 13. The three-legged stool used by Transport for London....................................... 33

Figure 14. Customer values identified by NZTA. .................................................. 34

Figure 15. Consideration of multiple factors influencing the state of good repair for bridges at 

Transport for London....................................................................... 36

Figure 16. Performance Audit Group Annual Report. .............................................. 39

Figure 17. Transport for London’s assessment of asset management capabilities. ......................... 44

Figure 18. Illustration of asset management development plans for Transport for London. .................. 45
xii Contents

Figure 19. Tools and templates developed and distributed by IPWEA. .................................. 46

Figure 20. Focus areas for assessing internal capabilities............................................. 47

Figure 21. Six stages in the Highways Agency maintenance program. ................................... 50

Table

Table 1. Agencies participating in scan meetings.................................................... 8
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 1

Executive Summary

Introduction

I

n the last few years, transportation agencies in the 

United States have seen the gap between available 

resources and investment needs widen. At the same time, 

demand on the infrastructure has been increasing and 

pressure from the U.S. Congress and State and local governments has been growing to preserve asset conditions and 

improve transparency and accountability in asset management. These factors have forced agency leaders to reevaluate 

how they manage assets and adopt innovative and costeffective strategies for doing more with less.

Internationally, many countries have faced similar challenges 

and have responded with policies and programs to deal 

effectively with rising costs, declining revenues, and increasing demands for mobility and growth. They have developed 

cultures that support a performance-based management 

approach that accounts for the long-term financial implications associated with system expansion and views transportation decisions from a service-oriented rather than condition-based perspective. The lessons they have learned and 

the adjustments they have made could benefit transportation agencies in the United States that are considering 

new strategies for managing transportation assets.

Because pavements represent one of a transportation 

agency’s largest investments, an international scan was 

conducted to investigate how countries internationally 

have improved the management of their pavements as they 

faced the challenges of decreased revenue, deteriorating 

conditions, and increased public demand for transportation services. The scan, which focused on pavements but 

was applicable to other assets, was cosponsored by the 

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation 

Officials (AASHTO). Richard Tetreault, director of program 

development and chief engineer for the Vermont Agency 

of Transportation, and Butch Wlaschin, director of the 

FHWA Office of Asset Management, served as scan chairs. 

The scan took place in June 2011. Since the scan was 

completed, Congress has passed Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), legislation that supports 

the use of performance-based programs such as those 

found internationally. The lessons learned in the evolution 

of practices used by the international scan participants 

will benefit the United States greatly as agencies respond 

to the accountability requirements outlined in MAP-21.

The scan focused on the following topic areas:

❖ Processes for implementing sustainable performancebased programs for managing pavements, and the use 

of pavement condition information and projections 

to support programs such as pavement preservation, 

public-private partnerships, and safety hazard mitigation. This included the use of financial and other 

incentives for linking pavement budgeting decisions to 

cost-effective management practices over the life cycle 

of the pavement.

❖ Effective methods for communicating with upper 

management, legislators, and other stakeholders, 

including strategies to secure public and legislative 

support. 

❖ Agency cultures that support performance-based 

programs, including effective capacity-building 

programs. This included strategies for addressing 

organizational or institutional issues to ensure that 

a decentralized organization works toward specific 

performance targets established for the entire network.

❖ Techniques, tools, analyses, and reporting mechanisms 

that support and encourage performance-based 

management and optimal use of available resources 

in transportation agencies. 

Although the scan team was investigating practices for 

managing pavements, most of the agencies it met with 

manage their pavement network in an asset management 

framework that considers factors such as strategic fit, 

effectiveness, efficiency, and risk in determining levels of 

investment for roads, waterways, rails, and other assets. 

These agencies operate in a culture in which the long-term 

implications of their decisions are understood and communicated to decisionmakers using strategic performance 

measures linked to tactical decisions. Therefore, many of 

the recommendations have an asset management focus 

that can be applied to pavements or other transportation 

infrastructure assets.

Participating Organizations

The transportation agencies and industry representatives 

selected for the scan had demonstrated the use of sound 

management principles and philosophies for managing their 
2 Executive Summary

road (and other) assets. Even though the agencies ranged 

in size and population, each had implemented systematic 

processes for preserving and managing its road networks 

in response to external pressure to improve government 

efficiency and increase customer satisfaction, even during 

periods of tightened budgets. Without exception, each 

transportation agency outsourced most of its road maintenance and restoration activities in response to external 

pressure. Most incorporated a service-based approach that 

focused on stakeholder expectations in their road management practices.

The delegates traveled to Australia, England, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden, where they met with 

representatives from the following agencies:

❖ New Zealand Transport Agency (New Zealand)

❖ Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia 

(Sydney, Australia)

❖ Roads Corporation of Victoria (Australia)

❖ Swedish Transport Administration (Sweden)

❖ Finnish Transport Agency (Finland)

❖ Danish Road Directorate (Denmark)

❖ Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Norway) 

❖ Road Traffic and Transport Authority (the Netherlands)

❖ Institute for Transport Sciences (Hungary)

❖ Highways Agency (United Kingdom)

❖ Transport for London (London, England)

❖ Transport Scotland (Scotland)

❖ Transport Research Laboratory (United Kingdom)

A separate visit to Adelaide, South Australia, was canceled 

because of air travel disruptions related to volcanic activity in 

Chile. South Australia’s Department of Planning, Transport 

and Infrastructure (formerly the Department for Transport, 

Energy, and Infrastructure) submitted information to the 

scan team electronically, and the team conducted a Web 

conference with agency representatives in June 2012 to 

discuss their practices.

Key Findings

The economic situation the United States faces is similar to 

the economic situations many of the countries visited during 

the scan faced a number of years ago. These agencies, under 

pressure to improve government efficiency, responded by 

implementing systematic processes for maintaining the 

existing road network that emphasized reducing total 

maintenance and renewal costs over the life of pavements, 

managing future investment requirements, and minimizing 

agency risk. Although most of these agencies continue to 

face declining budgets, they have clearly defined priorities 

and investment strategies that have been accepted by 

stakeholders. The stakeholders also understand and accept 

the resulting impact of these decisions on the condition of 

the pavement network. 

The timing of the scan proved to be extremely beneficial. The 

facilitated discussions provided the U.S. scan delegates with 

an opportunity to learn from agencies that had already 

experienced difficult financial situations and emerged with 

strong support for road maintenance and renewal among 

agency leadership, elected officials, and the general public. 

The challenges they faced and the lessons they learned while 

evolving their practices led to six key findings:

❖ Pavement management is integrated into an asset 

management culture that supports agency business 

processes and long-term financial responsibilities.

❖ Agencies help elected and appointed officials be better 

stewards of transportation assets.

❖ Agencies focus on outcomes and operate as service 

providers.

❖ Investment priorities are known and stakeholders are 

held accountable for their actions.

❖ Agencies invest in workforce capacity development 

and succession planning.

❖ Efficiency and value drive program delivery 

approaches.

The scan team noted that although the scan focus was on 

pavement management, many of the findings relate to the 

broad application of a systematic process for managing 

pavements and other transportation assets under constrained conditions. Therefore, the scan findings are equally 

applicable to pavement management and asset management 

practitioners, as well as other transportation officials striving 

to obtain the greatest value possible for the funding levels 

available.
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 3

Pavement Management Is Integrated Into 

an Asset Management Culture That Supports 

Agency Business Processes and Long-Term 

Financial Responsibilities

As in the United States, many of the transportation agencies 

included in the scan face outside pressure to be more 

efficient even as customer expectations increase and available funding decreases. In response to these pressures, 

several agencies have implemented systematic processes for 

maintaining their road networks, improving customer 

service, and maximizing the value for each dollar spent. 

These systematic processes focus on decisions that support a 

long-term vision for a sustainable pavement management 

program. The resulting framework is driven by an assessment of the whole-life costs of preserving the value of road 

assets and documenting the information in a long-term 

financial plan. In several of the countries visited, agencies 

must either fund the depreciation in the road network each 

year or account for the unfunded liability. The scan team 

also found more flexibility in programs than is typically 

observed in the United States. For instance, budgets at 

Transport for London are fixed over a multiyear period, 

providing flexibility in shifting projects from one year to the 

next. This feature was especially important to Transport for 

London so that construction projects were not scheduled 

during the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The scan team found that project priorities for road maintenance and renewal were based primarily on reducing agency 

risk and liability. This has led agencies to take very different 

approaches to managing their pavement networks. For 

example, the New Zealand Transport Agency has prioritized 

seven key state highway routes that have been designated 

roads of national significance for moving people and freight 

efficiently and safely between the five largest population 

centers. VicRoads, on the other hand, considers the deterioration of its low-volume sprayed-seal rural road network a 

catastrophic risk that would be more cost-prohibitive to 

address than the robust asphalt network in the urban area. 

Therefore, the preservation of the low-volume road network 

is a top priority. There was also evidence of multiyear 

financial plans to manage the road network that provide 

flexibility to move funding from one year to another and 

stability because the plans cannot easily be changed once 

they have been approved. 

Agencies Help Elected and Appointed Officials Be 

Better Stewards of Transportation Assets

Some of the countries visited, especially Australia, had a 

strong use of long-term financial plans at the local level. 

These financial plans outline the strategies that will be used 

to effectively manage the road network and communicate 

risk and deferred liabilities for any underfunded maintenance and renewal activities. The long-term financial plans 

are developed collaboratively with government officials, 

who are held accountable for the way public funds are 

used to preserve the condition of infrastructure assets. As 

fiscal stewards, elected and appointed officials are responsible for the long-term viability and sustainability of the 

investment programs. 

At several of the agencies the scan team met with, government officials are trained to better understand and honor 

their fiduciary responsibilities, which has led to support of 

transportation agency programs at all levels of government. 

This understanding of stewardship responsibilities was 

catalytic in supporting performance-based programs in 

several countries. This support has been especially important 

because transport agencies internationally do not have 

dedicated trust funds and must compete for funding. 

Agencies Focus on Outcomes and Operate as 

Service Providers

The agencies that participated in the scan are moving 

toward a service-based approach for managing their road 

networks rather than a condition-based approach. Under 

this service-based approach, customer-driven priorities—

such as safety, reliability of travel, comfort, and livability—

are becoming the primary drivers for road maintenance 

and renewal actions. This change in philosophy is considered more meaningful than merely reporting on conditionbased performance metrics. It has influenced the types of 

data collected and the performance targets used to drive 

the maintenance and renewal program. The New Zealand 

Transport Agency compared the philosophy to managing 

a utility. Under a more traditional model, a road may not 

have been available to carry an unusually heavy load 

because of existing road conditions. Under a service 

approach, the agency considers itself responsible for 

finding a way for the heavy vehicle to use the facility, 

representing a major shift in its philosophy and the way 

it approaches programming decisions. Rijkswaterstaat, 

the executive arm of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the 

Environment in the Netherlands, bases decisions on the 

following key performance indicators, which focus almost 

entirely on service-oriented metrics:

❖ Reliability

❖ Availability

❖ Maintainability

❖ Safety
4 Executive Summary

❖ Security

❖ Health

❖ Environment

❖ Economics

❖ Politics

Transport for London considers risk, customer satisfaction, 

and cost as the three factors that must be balanced to 

provide an acceptable level of service. The relationship 

among these factors and the point at which a zone is 

established for making investment decisions differ based 

on the particular asset being investigated. For instance, 

because most highway users are less aware of bridge 

conditions than road conditions, risk and whole-life costs 

are the key decision drivers for that asset and the decision 

zone shifts to ensure that risks are suitably mitigated. For 

roadways, customer satisfaction is a much higher decision 

factor, so the decision zone reflects an effort to maintain it 

at a high level.

Investment Priorities Are Known and Stakeholders Are Held Accountable for Their Actions

As in the United States, most of the agencies participating 

in the scan face significant budget constraints and increasing demands to improve efficiency. In response, many have 

established clear priorities that emphasize service levels, 

while assessing the various options based on strategic fit, 

effectiveness, efficiency, and risk. As a result, these agencies 

assign the highest priority to maintaining and renewing the 

existing highway network rather than spending limited 

dollars on capital enhancements. In some cases, such as 

England’s Highways Agency, the opportunities for expansion are limited because of space constraints. This places 

even more importance on the agency’s emphasis on asset 

management as a way to maintain the value of the existing 

road network. The Finnish Transport Agency has developed 

long-term strategies aimed at maintaining the current 

condition of the main roads and letting the remainder 

of the system absorb the funding shortage. Priorities are 

typically conveyed in an asset management plan. For 

instance, Transport Scotland publishes a Road Asset 

Management Plan that sets objectives, targets, and required 

financial plans that support the government’s targets for 

improving efficiency, reducing casualties, and lessening 

the impacts of climate change.

To help ensure the implementation of asset management 

programs, many agencies have established methods for 

holding agency personnel and contractors responsible for 

their actions through audits and contractual agreements. 

The audits the participating agencies used differed dramatically from those commonly used in the United States in 

important ways. In the United States, audits are used 

primarily to verify that a process was followed. In the 

countries participating in the scan, the audits are tied to the 

asset management plans and long-term financial plans to 

see how well the agencies carried out their plans. Transport 

Scotland programs are monitored and reported by the 

Performance Audit Group and reviewed and endorsed by 

Audit Scotland. 

Agencies Invest in Workforce Capacity 

Development and Succession Planning

The agencies that have successfully navigated a paradigm 

shift in managing road networks have fostered a culture in 

which road maintenance and renewal costs are known and 

the long-term implications of decisions are understood and 

communicated by decisionmakers at various levels. As a 

result, these agencies have more mature asset management 

programs. This is evidenced by the branding of asset 

management at Rijkswaterstaat, which uses a yellow line 

as a symbol that connects pavement management with the 

management of bridges, traffic equipment, and people. The 

yellow line appears on all asset management materials and 

is featured prominently in the asset management office.

Without exception, the agencies that participated in the scan 

have committed to building and retaining internal capacity 

in asset management. As a result, they demonstrate strong 

investment in asset management capabilities that result in 

well-established, trained, and assimilated units in the 

organizations that all stakeholders, including executives and 

legislators, look to for information. This focus on training 

was especially evident in the tools and templates provided 

by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia, an 

association that supports the implementation of financially 

sustainable public works programs. As a result, the organization focused on the following actions to lay the framework 

for infrastructure sustainability:

❖ Creating a national framework that addresses the three 

key elements of building a sustainable community: 

stewardship (i.e., the role of elected members), asset 

management planning, and long-term financial 

planning

❖ Providing the tools needed to integrate the technical, 

financial, and community aspects of managing 

transportation assets

❖ Influencing the development of drivers that support 

the development of sustainable communities
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 5

In some cases, internal capacity building focused on regaining some of the internal capabilities lost when maintenance 

and renewal activities were contracted out. However, there is 

now a sense of urgency in replacing the competencies that 

were lost and building new capabilities that allow agency 

personnel to act as smart buyers of future maintenance 

and renewal services. 

Efficiency and Value Drive Program Delivery 

Approaches

Most of the participating agencies contract out 100 percent 

of their pavement maintenance and renewal activities. 

According to the information the participants provided, 

these activities were privatized in response to pressure to 

reduce the debt load or improve efficiency during times of 

limited funding with a focus on maximizing the value of the 

investment. Over time, as agencies have gained experience 

with these types of contracts, contractual terms have evolved, 

as have the performance metrics that drive the contractor’s 

performance. 

The participating agencies were frank about the advantages 

and disadvantages of contracting for maintenance activities. 

For example, one advantage is that the cost of programs is 

known with certainty when the work is outsourced. These 

contracts have also helped several agencies improve government efficiency. However, several agencies indicated that 

they lost too much of their maintenance expertise and are in 

the process of rebuilding it. It has been a challenge to attract 

and retain skills in the agencies because less engineering is 

being done internally. They also report that it has been 

difficult to find the right performance metrics and monopolies may form that limit competition. South Australia’s 

Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure found 

that outsourcing its maintenance activities forced the 

organization to consider performance requirements from a 

road user perspective and to link the performance requirements to pavement condition characteristics. Although it was 

not recognized at the time, the discussions that took place 

focused informally on managing risk in terms of what risk 

level was considered acceptable and what was not.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson for the United States is that 

it takes time to develop contracts that work as planned. 

Transport Scotland, for example, is using its fourth generation of outsourcing contracts. The Finnish Transport Agency 

recommends that agencies considering privatized contracts 

do the following:

❖ Develop a good procurement strategy.

❖ Use objective road condition measurements.

❖ Allow a reasonable level of flexibility in contracts.

❖ Develop a cooperative relationship with the private 

sector.

❖ Do not expect immediate benefits.

❖ Make improvements to the contracts based on 

experiences.

Application of Key Findings in the 

United States

The agencies the team met with during the scan provided 

a wealth of information that will benefit the United States 

as its transportation agencies strive to find more effective 

methods of managing pavements and monitoring performance. The scan yielded a number of strategies for addressing the transportation issues the United States faces today:

1. Performance data and systematic processes are used 

to evaluate investment strategies. As a result, agencies 

can respond effectively to pressures caused by decreasing budgets, government efforts to improve efficiency, 

and increasing customer expectations. 

2. Consideration of whole-life costs associated with 

preserving asset value has been instrumental in 

shifting agency culture to support asset management 

and improving agency accountability. By calculating 

and communicating the long-term maintenance costs 

associated with system expansion projects, stakeholders have resisted pressure to expand the system 

without addressing long-term costs. Further, agencies 

can determine the financial sustainability of their 

programs by evaluating the percentage of depreciation 

funded each year and accounting for any unfunded 

depreciation as an agency liability.

3. Internationally, there has been a shift toward serviceoriented performance measures as a way to address 

customer-driven priorities such as reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety. These customer 

expectations must be balanced against funding and 

risk tolerance when developing an acceptable level 

of service. 

4. The ability to commit funding and projects as part of 

4-year programs has been a critical component of an 

agency’s ability to ensure that treatments are applied 

at the right time to be economical.

5. Holding elected and appointed officials, agency 

employees, and contractors accountable for their 
6 Executive Summary

actions has served as a catalyst to the success of 

performance-based programs. For instance, government performance audits of agency spending have 

reduced political interference in program development and have helped ensure that the government 

gets the best value for its investment.

6. Outsourcing maintenance activities is one way 

agencies have improved government efficiency, but 

the programs have not been without challenges. 

Among other lessons, agencies have learned that they 

must retain a certain degree of competency to remain 

smart buyers of the required services.

7. Strong investment in asset management capabilities 

results in well-established, trained, and assimilated 

units in the organizations that all stakeholders, 

including executives and legislators, look to for 

information. Building and maintaining agency 

capacity requires skills outside of a traditional civil 

engineering program. It requires a better understanding of finance, accounting, risk, and communication, 

among other skills. 

Implementation Strategies, Dissemination, 

and Recommendations

The scan team included representatives from Federal, State, 

and local agencies to foster the implementation of the 

findings into the practices of transportation agencies 

throughout the United States. The representatives from 

FHWA and State highway agencies have identified strategies 

that can be implemented through FHWA programs, the 

National Cooperative Highway Research Program, and State 

initiatives. The local agency representative will work with 

FHWA’s Local Technical Assistance Program to encourage 

adoption of the key findings at the city and county levels.

Based on the findings from the scan, the delegates identified 

the following implementation strategies to foster the use of 

systematic processes for managing pavements that support 

performance-based decisions to improve serviceability, 

accountability, and stewardship in the United States:

❖ Develop guidelines for asset management plans and 

long-term financial plans as the foundation for sound 

and transparent investment.

❖ Improve accountability through the use of program 

assessments that answer the question “Is the agency 

working its plan?”

❖ Develop agency capabilities.

❖ Communicate the findings and introduce the serviceoriented approach observed in the agencies visited.

Encouraging use of long-term financial plans and providing technical assistance on how to develop them were the 

top implementation goals of the scan team. IPWEA has 

developed templates for use by local agencies in Australia, 

and the scan team would like to see similar templates, 

suitable for State agencies, developed in the United States. 

The financial plans would make agency funding transparent in the same way that publicly traded stocks are transparent: agencies would have to fund the depreciated value 

of their assets each year or account for this loss of value to 

the public as a liability.

Program assessments, termed audits by most of the 

agencies visited, close the loop between the work plan and 

the work conducted. The agencies depended on these 

program assessments to reduce political additions to their 

work plan because they are held accountable for work 

completed. The program assessment is a regular part of the 

business cycle and is a tool to keep the program on track 

and within budget.

In developing asset management plans, long-term financial 

plans, and program assessments, the countries found that 

new skills were required in their agencies. The financial plans 

require close communication between accountants familiar 

with depreciation accounting and engineers knowledgeable 

about maintaining the assets. Data are required and data 

collection and analysis are necessary for sound decisionmaking. Agencies in the United States will need this marriage of 

financial accounting and technical expertise, as well as the 

technology to support asset management.

Communication is an important first and ongoing step in 

implementing any research or scan findings. Through this 

executive summary, the scan report, and presentations to 

committees of AASHTO, FHWA, State and local agencies, 

and the Transportation Research Board, the scan participants are committed to bringing the value of the scan 

into U.S. practice.
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 7

Chapter 1. Introduction

Numerous publications report that the condition 

of highway pavements in the United States has 

declined in recent years.1

 Rising costs, increasing 

traffic, expansion, a worst-first approach to 

selecting capital projects, and the age of the infrastructure 

have all been cited as reasons for this deterioration. As a 

result of these factors, the gap between available resources 

and investment needs has widened. At the same time, there 

is growing pressure from the U.S. Congress and State and 

local governments to preserve asset conditions and improve 

transparency and accountability in asset management. These 

factors have forced agency leaders to reevaluate how they 

manage assets and adopt innovative and cost-effective 

strategies for doing more with less.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the 

American Association of State Highway and Transportation 

Officials (AASHTO) have supported the use of a performance-based management approach as one strategy for 

managing assets effectively. While performance-based 

management approaches have been used in industrial and 

commercial applications in the United States and abroad for 

many years, the adoption of these practices at U.S. public 

agencies has been slow because of disconnects between 

actual infrastructure performance (conditions) and decisionmaking on financial investment in the highway network, 

particularly when looking at long-term economics. These 

disconnects appear to have been related to a lack of quality 

information, an inability to make meaningful projections 

linking investments to actual performance (impacting 

system credibility), and a perception that a business 

approach is not appropriate for public infrastructure. In 

addition, during eras of economic growth, such as the one 

the United States experienced in the mid-1990s, increasing 

revenues easily offset rising expenditures, which tended to 

mask the need to address long-term, sustainable solutions.

Internationally, countries such as Australia, England, New 

Zealand, and Scotland have faced similar challenges and 

have responded with policies and programs to effectively 

deal with rising costs, declining revenues, and increasing 

demands for mobility and growth. They have developed and 

fostered cultures that support a performance-based management approach that accounts for the long-term financial 

1The Road Information Project: Key Facts About America’s Road and 

Bridge Conditions and Federal Funding (2008), U.S. DOT Status of the 

Nation’s Highways, Bridges, and Transit: Conditions and Performance 

(2006), and Report of the National Surface Transportation Policy and 

Revenue Study Commission—Transportation for Tomorrow (2007).

implications associated with system expansion and views 

transportation decisions from a service-oriented rather than 

a condition-based perspective. The lessons they have learned 

and the adjustments they have made could benefit transportation agencies in the United States that are considering new 

strategies for managing transportation assets. 

To learn how others have successfully addressed these 

challenges and how the practices could be adapted in the 

United States, AASHTO and FHWA undertook an international scan. The scan focused on pavement management 

because pavements represent one of a transportation 

agency’s largest investments. The scan took place in June 

2011. Since the scan was completed, Congress has passed 

Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), 

legislation that supports the use of performance-based 

programs such as those found internationally. The lessons 

learned in the evolution of practices used by the international scan participants will benefit the United States greatly as 

agencies to respond to the accountability requirements 

outlined in MAP-21. 

The scan focused on the following topic areas:

❖ Processes for implementing sustainable performancebased programs for managing pavements, and the use 

of pavement condition information and projections to 

support programs such as pavement preservation, 

public-private partnerships, and safety hazard mitigation. This included the use of financial and other 

incentives for linking pavement budgeting decisions to 

cost-effective management practices over the life cycle 

of the pavement.

❖ Effective methods for communicating with upper 

management, legislators, and other stakeholders, 

including strategies to secure public and legislative 

support. 

❖ Agency cultures that support performance-based 

programs, including effective capacity-building 

programs. This included strategies for addressing 

organizational or institutional issues to ensure that 

a decentralized organization works toward specific 

performance targets established for the entire network.

❖ Techniques, tools, analyses, and reporting mechanisms 

that support and encourage performance-based 

management and optimal use of available resources 

in transportation agencies. 
8 Chapter 1: Introduction

Although the scan team was investigating practices for 

managing pavements, most of the agencies it met with 

manage their pavement network in an asset management 

framework that considers factors such as strategic fit, 

effectiveness, efficiency, and risk in determining levels of 

investment for roads, waterways, rails, and other assets. 

These agencies operate in a culture in which the long-term 

implications of their decisions are understood and communicated to decisionmakers using strategic performance 

measures linked to tactical decisions. Therefore, many of 

the recommendations have an asset management focus 

that can be applied to pavements or other transportation 

infrastructure assets.

Scan Team

The scan team was cochaired by Richard Tetreault, director 

of program development and chief engineer for the Vermont 

Agency of Transportation, and Butch Wlaschin, director of 

the Office of Asset Management for FHWA. They were joined 

by representatives of State and Federal highway agencies, 

academia, and private industry:

❖ Tom Baker, State materials engineer, Washington State 

Department of Transportation (DOT)

❖ Tim Colling, director of the Center for Technology 

and Training at the Michigan Tech Transportation 

Institute, Michigan Tech University

❖ Judith Corley-Lay, State pavement management 

engineer, North Carolina DOT

❖ Kevin McLaury, division administrator, FHWA 

Montana Division

❖ Nastaran Saadatmand, pavement management 

program manager, FHWA

❖ Roger Safford, region engineer, Michigan DOT, 

and member, Michigan Transportation Asset 

Management Council

❖ Katie Zimmerman, president, Applied Pavement 

Technology, Inc., and report facilitator

Participating Organizations

The transportation agencies and industry representatives 

selected for the scan had demonstrated the use of sound 

management principles and philosophies for managing 

their road (and other) assets. Even though the participants 

represented agencies that ranged in size and population, each 

had implemented systematic processes for preserving and 

managing its road networks in response to external pressure 

to improve government efficiency and increase customer 

satisfaction, even during periods of tightened budgets. 

Without exception, each transportation agency outsourced 

100 percent of its road maintenance and restoration activities 

in response to external pressure. Most incorporated a servicebased approach that focused on stakeholder expectations in 

their road management practices.

The delegates traveled to Australia, England, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden, where they met with 

representatives from the organizations in table 1.

A separate visit to Adelaide, South Australia, was canceled 

because of air travel disruptions related to volcanic activity in 

Chile. South Australia’s Department of Planning, Transport 

and Infrastructure (formerly the Department for Transport, 

Table 1. Agencies participating in scan meetings. 

New Zealand Australia Sweden Netherlands England

• New Zealand 

Transport Agency 

(New Zealand)

• Institute of Public 

Works Engineering 

Australia 

(Sydney, Australia)

• Roads Corporation 

of Victoria (Australia)

• South Australia 

Department of 

Planning, Transport 

and Infrastructure 

(Adelaide, South 

Australia) via Web 

conference

• Swedish Transport 

Administration 

(Sweden)

• Finnish Transport 

Agency (Finland)

• Danish Road 

Directorate

(Denmark)

• Norwegian Public 

Roads Administration 

(Norway)

• Road Traffic and 

Transport Authority 

(the Netherlands)

• Institute for 

Transport Sciences 

(Hungary)

• Highways Agency 

(United Kingdom)

• Transport 

for London 

(London, England)

• Transport Scotland 

(Scotland)

• Transport Research 

Laboratory 

(United Kingdom)
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 9

Energy, and Infrastructure) submitted information to the 

scan team electronically, and the team conducted a Web 

conference with agency representatives in June 2012 to 

discuss their practices.

Pavement Management Perspective 

and Terminology

Although the scan focus was on pavement management 

policies and practices, some of the agencies visited conduct 

pavement management in an asset management framework 

that considers factors such as strategic fit, effectiveness, 

efficiency, and risk in determining levels of investment for 

each asset.2

 These agencies operate in a culture in which the 

long-term implications of their decisions are understood 

and communicated to decisionmakers using strategic 

performance measures linked to tactical decisions. While 

the focus of the findings and recommendations is on the 

use of asset management principles and tools for managing 

pavements, it is understood that the same concepts have 

also been applied successfully to other transportation 

infrastructure assets. 

These asset management principles and practices are integral 

to the development of the strategic goals and performance 

targets in these agencies. From that perspective, the practices 

identified during the scan are similar to the performance 

management functions that have been defined in the 

United States.

The scan team also identified differences in the terminology 

used in the United States and abroad. For example, U.S. 

transportation agencies commonly refer to pavement 

preservation as planned treatments that are applied to 

pavements in relatively good condition to restore or preserve 

their functional condition. In the countries visited during 

this scan, representatives referred to these types of noncapital activities as maintenance and renewal treatments. Capital 

improvements were often funded differently than maintenance and renewal activities and were not a major focus 

of the scan. Other differences in terminology are clarified 

in the report as necessary.

Key Findings

The economic situation the United States faces is similar to 

the economic situations many of the countries visited during 

the scan faced a number of years ago. These agencies, under 

pressure to improve government efficiency, responded by 

implementing systematic processes for maintaining the 

existing road network that emphasized reducing total 

maintenance and renewal costs over the life of pavement, 

2 These assets include roads, waterways, rail, and other assets.

managing future investment requirements, and minimizing 

agency risk. Although most of these agencies continue to 

face declining budgets, they have clearly defined priorities 

and investment strategies that have been accepted by 

stakeholders. The stakeholders also understand and accept 

the resulting impact of these decisions on the condition of 

the pavement network. 

The timing of the scan proved to be extremely beneficial to 

the participants. The facilitated discussions provided an 

opportunity for the scan participants to learn from agencies 

that had already experienced difficult financial situations 

and emerged with strong support for road maintenance and 

renewal among agency leadership, elected officials, and the 

general public. The lessons learned from the technology 

exchange with these individuals led to six key findings:

❖ Pavement management is integrated into an asset 

management culture that supports agency business 

processes and long-term financial responsibilities.

❖ Agencies help elected and appointed officials be better 

stewards of transportation assets.

❖ Agencies focus on outcomes and operate as service 

providers.

❖ Investment priorities are known and stakeholders are 

held accountable for their actions.

❖ Agencies invest in workforce capacity development and 

succession planning.

❖ Efficiency and value drive program delivery approaches.

The scan team noted that although the scan focus was on 

pavement management, many of the findings relate to the 

broad application of a systematic process for managing 

pavements and other transportation assets under constrained conditions. Therefore, the scan findings are equally 

applicable to pavement management and asset management practitioners, as well as other transportation officials 

striving to obtain the greatest value possible for the 

funding levels available.

Report Organization

The report is organized around the scan’s key findings, with 

supporting information from the agencies visited during the 

scan in each chapter. Chapter 2 summarizes the key characteristics of the agencies visited. The supporting information 

on each of the key findings is presented in Chapters 3 

through 8. Each chapter profiles some of the practices the 

team discovered during the scan and concludes with team 
10 Chapter 1: Introduction

members’ key observations. Chapter 3 presents the steps the 

international agencies and associations have taken to build 

an asset management culture that supports each agency’s 

business process and considers long-term financial responsibilities. Chapter 4 examines what agencies have done to 

help elected and appointed officials be better stewards of 

transportation assets. Chapter 5 presents information on 

the focus of many of the organizations as service providers. 

As discussed in this chapter, the emphasis on providing a 

service to the traveling public has had a significant impact 

on the types of performance measures used and the level 

of service provided. Chapter 6 examines the priorities the 

participating agencies have established and the strategies 

they use to hold stakeholders accountable. Chapter 7 

addresses the investments the agencies have made in 

workforce development and succession planning, and 

Chapter 8 summarizes the program delivery mechanisms 

agencies have adopted to improve efficiency and value. 

Chapter 9 presents the lessons learned from the scan, 

and Chapter 10 describes recommended implementation 

activities to integrate some of the findings into the state 

of practice in the United States. 

References to monetary amounts are reported in the 

country’s own currency. Distance measurements are 

generally presented in metric units, but conversions 

to English units are included in the body of the report. 

No attempts were made to modify graphics provided 

by the participating agencies, even if different currencies 

or metric units were used. 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 11

Chapter 2. Overview of Participating Agencies

The scan team met with representatives from 14 

agencies in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand. 

The agencies were selected based on a desk scan of 

international practices used to manage pavements 

and monitor performance. To provide a context to better 

understand the references to organizational practices 

described in the report, this chapter summarizes the primary 

characteristics of the practices found in each agency. 

New Zealand and Australia

New Zealand Transport Agency, Wellington, 

New Zealand

At the time of the scan, the 

New Zealand Transport Agency 

(NZTA, www.nzta.govt.nz) had 

been in operation for about 3 years, having recently widened 

its scope by adding the rail network to its responsibilities. The 

State Highway Network includes 10,909 centerline kilometers 

(km) (6,779 miles (mi)) of road, which carry nearly 20,000 

million vehicle-km per year. The agency’s assets are reportedly 

worth about NZD23 billion, and annual investments total 

about NZD1.5 billion in state highways and about NZD650 

million in local roads.3

 The Land Transport Management Act 

of 2003 is the legal framework for managing and funding 

land transport activities in New Zealand. The act provides 

for a Government Policy Statement (GPS), which sets the 

strategic direction for investment in the land transport 

section, allocates funding to activity classes in the National 

Land Transport Programme, highlights expected impacts 

from transport investments, and identifies roads of national 

significance that are priorities for completion. In addition, 

the GPS requires NZTA to use an integrated approach to 

transport planning that addresses all transport modes and 

land uses. Priorities incorporated into the agency’s strategic 

plan include the following:

❖ Delivering the roads of national significance

❖ Improving road safety

❖ Improving customer service

❖ Improving public transport

❖ Improving freight movement efficiency

3New Zealand Transport Agency (2010). Our Strategic Direction 

2010-2013. New Zealand Transport Agency, Wellington, New Zealand.

The agency provides advice to the Ministry of Transport, but 

considers itself to have primary responsibility for managing 

the transport system. Virtually all of its work is outsourced, 

including the design, maintenance, and management of the 

network. To retain competency in the agency, a Professional 

Service Group was developed to set performance requirements for contractors. Efforts are underway to ensure that 

critical infrastructure decisions receive national scrutiny 

and that the agency continues to be a knowledgeable client. 

Improvement projects and network management and 

maintenance are delivered through outsourced contracts 

managed from one of nine regional offices, but the strategic 

direction and priorities come from the national office 

in Wellington.

Department of Planning, Transport and 

Infrastructure, Adelaide, South Australia

South Australia 

is comparable in 

size to Texas, but 

one of the major 

differences is the low density of population in the country. 

More than 70 percent of the population lives in Adelaide, so 

one of the agency’s challenges is managing the long distances between small, rural towns. Because the state is home to 

manufacturing facilities, mining, agriculture, and forestry, 

the road network gets intensive freight use. 

The Department of Planning, Transport, and Infrastructure 

(DPTI, www.dpti.sa.gov.au) maintains 12,650 centerline km 

(7,860 mi) of sealed roads and 10,000 km (6,214 mi) of 

unsealed roads. In addition, the agency is responsible for 

maintaining 1,500 bridges and major culverts, two tunnels, 

more than 700 signal systems, and 12 ferries. Local governments, considered the third tier of government in Australia, 

manage about 15,000 km (9,321 mi) of sealed roads and 

60,000 km (37,282 mi) of unsealed roads. The national 

government and the state government represent the first 

and second tiers of government.

Funding for constructing and maintaining roads and 

bridges across South Australia is predominantly provided 

through the allocation of the State Highways Fund, which 

is administered under the Highways Act of 1926 and 

consists of money collected from drivers’ license and motor 

vehicle registration fees. State funding is provided in 4-year 

estimates. In addition to state funding, which represents 

about 67 percent of the total funding, DPTI receives federal 

funding from the Australian government as part of a 5-year 

Department of Planning,

Transport and Infrastructure
12 Chapter 2: Overview of Participating Agencies

agreement. About 65 percent of the total funding is spent 

on pavements.

The agency’s Strategic Infrastructure Plan for South Australia4

outlines six strategic priorities for the agency:

❖ Invest in transport infrastructure.

❖ Improve competitiveness through efficient freight 

transport networks and improved international links. 

❖ Facilitate redevelopment of the state’s export and 

import ports.

❖ Minimize the impact of freight vehicle movements on 

the community and the environment by appropriately 

locating freight routes.

❖ Reduce injuries and fatalities from transport crashes.

❖ Concentrate resources on maintaining and improving 

existing assets.

Only the last of the six priorities focuses on asset management, although some of the other priorities are interconnected with asset management. For example, improvements in freight transport may lead to higher loads 

that may increase the rate at which the road network 

deteriorates. One of DPTI’s challenges is to balance asset 

and pavement needs with broader transport issues within 

the available budgets. The focus on a broad range of 

transport priorities and the shift from internal provision 

of construction and maintenance activities to primarily 

external providers have transformed the organizational 

culture dramatically. As a result, the agency has had to 

focus more on establishing performance requirements 

from a customer’s perspective. 

VicRoads, Melbourne, Australia 

Although Victoria is 

geographically one 

of the smallest areas 

of Australia, nearly a 

quarter of the Australian 

population lives in this state. Victoria is also home to 

about a third of the motor vehicles registered in Australia 

and a quarter of the country’s freight tonnage. As the state 

road and traffic management authority for Victoria, the 

Roads Corporation of Victoria (VicRoads, www.vicroads.

vic.gov.au/home) is responsible for maintaining 22,000 

4

 Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (2005). 

Strategic Infrastructure Plan for South Australia. Department of Planning, 

Transport and Infrastructure Adelaide, South Australia.

carriageway km (13,670 mi), or about 55,000 lane km, 

of arterial road network, which includes 3,000 bridges. 

These assets have a depreciated value of AUD23 billion 

(about AUD38 billion replacement cost) and the annual 

program has a budget of about AUD1.9 billion. VicRoads 

employs about 3,100 professional, technical, and customer 

service staff in seven regions. The federal government is 

responsible for the road network that provides linkages 

benefiting the country as a whole, and local governments 

are responsible for the local road network using federal 

funds. 

VicRoads has five principal aims that influence agency 

priorities:

❖ Achieve ongoing reductions in the number and

severity of road crashes and the resultant cost of 

road trauma.

❖ Assist economic and regional development by 

managing and improving the effectiveness and 

efficiency of the road transport system.

❖ Develop a more integrated and sustainable road 

transport system.

❖ Enhance the environment through the responsible 

planning and management of the transport system.

❖ Deliver cost-effective and customer-focused service 

to the community. 

Most of the arterial road network in Melbourne consists 

of flexible pavements built with crushed rock with an 

asphalt (bituminous concrete) surface that is typically 

2 to 4 inches (51 to 102 millimeters) thick. Throughout 

the rest of the state, most of the roads are spray seals 

(also known as chip seals). These designs serve as a lowcost, all-weather system, so maintenance focuses on 

preventing the pavement structures from failing. Interventions are scheduled to address minor defects to keep the 

road safe, but also to prevent the minor defect from 

becoming more expensive to repair. Intermediate resurfacing of the routes is planned on a 13- to 14-year cycle, 

and restoration work is conducted on about 1 to 2 percent 

of the network a year if funding is sufficient to address 

other needs. Because of funding shortfalls in recent years, 

roads in poor condition are not being restored and VicRoads has elected to allow those roads to deteriorate further 

because there is no large difference in repair costs once the 

road is in bad condition. The agency has determined that 

its highest risk is losing the low-volume road network, so 

the majority of funding is targeted at preserving the 

condition of that network. 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 13

Most of the maintenance work is performed by contract 

forces based on broad parameters on the number of 

miles to be covered annually in each region. Each region 

prioritizes and selects the projects it will complete using 

a risk-based analysis that considers factors such as route 

use and traffic volumes.

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia

The Institute of Public 

Works Engineering 

Australia (IPWEA, www.

ipwea.org.au/home) is a 

professional association 

that provides its members with training, templates, guidance, and advocacy to support the delivery of public works 

and engineering services. A primary focus of IPWEA is on 

implementing financially sustainable public works programs. As a result, the organization focuses on the following 

actions to lay the framework for infrastructure sustainability:

❖ Creating a national framework that addresses the three 

key elements of building a sustainable community: 

stewardship (i.e., the role of elected members), asset 

management planning, and long-term financial 

planning

❖ Providing the tools needed to integrate technical, 

financial, and community aspects with managing 

transportation assets

❖ Influencing the development of drivers that support 

the development of sustainable communities

This three-tier approach and the products that have been 

developed to support these efforts are reflected in figure 1.

The products include the International Infrastructure Management Manual, which establishes the framework for asset 

management planning activities, the Australian Infrastructure 

Financial Management Guidelines, which assists with the 

development of long-term financial plans, and Practice 

Notes on condition assessment, long-term financial planning, and asset management for small communities. In 

addition, IPWEA provides training, videos, and information 

exchange to support these efforts. IPWEA recently partnered 

with the Centre for Pavement Engineering Education to 

develop a graduate certificate program in infrastructure asset 

management that is accredited by the University of Tasmania. IPWEA strongly encourages agencies to just start using 

asset management principles and to improve the amount 

and quality of data over time.

Figure 1. Support provided by IPWEA.

Provide 

Framework Tools 

and Drivers

Framework Tools Drivers

Stewardship Government 

Requirements 

Agreed

AM DVD:

The Movie

Asset 

Management

Planning

International 

Infrastructure 

Management 

Manual

Legislation & 

Incentives

Long Term 

Financial 

Planning

Australian 

Infrastructure 

Financial 

Management 

Guidelines

Long Term 

Financial 

Planning 

Tools

National 

Assessment 

Model

Europe

Swedish Transport Administration, 

Stockholm, Sweden 

The Swedish Transport 

Administration 

(www.trafikverket.se/

om-trafikverket/

andra-sprak/english-engelska) is responsible for the 

construction, operation, and maintenance of all stateowned roads and railways. The network includes nearly 

100,000 km (62,137 mi) of government-owned roads 

and 12,000 km (7,456 mi) of railways. In addition 

to the state-maintained roads, there are about 41,000 km 

(25,476 mi) of municipal streets and roads and 76,100 km 

(47,286 mi) of private roads that are managed with a state 

grant. Its six districts include Stockholm, which is a single 

district. Funding for road maintenance is tight, with recent 

budgets at all-time lows for paved road maintenance, 

surface measurements, road markings, and drainage.
14 Chapter 2: Overview of Participating Agencies

Norwegian Public Roads Administration, 

Oslo, Norway 

The Norwegian Public Roads 

Administration (NPRA, www.

regjeringen.no/en/dep/sd/

about-the-ministry/subordinateagencies-and-enterprises/norwegian-public-roads-administration.html?id=443412) was one 

of the transport agencies the scan team visited that is not 

multimodal. The agency focuses on the planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of the national and county 

road network, which includes 93,214 km of national roads, 

some of which are county roads (44,000 km (27,340 mi)) 

and some of which are considered to be municipal roads 

(38,515 km (23,932 mi)). The county provides funding 

for county roads, and NPRA administers the contracts for 

maintenance. Roads receive about NOK61 billion of the 

total budget for transport, which is estimated at NOK322 

billion. Routine pavement maintenance and rehabilitation 

activities are performed by contractors under annual 

maintenance contracts. At the time of the visit, three 

contractors had responsibility for nearly 75 percent of the 

total amount awarded in contracts, and NPRA has noticed 

that costs are increasing each year. Current funding levels 

are adequate for stabilizing road conditions, but are not 

sufficient for improving them. 

Finnish Transport Agency, Helsinki, Finland 

The Finnish Transport Agency (http://

portal.liikennevirasto.fi/sivu/www/e) is 

responsible for maintaining and managing 

state-owned roads, railways, and waterways. 

The agency spends about €609 million a 

year on basic road maintenance, which represents about 

60 percent of the total funding available for infrastructure 

management. The road network consists of 78,200 km 

(48,591 mi) of public roads, which includes about 13,300 

km (8,264 mi) of main roads, 765 km (475 mi) of motorways, and around 5,600 km (3,480 mi) of pedestrian and 

bicycle lanes, which are considered road equivalents. There 

are also about 14,600 bridges in the network.

The agency has nine regional offices, which are directed by 

the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. The Finnish 

Transport Agency is under the direction of the Ministry of 

Traffic and Communication. There have been challenges 

associated with coordinating the program because the 

central office (i.e., the Finnish Transport Agency) is directed 

by a different ministry than the users of the funds (i.e., the 

regional offices). Road improvements are funded entirely by 

the state budget with no revenue generated by taxes. Road 

maintenance strategies are outlined over a 4-year program, 

so pavement management strategies are somewhat stable 

over that time period.

Since 2004, the maintenance, rehabilitation, and operation 

of the road network have been entirely contracted out, with 

only traffic management performed in-house. Routine 

maintenance contracts are 5 to 7 years in length, but 

pavement maintenance and rehabilitation contracts are 

primarily annual contracts. There are about five main paving 

contractors, and most contractors are now required to 

provide 3-year guarantees on workmanship. 

Danish Road Directorate, Copenhagen, Denmark 

The Danish Road Directorate 

(http://vejdirektoratet.dk/EN/

Pages/default.aspx) is a public 

authority under the direction 

of the Ministry of Transport. The directorate is responsible 

for the construction, extension, development, operation, 

and maintenance of the state road network. This network 

includes 3,788 km (2,356 mi), which represents about 

5 percent of the entire public road network in Denmark. 

However, nearly 45 percent of all road traffic travels on these 

state roads. The Danish Road Directorate has been decentralized since 2009, and in 2012 three regional centers were 

established with responsibility for using the funds they 

are provided. All activities are contracted out and there 

are 4-year contracts for routine maintenance. Funding 

for road improvements is based 100 percent on taxes.

Rijkswaterstaat, Delft, Netherlands 

Rijkswaterstaat (www.rijkswaterstaat.nl/en) is the executive 

agency responsible for the design, construction, maintenance, and management of the main national public works 

and waterway infrastructure on behalf of the new Ministry of 

Infrastructure and the Environment (formerly known as the 

Ministry of Transport) and the State Secretary for Transport, 

Public Works, and Water Management. The organization has 

a budget of about €4 billion to €5 billion and employs 

about 9,000 employees. The road network includes 3,250 

km (2,019 mi) of highways. The agency has 10 regional 

departments, which include 19 road districts and 16 water 

districts, and five specialized departments. 

Rijkswaterstaat works to ensure that the Dutch communities 

have the following:
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 15

❖ Dry feet5

❖ Sufficient clean water

❖ A smooth and safe flow of transport on the nation’s 

roads and waterways

❖ Reliable and useful information

Asset management is ingrained in the organization’s culture 

at all levels. Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined for 

the asset owner, asset manager, and service provider, as 

illustrated in figure 2. The asset owners are responsible for 

setting the future strategic goals for the network through a 

consideration of targets, risk, and cost. The asset manager 

develops tactical plans and investment strategies, and the 

service providers are responsible for operations, including 

renewal, expansion, and maintenance. In summary, the asset 

owners provide money, the asset manager provides knowledge, and the service provider provides the people needed to 

do the work. All of the maintenance activities are contracted 

out using 5- to 7-year contracts.

5

 Because the Netherlands is below sea level, managing water is a 

high priority for the agency.

In addition to its recent name change, the agency reports 

that it is in transition and seeking new balance. Stakeholders, politicians, and the market all have different expectations for transport. Politicians want the cheapest approach, 

users want a system that is always available with no congestion, contractors want clarity on what needs to be achieved, 

and the public wants a safe place with dry feet. An organization that contracts out 100 percent of its maintenance and 

renewal activities, the agency relies on asset management to 

provide the knowledge needed to make decisions and the 

contract conditions to stimulate contractors to deliver 

optimal quality. The agency faces mandatory budget reductions of 20 percent, which will be addressed primarily 

through staff reductions. As a result of these changes, the 

representatives from Rijkswaterstaat stressed the importance 

of communication between technical and managerial levels. 

Institute for Transport Sciences, 

Budapest, Hungary 

According to representatives of the 

Institute for Transport Sciences 

(www.euromar-bridges.eu/index.

php?id=kti), the Hungarian 

infrastructure includes 31,500 km 

(19,573 mi) of national public roads, 140,000 km (86,992 

mi) of local (municipal) public roads, and 6,900 bridges. 

Since the 1990s, one of the primary focuses in the country 

has been to develop the motorway at a rate of about 30 to 

50 km (19 to 31 mi) per year. Funding for the maintenance 

of the road network has not been adequate to preserve 

network conditions, with only about 0.7 to 0.8 percent of 

the gross value invested in the network each year. However, 

because of the addition of new motorway mileage each year, 

the average condition of the network is increasing, which 

masks the deterioration of the rest of the system. Therefore, 

it has been a challenge to effectively communicate needs. 

To help estimate future needs, 60 pavement sections have 

been established to represent the performance of 14 different pavement families. These sections are monitored 

regularly to help establish relationships that can be modeled. These new models will replace the Markov Transition 

Probability Matrices that have been in use since the 1980s. 

Highways Agency, London, England 

The Highways Agency 

(www.highways.gov.uk) 

is an executive agency 

of the Department for 

Transport responsible for operating, maintaining, and 

improving England’s strategic road network on behalf of the 

Asset Owner

• Future of the network (strategic)

• Framework

– Targets

– Risk

– Cost

Asset Manager

• Tactical plan

– Investment strategies

– Maintenance concept

– Technology standard

• Program Management

– Risk management

– Network management

– Performance management

Service Provider

• Operations

– Renewal

– Expansions

– Maintenance

– Project management

– Process

– Asset data management

Figure 2. Rijkswaterstaat roles and responsibilities. 
16 Chapter 2: Overview of Participating Agencies

Secretary of State for Transport. The Department for 

Transport sets policy and reports directly to Parliament 

and secures funds from the Treasury. This organizational 

structure is depicted in figure 3.

The national road network includes 7,200 km (4,474 mi) of 

roads that include motorways and single carriageway trunk 

roads with a total value of about £100 billion. This road 

network carries about a third of all the road traffic and nearly 

two-thirds of all heavy freight traffic in England. Each 

motorway carries between 30,000 and 200,000 vehicles per 

day and costs over £2 billion to manage each year. Demand 

for the facilities is growing each year, and increased competition for funding is expected to add to the challenges of 

managing this network. Funding for maintenance of the 

road network comes from public tax revenue. The agency 

was fortunate to get an additional £500 million for maintaining the road network for the past several years, but it 

expects funding to return to more typical levels in the 

coming years because the Department of Transport must 

compete with other social agencies for funds and the 

Highways Agency must compete with other groups in 

the Department of Transport for funds. 

The Highways Agency’s Strategic Plan for 2010–15 outlines 

the following strategic goals:

❖ Provide a service our customers can trust.

❖ Set the standard for delivery.

❖ Deliver sustainable solutions.

❖ Provide the safest roads in the world.

❖ Provide a dynamic and resilient asset. 

Figure 3. Transport roles, responsibilities, and governance 

in England.

These goals are underpinned by a philosophy that the 

agency must be able to deliver more with less. The agency 

expects this to mean that it will have to eliminate some 

items that have been considered nice to have and coordinate efforts to obtain the information it needs. As a result, 

the agency has spent more time up front making sure it 

does the right thing on each project, plans each job 

correctly, and builds at a time that minimizes interruption 

to customers while ensuring that safety is not compromised. This focus on efficiency demands that employees 

and contractors have the skills to perform their duties, 

so the Highways Agency has established a plan to build 

internal capability through the following:

❖ Greater innovation

❖ Inspired leadership

❖ Improved professionalism

❖ Clearer communication

❖ Smarter collaboration

Roles, responsibilities, and governance are clearly identified, 

with the top tier of government (i.e., Parliament) passing 

legislation, the middle tier (i.e., Department for Transport) 

setting policy, and the bottom tier (i.e., Highways Agency) 

carrying out tactics. The Highways Agency Framework Document6

 is required by the Treasury to set out the relationship 

between the Department for Transport and the Highways 

Agency. The document was last reviewed in 2009 and is 

updated on a 5-year cycle. 

The Treasury issues funding guidelines for the departments 

on a 4-year cycle.7

 Annual business plans are prepared by 

the Department for Transport and the Highways Agency8

to document planned budget expenditures and expected 

performance measures. The annual report9

 prepared by the 

Highways Agency documents each year’s achievements. 

The accounts are audited by the National Audit Office and 

reported to Parliament in terms of the outcomes met for 

the money received. As discussed in this report, these 

6

Highways Agency (2009). The Highways Agency Framework 

Document. Highways Agency, London, England (www.highways.gov.uk/

aboutus/documents/090708_version_of_Highways_Framework.pdf).

7

HM Treasury (2010). The Spending Review Framework. HM 

Treasury, London, England (www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/spending_

review_framework_080610.pdf).

8Highways Agency (2011). Business Plan 2012–2013. Highways 

Agency, London, England (www.highways.gov.uk/aboutus/34742.aspx).

9

Highways Agency (2011). Annual Report 2010–2011. Highways 

Agency, London, England (www.highways.gov.uk/aboutus/32107.aspx).
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 17

audits differ from audits conducted in the United States 

because they focus more on accomplishment of the 

achievements outlined in the plan than on verifying 

that procedures were followed.

Transport for London, London, England 

Transport for London (www.tfl.gov.uk) was created in July 

2000 as part of the Greater London Authority. The agency is 

accountable to an elected mayor and is the single integrated 

organization responsible for London’s seven modes of 

transport. As shown in figure 4, the agency manages a wide 

range of assets, including carriageways, footways and cycle 

routes, structures, tunnels, street lighting, drainage, traffic 

signals, cameras, variable message signs, overheight vehicle 

detection systems, and green estate. The Transport for 

London road network consists of 580 km (360 mi) of 

London’s most heavily traveled roads. Although this road 

network represents only 5 percent of the roads in London, 

it carries 30 percent of the total traffic and 50 percent of 

the city’s freight traffic.

The annual budget for capital renewal is about £80 million. 

About £160 million is spent on revenue maintenance. Broad 

goals and strategies for managing the transport system are 

outlined in the Mayor’s Transport Strategy.

10 Several outcomes 

relate to asset management, such as the following:

❖ Bringing and maintaining all assets 

to a state of good repair

❖ Reducing operating costs

❖ Smoothing traffic flow

❖ Improving user satisfaction

In response, Transport for London developed its Highway 

Asset Management Framework, which conveys how it will 

deliver the outcomes outlined in the Mayor’s Transport 

Strategy. The document includes a section on business 

management and another on highway asset management. 

The Highway Asset Management Framework links an 

investment strategy to the expected levels of service and 

evaluates performance to determine the value received 

for the money spent. The results of the analysis were first 

published in 2007 in the Transport for London Highway Asset 

Management Plan.11 A new version of the document was 

expected to be published soon after the scan.

Transport for London has a long history of emphasizing the 

efficient and effective management of its existing assets and 

instituting means of reporting outcomes. One factor that 

has influenced the focus on managing existing assets is the 

limited space around London for growth to occur. As a 

result, there has been little pressure on the agency for 

expansion activities and asset management has become 

part of the day-to-day activities of the organization. 

Transport Scotland, Glasgow, Scotland 

Transport Scotland (www.transportscotland.gov.uk) is the 

national transport agency for Scotland, which is responsible 

for delivering the government’s capital trunk road and rail 

investment program. In addition, the agency operates 

national concessionary travel, integrated ticketing schemes, 

and lifeline air and ferry services. The agency has more than 

400 employees in Glasgow and manages a network of about 

10 Mayor of London (2010). Mayor’s Transport Strategy. 

Greater London Authority, London, England 

(www.london.gov.uk/publication/mayors-transport-strategy).

11 Transport for London (2007). Transport for London Highway Asset 

Management Plan. Transport for London, London, England (www.tfl.

Figure 4. Assets managed by Transport for London. gov.uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/HAMP-2Oct.pdf).

Asset type Quantity

Carriageway 580 network km

2,555 lane km

Footways & 

Cycle Routes

Over 1,200 km of footway

197 km of dedicated cycle lanes

Structures 513 bridges, 123 culverts, 

696 retaining walls & 304 subways

Tunnels 13 major tunnels

Street Lighting Over 40,000 

(of about 550,000 in London)

Drainage Over 45,000 gullies

Traffic Signals 6,187 units

Cameras 2,471 units

Variable Message 

Signs

164 units

Overheight Vehicle 

Detection Systems

54 units

Green Estate Over 40,000 trees and over 

700 acres of grass, trees & verges
18 Chapter 2: Overview of Participating Agencies

3,400 km (2,113 mi) of roads. The agency spends about 

£150 million on maintenance annually.

The primary focus of Transport Scotland is to invest transport funding in areas that support government priorities in 

crucial areas. The most recent corporate plan12 describes the 

following delivery priorities:

❖ Improved connections across Scotland

❖ Better journey times and better reliability

❖ Greener transport alternatives and reduced emissions

❖ Increased safety and more innovation

Transport Scotland has contractual agreements with four 

operating companies to provide professional services 

associated with managing and maintaining the transport 

network. These companies administer major maintenance 

contracts and are required to tender any treatments that 

will exceed £250,000 in costs. A Performance Audit Group 

monitors the performance of the operating companies. 

Audit Scotland reviews and endorses the maintenance 

contracts. Transport Scotland makes a conscience effort 

to recruit and grow small- and medium-sized enterprises 

through these contracting arrangements, which use about 

40 percent of the maintenance budget.

Transport Scotland has three teams: Asset Management, 

Network Maintenance, and Network Operations. Although 

the teams are independent, they work together to manage 

the transport network. The agency faces many challenges 

similar to organizations in the United States, including 

reduced budgets, government performance targets for 

organizational efficiency and road casualty reductions, and 

expectations to minimize negative impacts on the climate 

and the environment. It has a well-developed Road Asset 

Management Plan13 that sets out the agency’s objectives, 

targets, and required financial plans. However, current 

funding scenarios are not adequate to meet performance 

targets. Further complicating the issue are the government’s 

targets to improve efficiency in all branches by 2 percent 

each year.

12 Transport Scotland (2008). Transport Scotland Corporate 

Plan. Transport Scotland, Glasgow, Scotland (www.transportscotland.

gov.uk).

13 Transport Scotland (2007). Road Asset Management Plan. 

Transport Scotland, Glasgow, Scotland (www.transportscotland.gov.uk/

road/maintenance/prioritising-and-maintaining/prioritising-roadmaintenance/RAMP).

Transport Research Laboratory, 

Berkshire, United Kingdom 

The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL, www.tri.co.uk) 

is the United Kingdom’s leading independent center for 

international transport research, providing advice on and 

solutions to transport issues. TRL has established partnerships with a number of government agencies in the United 

Kingdom, providing specialized transport expertise in 

several subject areas. Under this type of partnership, TRL is 

responsible for the development, operation, and accreditation of specialized equipment that collects pavement 

condition information at near-traffic speeds for England’s 

Highways Agency. TRL performs similar processes for local 

authorities in the United Kingdom, including Transport for 

London. TRL manages and audits an extensive array of data 

collection equipment for the Highways Agency, including 

vehicles to collect surface distress, roughness, skid resistance, surface texture, structural condition, and construction thickness using ground-penetrating radar. Much of 

the information this equipment collects is stored in the 

Highways Agency’s pavement management software for use 

in highway management activities. In addition to collecting 

data, TRL also serves as a consultant to government 

agencies in the United Kingdom. For instance, TRL has 

developed a whole-life cost analysis program for the 

Highways Agency and assists in developing and reporting 

key performance measures. In 2011–2012, about 45 percent 

(£20 million) of TRL’s revenue was from work for government agencies in the United Kingdom. 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 19

Chapter 3. The Asset Management Culture 

Supports Agency Business Processes and 

Long-Term Financial Responsibilities

As in the United States, many of the transportation agencies in the countries included in 

the scan face outside pressure to be more 

efficient, even as customer expectations 

increase and funding decreases. In response to these 

pressures, several agencies have implemented systematic 

processes for maintaining their road networks, improving 

customer service, and maximizing the value they receive 

for each dollar spent. These systematic processes focus on 

decisions that support a long-term vision for a sustainable 

pavement management program. The resulting framework 

is driven by assessing the whole-life costs of preserving the 

value of the road assets and documenting the information 

in a long-term financial plan. In several of the countries 

visited, agencies must either fund the depreciation in 

the road network each year or account for the unfunded 

liability. The scan team also found more flexibility in 

programs than typically observed in the United States. 

For example, budgets at Transport for London are fixed 

over a multiyear period, providing flexibility in shifting 

projects from one year to the next. This feature was 

especially important to Transport for London so that 

construction projects were not scheduled during the 

2012 Summer Olympics. 

The scan team found that project priorities for road maintenance and renewal were based primarily on reducing agency 

risk and liability. This has led agencies to take very different 

approaches to managing their pavement networks. For 

example, NZTA has prioritized seven key state highway 

routes that are designated roads of national significance for 

moving people and freight efficiently and safely between the 

five largest population centers. However, the NZTA board 

has also made it clear that maintaining current levels of 

service and asset condition is also a high priority and that 

it wishes to be involved in any discussion of financial 

constraints that affect service level delivery in either area. 

NZTA has a 3-year funding cycle in which the only practical 

constraint is that expenditure must roughly match the 

revenue stream generated by road users. VicRoads considers 

the deterioration of its low-volume road network a catastrophic risk that would be cost-prohibitive to address. 

Therefore, the preservation of the low-volume road network 

is a top priority. There was also evidence of multiyear 

financial plans to manage the road network that provide 

flexibility in moving funding from one year to another and 

stability because the plans cannot easily be changed once 

they have been approved. 

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia

IPWEA connects, informs, represents, and leads public works 

professionals in Australia who are striving to manage their 

infrastructure assets effectively even as funding for infrastructure becomes more constrained. In fact, IPWEA estimates 

that 50 years ago local governments spent nearly 50 percent 

of their funding on road projects. Today, that amount is 

estimated at 25 percent because of other funding demands 

on local agencies.

A strong, consistent national framework for asset management in Australia’s local agencies emphasizes three key 

elements to developing sustainable communities:

❖ Stewardship and the role of elected officials as 

stewards of public funds

❖ Managing existing and new assets with asset 

management plans

❖ Focusing on long-term financial planning as an 

essential part of doing business

An important emphasis is on maintaining the infrastructure 

and the financial capital over the long term, and IPWEA 

provides tools and templates to help local agencies in 

Australia meet this objective. Key components to this 

management strategy are illustrated in figure 5 (see next 

page). They include the following:

❖ An asset management plan that describes the services 

required, how the services will be provided, and the 

funds required to provide the targeted level of service 

over a 3- to 4-year period 

❖ A long-term financial plan that describes how services 

will be funded over a 10-year period
20 Chapter 3: The Asset Management Culture Supports Agency Business Processes and Long-Term Financial Responsibilities

These documents are directly linked to the agency’s strategic 

plan and operational plans so that strategic, investment, and 

program decisions are all aligned.

Three of the six states in Australia have legislated the use of 

long-term financial plans in local agencies to establish the 

necessary link between funding requirements and the levels 

of service outlined in an agency’s asset management plan. 

The financial plans consider the whole-of-life costs associated with the maintenance and renewal of a road, which 

include initial, operating, maintenance and renewal, and 

disposal costs. As a result, agencies have moved from a 

focus on annual budgets to long-term financial plans that 

link service levels with funding requirements. New South 

Wales, for example, develops a 10-year strategic plan with a 

4-year management plan containing four annual budgets. 

The plan must be approved before the local agency has 

access to the first year’s budget, and once the plan is 

approved, it cannot be changed without community input. 

New South Wales also has a requirement that a long-term 

financial plan be in place before it can request increases in 

property tax rates. Once the long-term financial plans are 

developed, they are audited regularly to evaluate whether 

the local agency actually implemented what it said it would 

with the funds, which has helped stabilize road improvement programs. IPWEA reports that the long-term 

financial plan is key to advancing the philosophy of 

asset management and providing a sustainable and 

viable approach for maintaining road assets. 

The long-term financial plans help agencies focus more 

on the long-term sustainability of the services provided 

and development of strategies for managing (not just 

funding) the gap between actual and desired funding 

levels. As a result, agencies better understand the 

impact of new assets added to the network and the 

resulting lower levels of service that may be provided if 

funding for maintaining those assets is not incorporated into the financial plan. 

IPWEA’s Australian Infrastructure Financial Management Guidelines document includes a comprehensive 

summary of how to account for infrastructure assets, 

as illustrated in figure 6. The guide recommends 

several financial sustainability metrics for local 

agencies to use. One metric is the asset sustainability 

ratio, which is the ratio of expenditures on asset 

replacement to annual depreciation expenses. This 

ratio helps an agency determine whether its assets 

are being replaced or renewed at the same rate as 

they are deteriorating. This ratio is used by local 

authority councils in Australia that are required to 

establish levels of road renewal to keep pace with the 

rate at which roads deteriorate. The councils must 

fund the depreciation fully or explain to the communities 

why they are not providing adequate funding. This practice 

keeps the attention of elected officials on the deterioration 

of the road network and the funds required for its ongoing 

maintenance and renewal. IPWEA provides free training to 

elected officials that explains long-term financial planning 

and emphasizes their role as stewards of public funds.

Transport for London

Asset management has been successfully integrated into 

the day-to-day practices at Transport for London since 

a focus on managing assets effectively was established 

in the 1960s. Key contributors to the success of its asset 

management program have been senior management 

support and management recognition that asset management provides a program that will enable the agency to 

meet its objectives. The agency has been able to show 

improvements in performance each year, and it has broken 

down organizational silos so it could develop common 

asset management objectives across assets and modes. 

Agency representatives have successfully communicated 

the impact of funding limitations on network condition 

and demonstrated that they have slowed the rate of 

deterioration by using the money wisely. As a result, 

Stakeholder & Legal Requirements

& Needs

Service Planning

Asset Management Plans

Operational Plans

Service Delivery

at agreed service levels and cost

Organisational Strategic Plan

Vision, Mission, Goals, Objectives, 

Level of Service, Business Policies, Risk

Figure 5. Role of the long-term financial plan (IPWEA).

Long Term

Financial Plan

Funding Plan
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 21

senior leaders understand that slowing the rate of 

deterioration is a key to building a sustainable program 

when budgets are constrained. 

A high-level framework was developed to describe how 

Transport for London will achieve the outcomes the mayor 

defined in his transport strategy. The framework includes 

two components, as shown in figure 7 (see next page): 

a business management section and a highways asset 

management section. The 10-year business plan presents 

the total investment that will be made over the period. 

Money can be moved from one year to another to address 

fluctuations in needs or special considerations that arise. 

For example, no road projects were scheduled for 2012, 

when the Olympics were held in London. Therefore, 

Transport for London accelerated some projects into 2011 

to use the 2012 funding. The long-term business plan has 

helped the agency focus on long-term needs, improved 

efficiency, and provided a greater degree of certainty to the 

agency’s modeling and forecasting. 

The asset management component of the framework defines 

the targeted levels of service as part of the life-cycle strategies 

and asset investment plan activities. The capital and operational maintenance programs identify where the money 

should be spent and the performance monitoring activities 

measure the value achieved for the money spent. With this 

framework in place, Transport for London has been able to 

evaluate the impacts of different investment strategies, 

demonstrate the reliability of its predictions, put forward 

strong evidence-based arguments for maintaining appropriate 

investment levels, and defend budgets during financial crises.

New Zealand Transport Agency

New Zealand road managers embarked on their asset 

management journey in early 1992, leading to publication 

of the first National Infrastructure Management Manual in 

1995. Subsequent legislation made road-controlling authorities responsible for prudent stewardship of transport assets 

supported by robust asset management plans. These plans 

were required to integrate the service delivery functions 

within the asset management planning framework. As part 

of this process, all roads were reclassified by their function 

rather than the traffic levels they carry. Each road category 

has different performance standards that reflect the impact 

of the road on the country’s economy.

One of the challenges NZTA faced in implementing its 

strategic goals was that staff members tended to treat urgent 

issues that arose, which pulled them away from longer term 

strategic initiatives. To manage its culture and keep a focus 

on strategic priorities, NZTA separated job responsibilities so 

that one position focuses on strategic initiatives while 

another focuses on urgent issues. In dealings with the NZTA 

board and elected officials, asset managers strive to ensure 

that the focus is on strategic issues rather than detailed 

delivery and outcomes rather than outputs. An excerpt from 

Figure 6. Illustration of methods of accounting for pavement assets by component (IPWEA).
22 Chapter 3: The Asset Management Culture Supports Agency Business Processes and Long-Term Financial Responsibilities

Figure 7. Transport for London’s framework.

Business Management

Highway Asset Management

Economic development

Accessibility and inclusion

Environment and culture

Customer requirements

Mayor’s Transport Strategy

Asset Management Policy, Strategy

and Objectives

Lifecycle Strategies and Asset

Investment Planning

Asset Management Governance

Performance Monitoring and Reporting

Continuous Improvement

TfL Business Plan and

strategic objectives

TfL model objectives,

strategies and plans

Government policy and 

legislation

Legal and Health & Safety

Affordability and fares

Asset Management 

Enablers and

Controls

Organization

& Culture

Health &

Capital Safety

Maintenance

Programs

Deliver Capital

Maintenance

Deliver

Operational

Maintenance

Operational

Maintenance

Programs Communication 

& Consultation

Risk

Management

Documentation

& Standards

Contracts &

Commercial

Data &

Knowledge

Tools &

Technology

Carriageways Footways & 

Cycleways

Bridges & 

Structures Tunnels

ACT CHECK DO PLAN

Lighting Drainage Street

Furniture

Green

Estate
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 23

the NZTA strategic plan, showing the specific priorities, 

policies, and strategies that will lead to an improved transport system in New Zealand, is in figure 8. Included in the 

strategic plan is a focus on seven key state highway routes 

designated as roads of national significance that will be 

constructed within the next 10 years. The roads are in New 

Zealand’s five largest population centers, and the focus is on 

moving people and freight efficiently and safely within and 

between these centers.

There is a tremendous emphasis on outcomes and delivery 

efficiency at NZTA. Both internal and external audits are 

conducted regularly to evaluate the performance of different

Strategic

priorities

Planning the

land transport 

networks

Integrated

Planning

Strategy

Integrated 

Planning

Guidance

Investment

and Revenues

Strategy

National Land 

Transport

Programme

Streamlining 

Transport

Investment 

Project

Road Network

and Operations 

Strategy

State Highway 

Asset

Management 

Plan

State

Highway

Plan

Regulatory 

Compliance 

Strategy

Compliance 

365 Project

Relevant transport legislation

Government policy statement on land tranport funding

National Infrastructure Plan

Safer Journeys

Regional policy 

statements &

land transport 

strategies

Transport rules

Investing in

land transport

Managing the 

state highway 

network

Providing access 

to and use of the 

land transport 

system

Improving

customer service

Moving

freight

Improving

safety

More effective

public transport

Delivery of

RoNS

+

Organisational

Development

Strategy

Government

policy

➲

NZTA guiding

strategy

➲

Delivery

strategy

➲

Developing

our people

Working with

others

One

Agency

Figure 8. Strategic plan for building a better land transport system in New Zealand (NZTA14).

14New Zealand Transport Agency (2010). Our Strategic Direction 2010–2013. New Zealand Transport Agency, Wellington, New Zealand.

aspects of transport. The most significant audit in recent 

times was the 2009–2010 audit conducted by the government’s auditor general. The first part of this audit looked at 

the adequacy of the asset data and the second part looked at 

how the asset was actually managed. These audits reinforced 

the notion that good asset management decisions must be 

evidence-based.

Following the completion of the audit, NZTA was instructed 

to get better information to manage its assets, and it was 

given a year to address the issue. The government auditor 

indicated that the following information was needed to 

enable asset management:
24 Chapter 3: The Asset Management Culture Supports Agency Business Processes and Long-Term Financial Responsibilities

❖ Pavement condition

❖ Remaining life

❖ A replacement strategy

❖ Value of the pavement

❖ Available and needed funding

The bulk of the funding for maintenance and operations 

and improvements comes from road user charges and fuel 

excise taxes. In setting 3-year programs, the NZTA board 

needs to take note of the government’s direction, signaled 

in the Government Policy Statement, and the demands of 

customers to maintain or enhance service levels. In light 

of the largely static revenue and increasing demands, the 

board accepted that the maintenance and operation levels 

of service were appropriate, but set an expectation of 

reducing the real cost of meeting them by 2 percent per 

year in the last 3-year program. In addition, it capped the 

next 3-year expenditure at the 2011–2012 level. As a result, 

the agency is evaluating tradeoffs between investments in 

safety and efficiency, and it is moving toward an optimization model that allows it to pick projects that match either 

investment priority. As it becomes more proficient with this 

modeling approach, NZTA intends to add a probabilistic 

model to evaluate likelihood of failure and better estimate 

risk exposure. 

VicRoads

As in many other agencies, economic pressures are forcing 

VicRoads to be more efficient in providing services. Agency 

personnel quickly realized they could not keep doing things 

as they had in the past because the funding needed was no 

longer available. 

Figure 9. Example of a two-coat seal (VicRoads15).

15VicRoads (2004). Bituminous Sprayed Surfacing Manual. Technical Bulletin 45. Vic Roads, Melbourne, Australia.

At VicRoads, the improvement program is developed through 

a two-step process. The first step is to establish broad parameters on the number of kilometers that need to be addressed 

in each region based on pavement condition information 

collected on a statewide basis. For example, the guidance 

provided to the regions might indicate that 7 percent of the 

sprayed-seal network and 6 percent of the asphalt network 

need to be addressed. The seven regions, each of which 

manages about 4,000 km of roads, are responsible for 

selecting the projects that meet these parameters based on 

local knowledge of the road network and guidance provided 

by VicRoads. The current pavement management model, 

called Stitch in Time, is to intervene when a road has a minor 

defect to keep the road safe, but also to prevent the defect 

from becoming more expensive to repair. As a result, maintenance contractors are assessed a penalty if a defect is more 

than 100 square feet before it is repaired. Routine maintenance is funded first, so current funding limitations have 

greatly reduced the amount of restoration work done. 

VicRoads personnel conducted an analysis of their road 

network needs and determined that their primary focus is the 

low-volume sprayed-seal rural road network because its 

deterioration would be more catastrophic and cost-prohibitive to repair than the robust asphalt network in the urban 

area. Because the rural arterial road network is primarily an 

unbound system with a chip seal surface, treatments are 

designed to keep moisture out of the system. As a result of 

this strategy, the agency is allowing some deterioration to the 

asphalt road network and using funds that would have gone 

to that network to address more rural arterial roads. An 

example of a sealed road is shown in figure 9. 

One of the primary challenges VicRoads faces is convincing 

the government to provide adequate levels of funding to 

address the agency’s needs. Because VicRoads competes 

with other government services—such as education, health, 

and police—efforts are underway to improve strategies for 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 25

communicating its needs to the Treasury and other stakeholder groups. Although in the past primarily pavement 

condition information was used, there is an increased focus 

on linking the level of service being provided to the impact 

on the community. Therefore, performance measures that 

link stewardship, availability, condition, and safety are 

being developed. 

Officials indicated that the organizational culture features 

healthy competition between the regions. Regional personnel are allowed to implement innovative solutions as long 

as they focus on improving operations. Regular meetings 

provide opportunities to compare practices across regions 

and promote this spirit of competition.

South Australia Department of Planning, 

Transport and Infrastructure

The department’s Strategic Infrastructure Plan for South 

Australia16 identifies priorities for allocating resources 

to maintain and improve assets. The department’s goals 

for asset management include the following:

❖ Clearly defined objectives and a link to the 

business plan

❖ Clearly defined levels of service

❖ Well-integrated risk management

❖ A good asset register

❖ Clear accountabilities and responsibilities

The agency is working on establishing level-of-service targets 

and linking them to corporate objectives. It is also working 

on establishing minimum levels of service for different road 

classifications. Its experience has been strong in the traditional areas of managing marine, pavement, and bridge 

assets, but the department is less mature in its ability to 

apply asset management principles to other areas. It is also 

working on being more explicit about considering risk in 

its asset management plans and identifying organizational 

changes necessary to support asset management.

About 3.5 percent of the rural road surfaces are replaced 

each year, which equates to a 30-year replacement cycle. 

Because an optimal replacement cycle would be closer to 12 

years, the department is aware that its program is suboptimal 

and not sustainable in the long run. The department is using 

16Department of Planning, Transport, and Infrastructure (2005). 

Strategic Infrastructure Plan for SA 2004/5–2014/5. Department of 

Planning, Transport, and Infrastructure, Adelaide, South Australia.

the lack of a sustainable program as an argument for 

additional funding for transport.

Periodic maintenance funds are distributed based on 

network type and equity between urban and rural roads. The 

equity component is considered important for keeping the 

rural road network at a minimum condition standard. The 

central office develops the 10-year optimized program based 

on an analysis of benefits over a 20-year period. It considers 

minimizing user costs and maximizing pavement condition 

as the basis for optimizing expenditures. The regions 

develop the 3-year short-term program, which considers 

pavement management recommendations as well as field 

priorities not considered in the software. 

Highways Agency

The Highways Agency in England is dealing with a budget 

deficit, so agency is focusing on driving down the cost of 

government and the services it provides as well as improving 

the transparency of government activities by making massive 

amounts of information available to the public. As a result, 

the agency’s aim is safe roads, reliable journeys, and 

informed travelers. Asset management allows the agency 

to take a long-term strategic approach to managing and 

monitoring asset performance. It uses an integrated 

approach that allows it to manage risk while focusing 

on the following:

❖ Whole-life cost

❖ Performance tools to monitor and drive delivery 

of operational outputs and outcomes

❖ Optimized maintenance scheduling and works to 

ensure best value

❖ Modeling tools to plan and justify strategic investment

❖ A single repository for asset information with unified 

standard and comparable measures for condition, 

degradation, and geographic locations

The whole-life cost principles are important to the Highways 

Agency for maintaining its network. These principles adhere 

to the philosophy of applying the right treatment at the right 

time and procuring services that maximize the whole-life 

value of an asset. One of the keys to the agency’s application 

of these principles is the 4-year funding assurance that 

allows the agency a degree of confidence in its ability to fund 

projects when they will be needed. The whole-life principles 

are commonly applied to the maintenance and operation of 

assets in four focus areas: pavements, drainage, earthworks, 

and structures.
26 Chapter 3: The Asset Management Culture Supports Agency Business Processes and Long-Term Financial Responsibilities

A whole-life appraisal at the network level entails a review of 

spending plans across assets, which is linked to a whole-life 

appraisal at the scheme level and the programming level. 

This relationship is reflected in figures 10 and 11. Figure 10 

shows a network-level spending plan, while figure 11 shows 

more detail on the planned expenditures on pavements. In 

both figures, the size of the bubble reflects the magnitude of 

spending in that particular area.

Figure 11. Highways Agency (England) spending opportunities on pavements.

Figure 10. Spending opportunities for the Highways Agency (England).

Planned

Maintenance

(Target Cost)

Routine

Service

(Lump Sum)

Major

Projects

Pavements Drainage Earthworks Structures Restraint Markings Traffic Traffic Lighting Soft Fencing

 Systems & Studs Signs Signals Estate

Total Asset

Spend

£502M

£38M

£455M

£3M

£0.1M £5M

£2M

£1M

£5M

£1M

£5M £5M

£10M £0.4M

£1M £2M

£9M

£5M £8M

£193M £227M

£63M £67M £41M £186M £65M

£6M

£3M

£12M

£17M

£1M

£7M

£25M

£4M

£1M

TBA

Total Pavement

Spending

£253M

Planned

Maintenance

£185M

Major

Projects

£63M

Routine Service £5M

National Schemes (£46M)

Regional Schemes (£17M)

Paved Areas (£5M)

Surface Course (£98M)

Binder Course (£48M)

Road Base (£2M)

Sub Base (£1M)

Planning (£35M)

Grooving (£0.7M)

Retexturing (£0.3M)
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 27

Whole-life concepts are also considered in major projects 

in which the value of money is taken into account in 

partnership with the project’s contribution to parameters 

such as health and safety. The agency is working toward 

development of analysis tools that will facilitate this type 

of analysis. 

Transport Scotland

“Value for money” is a common policy theme for the U.K. 

Highways Agency, Transport for London, and Transport 

Scotland. Transport Scotland has a strong culture that 

supports making the best use of public funds. Therefore, 

customer views, which focus on road conditions, are 

important to the agency. Independent performance audits 

are an important check to ensure that the government gets 

the best value possible for the money it spends. For example, 

a 2010 road maintenance audit found that the use of asset 

management plans provided a strong business case for road 

programs, but transport funding decreases were causing 

Transport Scotland to build up maintenance needs and costs 

that future generations would incur. As a result, there is 

stronger pressure on the government to provide increased 

funding for the agency. 

Transport Scotland recently developed a new Value Management Scoring Framework that considers safety, journey time 

reliability, environmental sustainability, value for money, 

and quality of submissions, with value for money rated as 

the highest factor. The scores from the value management 

process are compared to the condition information from the 

management system to determine the highest priorities. 

Value engineering is used for major projects, focusing on 

both internal and external factors that might influence a 

project. It provides decisionmakers with a sound basis for 

making decisions and results in decisions that are objective, 

transparent, consistent, and auditable. Officials report that 

the focus on value for money has driven down costs by 15 to 

20 percent in the past year.

Finnish Transport Agency

The Finnish Transport Agency initiated pavement management efforts in the mid-1980s, when the agency realized that 

it would have less funding to manage the road network. The 

pavement management champions convinced individuals at 

the top of the organization that the agency needed a systematic process for road maintenance. Once they had secured 

support from the top of the organization, it was easier for 

them to get their ideas implemented throughout the 

organization. They started by collecting pavement condition 

information and have since implemented network-level 

pavement management software. 

Initially, the agency’s efforts at developing a systematic 

method of managing the road network met resistance from 

regional offices, which were concerned about losing their 

autonomy. However, the central office recognized the 

importance of a performance-based approach and selected 

the performance measures that would be used to manage 

the network. At first, performance targets were set annually, 

which led to some short-term decisions by the regions. The 

agency has since moved away from annual performance 

targets to 4-year performance targets, which has helped 

regions shift toward longer term solutions. Regions that are 

not satisfied with how funding is allocated continue to 

challenge the performance-based culture, and at times 

political pressures lead to a less-than-optimal distribution 

of funding. The agency, however, considers pavement 

management a big part of its investment decision process 

and the basis for making good decisions. In the future, the 

agency would like to have models that consider safety, user 

costs, environment, and comfort for managing the road 

network. It would also like to be better positioned to 

address corridor needs that consider both pavement and 

bridge investment needs.

The focus on longer-term strategies can be seen in the 

investment strategies top management has established. For 

instance, management has instituted programs that prioritize maintenance of the road network, even at the expense 

of new investments. As a result, money has been invested in 

developing condition measurements, management systems, 

and related applied research activities. Road condition was 

included in the agency’s management-by-objectives 

approach, which forced regions to improve their pavement 

management practices. 

Rijkswaterstaat

Asset management is fully integrated into the culture of the 

Road Traffic and Transport Authority, part of Rijkswaterstaat 

in the Netherlands, as demonstrated by the director general’s 

comment that “asset management is about your culture and 

the way you think” more than the technical analysis of the 

data. Support for asset management is evident at the top of 

government, where management considers the ability to 

predict what it has key to making the organization work the 

way it wants it to. Therefore, asset management has been 

critical to the implementation of the government’s policy 

and agency commitment to exploring new opportunities to 

enhance system performance. Asset management is so 

strongly integrated into the culture that it has been branded 

using a yellow line as a symbol that connects pavement 

management, bridge management, traffic equipment, and 

people. The yellow line appears on all asset management 

materials and is featured prominently in the asset management office, as shown in figure 12.
28 Chapter 3: The Asset Management Culture Supports Agency Business Processes and Long-Term Financial Responsibilities

The agency has a formal strategic framework for asset 

management that helps align and focus the organization. 

The framework balances three components: costs, performance, and risk. Asset management provides the organization with the knowledge needed to balance a program 

between acceptable risks and budget and performance 

expectations. Therefore, the agency analyzes and optimizes 

these factors while striving to meet customer demands 

within budget constraints and organizational needs. Once 

a program is agreed to, a 4-year contract is signed with the 

secretary to formalize the service level that will be provided. 

Key performance indicators (KPIs) for the agency are based 

on the RAMS-SHEEP model, which includes the following:

❖ Reliability

❖ Availability

❖ Maintainability

❖ Safety

❖ Security

❖ Health

❖ Environment

❖ Economics

❖ Politics

The RAMS indicators are the technical performance measures and the SHEEP indicators address other societal and 

stakeholder interests.

A fundamental principle behind the operation of Rijkswaterstaat is that the technical quality of the work influences the 

durability of the asset. Therefore, at the highest level of the 

organization the expectation is that the technical staff will 

safeguard the quality of the work to achieve a long service 

life with less maintenance, less traffic disturbance, fewer 

materials, and a smaller carbon footprint. Therefore, asset 

management needs to project these needs and provide a line 

of communication with politicians about the costs required 

to address them. This has been a challenge in recent years 

as budgets have become tighter. However, the agency has 

developed stronger contracts that tighten specifications, 

consider quality in the procurement process, and require 

contractors to monitor and report on quality.

Swedish Transport Administration

Although the Swedish Transport Administration reports that 

it does not have an asset management model in place, it has 

a pavement management program that encourages treatment selection based on maximizing the overall effect of the 

available budget. Top-level support for the program is 

considered important, and the agency reports that there has 

been support for pavement management since at least 2002. 

Another important factor includes having the right information to support the appropriate level of quality for the road 

system. For example, at a strategic level, a “delivered quality” 

target is established in the long-term 10-year plan in terms of 

satisfied road users. At the tactical level, satisfied road user 

criteria are linked to targets defined in terms of condition 

variables, which are defined in the agency’s maintenance 

standard and used to calculate the maintenance funding 

needed. This example illustrates the agency’s efforts to link 

data used at various levels of the organization.

The Swedish Transport Administration reports that because 

of its systematic approach to managing the road network, 

the agency has been able to keep pavement conditions at 

constant levels, even with less money and increasing traffic 

levels. Other factors, such as improvements in road-building 

materials and the use of innovation, have undoubtedly 

contributed to the improvement in road conditions. 

Norwegian Public Roads Administration

NPRA has used pavement management since the mid1980s. Initially, the program focused on both user costs 

and socioeconomic factors, but the models were later 

modified because of the difficulty in modeling factors, such 

as crashes and delays. Pavement management rose through 

the organization from the bottom up, and decisionmakers 

had to be convinced that this was the way to go. To some 

degree, pavement management succeeded because the 

agency had good information on pavements that provided 

for systematic planning decisions. Regions and districts 

now use pavement management in developing their 

maintenance programs. In recent years, there has been 

increased interest in pavement management from the 

public, media, and politicians because of the maintenance 

backlog that has been reported. 

Figure 12. Yellow line used to brand asset managment in the 

Netherlands.
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 29

In the past, preventive maintenance decisions were separate 

from other investment programming decisions. NPRA has 

moved toward a more holistic approach that includes 

integrated maintenance plans across asset types and a focus 

on transport corridors. Pavement maintenance and reinvestment funding is based largely on preventive maintenance 

needs from pavement management. Risk is not typically 

considered in pavement management, but may be assessed 

separately for crisis and emergency planning or bridge and 

tunnel assessment. One of the challenges pavement management faces is its ability to show the impact of deferred 

maintenance because it often takes several years for the 

impacts to be realized when roads are in relatively good 

condition. Maintenance trigger levels are set based on the 

results of an evaluation of life-cycle costs that considers both 

agency and user costs. A program focus is to reduce the 

maintenance backlog. 

Danish Road Directorate

Pavement management was introduced in the Danish Road 

Directorate in 1983 after some bridge mishaps encouraged 

the agency to think about monitoring asset conditions and 

making more efficient use of finances. Before the use of 

pavement management, the regions were responsible for 

maintenance and rehabilitation of the road network. They 

resisted the new way of doing business because they perceived it as a loss of authority over project selection. Over 

time, the agency has been able to overcome the regions’ 

resistance. The agency’s pavement management practices 

received a major boost in credibility in 2010 when an 

external study recommended investment allocations that 

closely matched the recommendations issued by pavement 

management. The allocation is based on user costs, the 

estimated life remaining in a pavement, the amount of 

degradation due to traffic, structural capacity, and pavement 

damage. A benefit-cost analysis is used to optimize the 

feasible solutions, which include three scenarios: minimum 

maintenance for safety only, steady-state conditions, and 

removal of the backlog. Pavement management is now 

considered an important source of information for making 

effective decisions.

Institute for Transport Sciences

As discussed in chapter 2, the focus in Hungary has been on 

developing the motorway. Investment levels in the remainder of the network have not been adequate to offset network 

deterioration of pavements and bridges. However, efforts are 

underway to communicate the advantages of maintaining 

the network from a whole-life perspective. For instance, the 

principles of lifetime engineering, which were initially 

created in Finland for building maintenance, have been 

introduced. The principles of lifetime engineering focus on 

the design of an asset over its entire life, including end-of-life 

strategies and modular design. The modular design concept 

is similar to an automobile maintenance guide that indicates 

what should be done at different points of the car’s life. 

These types of ideas are being introduced to various stakeholders in Hungary in an attempt to ensure that available 

information is used wisely to support a long-term focus on 

asset maintenance.
30
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 31

Chapter 4. Agencies Help Elected and 

Appointed Officials Be Better Stewards 

of Transportation Assets

I

n some of the countries visited, especially Australia, use 

of long-term financial plans was strong at the local level. 

These financial plans outline the strategies that will be 

used to effectively manage the road network and 

communicate risk and deferred liabilities for any underfunded maintenance and renewal activities. The long-term 

financial plans are developed collaboratively with government officials, who are held accountable for how public 

funds are used to preserve the condition of infrastructure 

assets. As fiscal stewards, elected and appointed officials are 

responsible for the long-term viability and sustainability of 

the investment programs. 

Several of the agencies the scan team met with indicated 

that government officials are trained to better understand 

and honor their fiduciary responsibilities, which has led to 

support of transportation agency programs at all levels of 

government. This understanding of stewardship responsibilities was catalytic in supporting performance-based 

programs in several countries. This support has been 

especially important because transport agencies internationally do not have dedicated trust funds and must 

compete regularly for funding. 

This chapter provides examples of how agencies monitor 

the use of public funds and how elected officials have 

been trained in their responsibilities as fiscal stewards.

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia 

One of the catalysts to the use of asset management, longterm financial plans, and good stewardship in Australia was 

the work of IPWEA to establish the necessary framework, 

tools, and drivers. As discussed in the previous chapter, the 

legislated use of long-term financial plans by local governments in Australia helped foster the responsible planning 

and management of resources among elected and appointed 

officials by providing information about liabilities for 

unfunded road maintenance and renewal activities. Through 

IPWEA training, elected and appointed officials better 

understand their responsibilities to provide funding for 

these unfunded liabilities or account for the deficiency in 

some other way. As a result, Australian public officials focus 

on maintaining the value of the road network through road 

preservation and enhancement activities. The emphasis on 

long-term financial planning is further supported by regular 

performance audits to ensure that government agencies are 

following their plans. While the legislation to use long-term 

financial plans increased the focus on financial sustainability, the audit component holds elected officials accountable 

for implementing the plans. IPWEA’s free training courses 

for public officials support these efforts through their focus 

on stewardship and fiscal accountability.

Highways Agency

In the countries the scan team visited, as in the United 

States, the window of interest for elected officials does not 

coincide with a transport agency’s desire to operate and 

maintain the network for the lowest whole-life cost. In 

England, the reviews conducted by the Independent Public 

Accounts Committee of Parliament and the Transport 

Committee of the House of Commons have been instrumental in building support and trust for Highways Agency 

programs. The Highways Agency is somewhat protected by 

the fact that political decisions also go through the Independent Public Accounts Committee, so any deviations from 

plans are investigated. The agency considers the national 

audit a powerful tool, and politicians usually heed the audit 

findings. The Highways Agency indicates that politicians 

want to know the agency has good ideas on the long-term 

management of the transport assets and that policies are in 

place and followed so the Treasury does not have to interfere 

in agency management and operations. The audits have 

helped establish that degree of confidence in the Highways 

Agency among elected officials. 

Transport Scotland

A recent road audit on road maintenance for Transport 

Scotland indicated that the agency was building up future 

maintenance needs and costs for future generations, prompting government action to address the problem. Transport 

Scotland reports that independent commissions help expose 

government actions that a government agency might not easily be able to report externally. 
32 Chapter 4: Agencies Help Elected and Appointed Officials be Better Stewards of Transportation Assets

New Zealand Transport Agency

NZTA representatives believe that elected officials support 

road preservation activities because it has been an important 

part of the culture ever since the country was established. 

NZTA is working with a set revenue stream that is largely 

static and does not quite match cost increases. Therefore, 

tradeoffs are an essential feature of programs, and the agency 

works hard to present the consequences of the tradeoffs to 

both the NZTA board and elected officials. There is a strong 

link between outcomes and investments in NZTA programs. 

Customer input is part of the process, and NZTA has 

developed a customer filter that helps it relate customer 

opinions to the level-of-service targets.

Financial reports include the cost of future renewals, so 

elected officials and other stakeholders can clearly evaluate 

whether renewals are keeping up with deterioration. Local 

agencies that do not provide adequate funding to offset the 

depreciation expense must explain why they are not providing enough funding. As a result, council members must be 

upfront about dealing with asset deterioration. To date, the 

rate of deterioration has primarily been funded in full, but 

council members are concerned that the level of service 

being provided is too high.

VicRoads

At VicRoads, maintenance costs for capital projects over 

the next 30 years are incorporated into the calculation 

of whole-life costs when financing new projects. These 

maintenance funds are placed in the general maintenance 

fund, although they are not tied to a particular project. 

Even though the availability of these funds for a particular 

project is not assured under this method, the process at 

least provides a means of ensuring that future maintenance 

costs are taken into consideration when capital projects 

are funded. 

Swedish Transport Administration and 

Finnish Transport Agency

In general, the Nordic countries that participated in the 

scan did not demonstrate the same level of support from 

elected officials as other countries included in the scan. 

However, three of the four agencies reported that they face 

severely constrained budgets and discussed methods of 

communicating needs with elected officials. Sweden has 

had a debate in the media about railroad maintenance, and 

the Swedish Transport Administration has observed a shift 

in funding from pavements to railroads. In response, the 

agency is determining how to manage the funding to best 

demonstrate the impact of the reduction. One possibility is 

to let some roads deteriorate to a point at which media 

attention will shift to the road network. The Finnish 

Transport Agency is experiencing a similar situation, so the 

agency is shifting funds for the local road network to other 

parts of the network so politicians will see the impact. If, 

on the other hand, budget cuts are applied to several 

programs, the agencies believe it takes too long for the 

impacts to be observed. 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 33

Chapter 5. Agencies Focus on Outcomes and 

Operate as Service Providers

The agencies that participated in the scan are 

moving toward a service-based rather than 

condition-based approach to managing their 

road networks. Under this service-based 

approach, customer-driven priorities, such as safety, 

reliability of travel, comfort, and livability, are becoming 

the primary drivers for road maintenance and renewal 

actions. This change in philosophy is considered more 

meaningful than merely reporting on condition-based 

performance metrics. The change has influenced the types 

of data collected and the performance targets used to drive 

the maintenance and renewal program. NZTA compared 

the philosophy to managing a utility. Under the more 

traditional model, a road may not have been available to 

carry an unusually heavy load because of existing road 

conditions. Under a service approach, the agency considers 

itself responsible for finding a way for the heavy vehicle to 

use the facility, representing a major shift in its philosophy 

and the way it approaches programming decisions. As 

described in this chapter, Rijkswaterstaat bases decisions 

on key performance indicators that focus almost entirely 

on service-oriented metrics.

Transport for London considers risk, customer satisfaction, 

and cost as the three factors it must balance to provide an 

acceptable level of service, as shown in figure 13. The 

relationship among these factors and the point at which a 

zone is established for making investment decisions differs 

based on the asset being investigated. For example, because 

most highway users are less aware of bridge conditions 

than road conditions, risk and whole-life costs are the key 

decision drivers for bridges and the decision zone shifts to 

ensure that risks are suitably mitigated. For roadways, 

customer satisfaction is a much higher decision factor, 

so the decision zone reflects an effort to maintain it at 

a high level. These and other examples of how this shift 

has impacted programs are provided in this chapter.

New Zealand Transport Agency

As part of its efforts to put customers first, NZTA recognized 

that it needed to change the way it does business. This forced 

the agency to look to a service provider concept for transport 

that is similar to the telephone industry model. Under that 

model, customers do not care how big the phone wires are; 

they just expect them to be there in working order. This was 

a new way of thinking about service for NZTA that is now an 

integral part of how it does business. As a result of this 

service focus, the agency has moved away from a conditionbased approach to managing the road network and prioritized managing the risk associated with deterioration of 

the low-volume network and providing a high level of 

service on major truck routes.

As part of this new business approach, the agency had to 

understand who its customers were and what drives their 

opinions. The agency established a Customer First Program 

that includes activities for getting feedback, building capability, and transforming the business. As one strategy for 

identifying service gaps between customer expectations 

and service levels, NZTA used qualitative and quantitative 

methods to identify customer values on performance and 

importance, as shown in figure 14. Low-performance, 

high-importance areas were identified as the areas where 

the biggest impact on customer service could be made. As a 

result, strategic priorities such as improving travel time, trip 

predictability, and freight efficiency were identified. Recognizing that funding constraints exist, NZTA places a priority 

on value-for-money outcomes that focus on developing the 

best possible work program that targets the most important 

Figure 13. The three-legged stool used by Transport for London.
34 Chapter 5: Agencies Focus on Outcomes and Operate as Service Providers

issues using the best possible solutions. In figure 14, the blue 

circles in the bottom right quadrant represent the areas that 

customers identified as very important and in need of 

improvement.

Another issue NZTA faced as it moved forward with its 

service-oriented approach is that staff members tend to focus 

on urgent needs at the cost of long-term strategic needs. 

Therefore, NZTA maintains a central office asset management role that is dedicated to strategic needs, while regional 

office asset teams focus on compiling and delivering the 

program. Because of the importance the agency places on 

road safety, pavement skid and texture information is 

collected for the entire road network, and investigatory and 

intervention levels are set to trigger safety improvements.

Highways Agency

The Highways Agency publishes an annual report that sets 

out performance measures and accomplishments as documentation of public fund expenditures and accomplishments. In the past, government administrators were target 

focused, but the current government is more interested in 

demonstrating accountability than tracking accomplishments. As a result, the Highways Agency focuses on transparency and having information available to the public. Rather 

than use targets as measures of success, the Highways Agency 

relies more on feedback from stakeholders to determine the 

success of its programs. There are, of course, exceptions to 

this, with some targets still in place for social issues such as 

carbon emissions. The movement away from targets 

Figure 14. Customer values identified by NZTA.
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 35

occurred for several reasons. First, government found that 

targets do not necessarily have meaning for the public. The 

current approach allows the agency to report outcomes that 

have been achieved and the public can respond to those 

outcomes. Second, targets may set behaviors that do not 

necessarily correspond to good practice. For example, a 

hospital could achieve a target to reduce waiting time 

without necessarily providing appropriate treatment to a 

patient. Finally, the Highways Agency indicates that there 

was never a true connection to the targets set and the money 

it received. The agency reports that the new approach, which 

is based more on outcomes achieved than targets, improves 

negotiations with the Treasury because it can better explain 

what can be achieved with the level of funding provided.

As a result of its change in focus, the Highways Agency has 

modified its performance measures to be more customeroriented. For example, the agency has established performance measures to improve the reliability of journey time, 

because customer surveys indicated that the traveling public 

is more interested in knowing how long the journey will 

take than travel speed. This has resulted in a change in 

philosophy because the organization had focused previously 

on travel speed.

The philosophy change has also changed how the network 

is managed. For instance, on some managed motorways the 

hard shoulder is used during times of high congestion to 

better manage traffic, allowing capacity to be added when 

it is needed. This has resulted in lower costs to the agency 

because it has not had to add another lane, and the solution 

is considered a green strategy. The Highways Agency reports 

that the strategy has improved travel time reliability without 

increasing crashes.

Rijkswaterstaat

The Road Traffic and Transport Authority in the Netherlands 

has a public-oriented approach to managing its road 

network that focuses on minimizing interruptions and 

accelerating contractor program execution through incentives. The agency also bases its KPIs on a model that focuses 

on both technical and nontechnical factors. It is referred to 

as the RAMS-SHEEP model, with RAMS representing 

technical considerations such as reliability, availability, 

maintainability, and safety, and SHEEP representing the soft 

side of the decision process, which includes security, health, 

environment, economics, and politics. The KPIs help the 

organization address its highest priorities when resources 

are constrained. 

The agency’s efforts to move toward more sustainable 

solutions have increased its focus on energy use and green 

energy, green procurement methods, and sustainable area 

development. For example, the Netherlands has national 

minimum criteria for sustainability, and contractors are 

challenged to develop sustainable solutions that reduce 

energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. Because of the 

importance of this issue to the country, these initiatives are 

being supported even though they have led to increased 

contract costs.

Noise is another priority issue the agency has had to address. 

It has considered several options, including building noise 

walls and changing the pavement surface. Because noise 

walls are about 10 times more expensive than the pavement 

surfacing option, the agency has increased its use of opengraded friction courses on the network. 

Another example of the service-oriented nature of the Road 

Traffic and Transport Authority is its use of service-level 

agreements (SLAs) between the asset owner and the asset 

manager. In the past, SLAs were based primarily on pavement condition indicators, but the agency is developing new 

metrics for highway availability and reliability that better 

dovetail with higher level policy issues. SLAs are made for 

4 years and include the related financial plan based on a 

long-term financial forecast. The new metrics for road 

availability consider the amount of time the road is open to 

the user with minimum traffic speeds of 40 miles per hour 

(64 kilometers per hour). The agency envisions establishing 

different availability targets based on road category. For 

instance, the highest level road system might have an 

availability target of 95 percent.

VicRoads 

For years, VicRoads relied on traditional performance 

measures, such as the International Roughness Index, to 

monitor the performance of the road network. However, the 

Treasury is not interested in information on the physical 

condition of the road, so VicRoads is working on developing 

improved performance measures that better link road 

conditions and user needs while answering the question 

of “what service do we provide?” As a result, the agency is 

increasingly focused on the level of service being provided 

in five community focus areas: safety, reliability of travel, 

comfort, roughness, and livability. 

Transport for London

Transport for London considers risk, customer satisfaction, 

and cost the three factors it must take into account to 

provide an acceptable level of service. The relationship 

among these factors and the point at which a zone is 

established for making investment decisions differ based 

on the particular asset being investigated. Figure 15 

(see next page) illustrates the relationship between customer 
36 Chapter 5: Agencies Focus on Outcomes and Operate as Service Providers

satisfaction, risk, and whole-life costs and state of good 

repair for bridges. Because most highway users are less aware 

of bridge conditions than road conditions, risk and wholelife costs are the key decision drivers for that asset and the 

decision zone shifts to the right to ensure that risks are 

suitably mitigated. For roadways, customer satisfaction is 

a much higher decision factor, so the decision zone reflects 

an effort to maintain it at a high level.

Transport Scotland

Transport Scotland began conducting customer surveys in 

2007 to determine road user priorities and has conducted 

the surveys annually since then. Initial data trends show that 

public satisfaction in the network is dropping as budget 

levels drop. Therefore, Transport Scotland has made it a 

priority to establish targets that will maintain customer 

satisfaction by investing heavily in user priorities. 

The public surveys involved face-to-face interviews with 

about 1,000 residents in each of two waves to see if seasonal 

variations affected the results. The participants represent a 

statistically sound sample of the population based on factors 

such as location, age, road use, and so on. The results 

showed that about 41 percent of the participants had 

encountered unsafe road defects, with potholes identified 

as the main defect they encountered. The survey also found 

that more than half of the respondents were dissatisfied with 

the rate at which road defects are repaired and a similar 

number indicated that they were dissatisfied with the quality 

of the repairs. On the other hand, the majority of participants were more satisfied with winter maintenance activities 

performed by Transport Scotland.

Customer feedback is proposed as a component to consider 

in the revised performance management framework for 

monitoring and reporting performance. The proposed 

approach links the results of the customer survey directly 

to Transport Scotland’s corporate and business plans. The 

information has also been used to develop level-of-service 

criteria. Twenty-seven criteria have been identified, covering 

factors such as network condition, road works, winter 

maintenance, lighting, markings, and signs. Performance 

on each is rated excellent, good, fair, or poor and is linked 

to the asset management models to identify and justify 

planned expenditures.

Finnish Transport Agency

The Finnish Transport Agency conducts road user satisfaction surveys each winter and every other summer. Focus 

groups are also used to identify problem areas and convey 

maintenance strategies. The agency has also formed a panel 

of frequent drivers who record driving conditions using 

Global Positioning System technology. In addition, the 

agency receives feedback from road users through telephone, 

e-mail, Internet, and the media. The information is used as 

background for developing maintenance strategies, and 

small problems that are identified are solved as soon as 

possible. Because of the importance the agency places on 

addressing customer needs, it has established a director’s 

slot that focuses exclusively on stakeholder relations. 

Norwegian Public Roads Administration

The priority NPRA places on customer service and the 

societal impact of roads is evident in its vision statement: 

“On the road to a better society.” This priority can be a 

challenge to the agency because customer expectations 

continue to increase and customers are less tolerant of 

disturbances and unexpected events that impact travel time 

and safety. Important economic considerations also must be 

taken into account in Norway. For example, the fishing industry cannot tolerate a 2-day road closure because the fish must 

be thrown away if they spoil before getting to market. 

Swedish Transport Administration

The Swedish Transport Administration uses road user 

opinion surveys to evaluate customer needs. Although the 

agency reports that it can be difficult to link the survey results 

to pavement conditions, it acknowledges that the information has influenced budget levels positively. The results 

provide the agency with a general indication of the percentage of road users who are satisfied with the road network.

In addition to the road user opinion surveys, the agency 

has conducted focus groups that have found that eliminatFigure 15. Consideration of multiple factors influencing the state of 

good repair for bridges at Transport for London.
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 37

ing pavement surface moisture is a high priority for the 

public. The agency also discovered that drivers do not like 

having to react to avoid pavement deficiencies such as 

potholes and that they associate patches with rough roads. 

Truck drivers were reported to dislike narrow roads with 

weak edges. To some degree, these results have been used 

to influence highway maintenance policies so they are 

more customer-oriented. 

Danish Road Directorate

In the four Nordic countries that participated in the scan, the 

programs administered by the Danish Road Directorate are 

probably the least affected by input from user surveys. The 

agency uses an outside consultant to conduct road user 

surveys twice a year. The survey queries the public’s satisfaction with the evenness of the road network. Feedback is also 

obtained from a phone hotline and mail. The information 

received is not directly incorporated into the decision 

process, but if there were big changes in the results, the 

agency believes the results would become a much more 

significant focus. 

South Australia Department of Planning, 

Transport and Infrastructure

The changes that took place in the organization with 

outsourcing and economic constraints had a significant 

impact on the department. The agency was forced to specify 

what level of service it wanted to provide to the public and 

determine ways to measure that the level of service had been 

achieved. At the same time, the department focused more on 

ensuring that the funding it had received was being used as 

effectively as possible. This heightened focus helped improve 

stewardship and the services provided to the road user.

When asked about the degree to which the department’s 

programs meet community objectives, agency personnel 

indicated that they consider risk the key to balancing 

investment strategies and community expectations with 

constrained funding. Decisions on expectations that cannot 

be met require qualitative decisions based on expected 

tradeoffs between investment classes. For example, the 

decision to replace either signals or guardrails is a challenge 

because both assets relate to safety issues. 
38 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 39

Chapter 6. Investment Priorities Are Known 

and Stakeholders Are Held Accountable 

for Their Actions

As in the United States, most of the agencies 

participating in the scan face significant budget 

constraints and increasing demands to improve 

agency efficiency. In response, many have 

established clear priorities that emphasize service levels 

while assessing the various options based on strategic fit, 

effectiveness, efficiency, and risk. As a result, these agencies 

have placed the highest priority on maintaining and 

renewing the existing highway network rather than spending limited dollars on capital enhancements. In some cases, 

as in England’s Highways Agency, opportunities for expansion are limited because of space constraints. This places 

even more importance on the Highway Agency’s emphasis 

on asset management as a way to maintain the value of the 

existing road network. The Finnish Transport Agency has 

developed long-term strategies aimed at maintaining the 

condition of the main roads and letting the remainder 

of the system absorb the funding shortage. Priorities are 

typically conveyed in an asset management plan. For 

example, Transport Scotland publishes a road asset 

management plan that sets objectives, targets, and required 

financial plans that support the government’s targets for 

improving efficiency, reducing casualties, and lessening 

the impacts of climate change.

To help ensure the implementation of asset management 

programs, many agencies have established methods for 

holding agency personnel and contractors responsible for 

their actions through audits and contractual agreements. 

The audits used by the participating agencies differed from 

those commonly used in the United States in some important ways. U.S. audits are used primarily to verify that a 

process was followed. In the countries participating in the 

scan, the audits are tied to the asset management plans and 

long-term financial plans to see how well the agencies 

carried out their plans. 

Highways Agency

As described earlier, the priorities of the Highways Agency 

are clearly spelled out in its strategic plan. Organizationally, the chief executive officer of the Highways Agency 

is responsible for ensuring that funds are used properly 

and reporting to Parliament the outcomes achieved for 

the funds spent. Agency priorities are agreed on by the 

secretary of state for transport. The top priority is the 

condition of the assets, the second priority is accessibility 

(e.g., traffic management), and the third priority is capital 

improvement (e.g., new construction). The secretary of 

state is aware that funding is not adequate to address all 

needs, but the Highways Agency must ensure that safety 

is not compromised.

Transport Scotland

Transport Scotland is in the third year of very tight budgets, 

and although public satisfaction has decreased, public 

expectations have not. The agency has a well-developed 

road asset management plan that sets objectives, targets, 

and required financial plans that communicate agency 

priorities. The plan supports the government’s targets for 

improving efficiency, reducing casualties, and lessening 

the impacts of climate change. 

Performance audits are an important part of the success 

of the road asset management plan to help ensure that the 

objectives are met and that funding is being used as intended. Transport Scotland programs are monitored and reported by the Performance Audit Group and reviewed and 

endorsed by Audit Scotland. One of the reports produced 

by the Performance Audit Group is shown in figure 16. 

Figure 16. Performance Audit Group Annual Report.
40 Chapter 6: Investment Priorities Are Known and Stakeholders Are Held Accountable for Their Actions

Rijkswaterstaat

The Road Traffic and Transport Authority in the Netherlands 

considers asset management more of a culture and philosophy than a job title. Even so, the agency has clearly defined 

roles for all individuals involved in asset management. For 

instance, the asset owner is responsible for the future of the 

network, focusing on strategic issues associated with setting 

performance targets, risk levels, and investment levels. The 

asset manager is responsible for developing and implementing tactical plans for the established investment level that 

define the program and standards that will be met. Therefore, the asset manager is responsible for program management, risk management, and performance management. The 

service provider is responsible for operations—including 

asset renewal, expansion, and maintenance—in accordance 

with the tactical plans. The signed service-level agreements 

discussed in Chapter 3 establish a formal structure for 

establishing these responsibilities. 

Initially, there was pushback from the regions that lost some 

autonomy in how the network would be managed. However, 

the director general made it clear that a performance-based 

asset management philosophy would be used and that there 

would be consequences if regions did not embrace the 

changes. Today, the management of the road network is 

considered to be very professional with contracts clearly 

specifying projects and expectations. Rewards are in place 

for managing the network well and achieving goals. As a 

result, system performance has improved. In addition, 

communication and cooperation among the various 

stakeholders are better. 

VicRoads

At VicRoads, safety and network preservation are high 

priorities. Other priorities, such as reducing roughness and 

minimizing user costs, are being deferred until more funds 

become available. As a result of these priorities, the agency 

has sacrificed funding for the highest category of roads 

to fund resealing of the low-volume sprayed-seal rural 

roads to keep moisture out of the system and reduce the 

risk associated with deterioration of the rural arterial 

road network. 

Employees are held accountable for making good decisions 

that use available funding efficiently. There are job descriptions for each position, and pay increases are based on the 

results of a formal assessment process that evaluates whether 

available funding has been spent and whether performance 

outcomes specified in a contract have been met. Management uses pavement condition improvement and coverage 

percentages to determine whether money has been used 

wisely. If goals are not met, management works with the 

employee to address performance issues that may impact the 

execution of the program. VicRoads also has achievement 

awards to recognize individuals who have brought about 

significant improvements.

Finnish Transport Agency

The road program priorities the Finnish Transport Agency 

follows are also well defined. The long-term strategies are 

aimed at maintaining the current condition of the main 

roads and letting the remainder of the system absorb the 

funding shortage. 

The Finnish Transport Agency provides incentives to regional 

personnel for meeting condition targets, but the agency 

recognizes that it needs to improve its ability to track how 

regions have used the funding provided. A program is in 

place that provides merit pay increases of 2 to 3 percent on 

annual salaries to all workers in a region if performance 

targets are met. There has been some evidence that this 

program has resulted in the use of short-term treatments to 

achieve performance targets, but the improvements being 

implemented in tracking treatments are expected to eliminate this problem.

In addition to the regional bonuses, bonuses are incorporated into the performance-based maintenance contracts 

when an alternate, less-expensive treatment is used to good 

effect. In these instances, the contractor can receive up to 

two-thirds of the savings realized. 

Swedish Transport Administration

Regional engineers at the Swedish Transport Administration 

are not held directly responsible for the quality of their 

program because so many other factors influence the final 

projects. Therefore, the agency places more emphasis on the 

use of data and open communication to achieve agency 

goals. This is still a relatively new concept for the agency, 

and it is investigating methods of holding an entire group 

responsible for the quality of the delivered program. 

Norwegian Public Roads Administration

Although it provides no economic incentives for achieving 

performance targets, NPRA has a management-by-objectives 

philosophy that ensures regional managers understand and 

are contractually committed to reaching performance targets. 

No employees have lost their jobs for not meeting targets, 

but the potential exists for that to happen.

In addition, the agency has several maintenance contracts 

that include penalties and/or bonuses based on roughness 

targets. The agency has found that using incentives fosters 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 41

contractor innovation. The results are promoted among 

other regional contractors to promote improvements in 

other parts of the country. 

Danish Road Directorate

To improve agency transparency, the Danish Road Directorate carefully tracks each pavement rehabilitation project to 

ensure it is managed effectively. Any deviations from the 

plan greater than 10 percent in cost must be explained to 

elected officials. In addition, the agency reports work 

quantities from the pavement management system and the 

final quantities of work performed as well as the expected 

and actual life extensions. Again, any deviations must be 

explained. 

New Zealand Transport Authority

As discussed earlier, NZTA programs are subjected to both 

internal and external audits to reinforce the notion that 

good asset management decisions are evidence-based. Like 

many other agencies, NZTA prepares a statement of intent 

each year, based on statutory roles, and a letter of intent 

from the responsible government minister. The agency 

reports on the statement of intent each quarter. The annual 

report is presented and interrogated at the Parliamentary 

Select Committee level. In addition, asset condition measures such as roughness, rutting, texture, and skid resistance 

are measured network-wide each year and form part of the 

performance monitoring framework, together with commentary on whether the investment produced the expected 

outcome. These audits are generally considered positive 

activities (as opposed to audits focusing on waste and abuse) 

that have resulted in improved performance and value.
42 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 43

Chapter 7. Agencies Invest in Workforce Capacity 

Development and Succession Planning

The agencies that have successfully navigated a 

paradigm shift in the way they manage road 

networks have fostered a culture in which road 

maintenance and renewal costs are known and the 

long-term implications of decisions are understood and 

communicated by decisionmakers at various levels. As a 

result, these agencies have more mature asset management 

programs, as evidenced by the branding of asset management at Rijkswaterstaat discussed in Chapter 3. Participating 

agencies also have established prominent, well-respected 

asset manager positions. 

In some cases, the participating agencies reported that when 

they began outsourcing maintenance activities, they lost too 

much organizational competency. Over time, as they have 

gained experience with contract maintenance, most of these 

agencies have worked to rebuild the skills of their workforce 

so they can become smart buyers of services from private 

industry. In at least one case, explained in Chapter 8, the 

agency established an internal provider that must compete 

with private industry so it can retain necessary skills and 

better understand the issues contractors deal with.

Without exception, the agencies that participated in the 

scan have committed to building and retaining internal 

capacity in asset management. As a result, they demonstrate strong investment in asset management capabilities 

that result in well-established, trained, and assimilated 

units in the organizations that stakeholders, including 

executives and legislators, look to for information. This 

chapter presents examples of how agencies have invested 

in their internal capacity.

Rijkswaterstaat

Rijkswaterstaat’s implementation strategy has transitioned 

from thinking to getting things done by making regional 

offices responsible for maintenance and renewal activities 

and the central office responsible for the development of 

appropriate standards and policies, all of which are done in 

partnership with agency stakeholders. The agency emphasizes moving things forward early rather than waiting until 

something is perfect. As a result, change occurs fairly rapidly 

and employees are encouraged to take controlled risks. 

To foster this culture, the Rijkswaterstaat has created prominent positions for asset owners and asset managers and has 

implemented vertical learning courses on asset management. 

These courses recognize that each group in the agency needs 

different information and skills based on the group’s job 

activities. To introduce agency personnel to asset management, a 1-day course is conducted for people at all levels of 

the organization. The 30 to 40 participants take part in 

role-playing in specific areas commonly involved in asset 

management, such as facilitation, cooperation with other 

groups, and mentoring. The training philosophy is that the 

participants will learn more by doing something than 

studying it. Training is a high priority for the agency because 

loss of technical knowledge can lead over time to diminished organizational capabilities and lower technical quality. 

The agency is addressing this problem by building a team of 

smart buyers who understand the value of asset management as a high priority for any transport agency to fulfill its 

duties. One agency strategy is improving contract terms to 

ensure quality. In the future, the agency may also require 

contractors to hire independent assessors if they are not able 

to internally replace the skills required to ensure quality. 

Retaining organizational competency is a major agency 

focus, especially because a significant number of agency 

personnel are expected to retire in the next several years. As 

the organization has shifted to the use of contractors, the 

agency has had trouble attracting young engineers because 

they are more interested in building assets than maintaining 

them. The agency is considering supporting the development of a master’s degree program that will train technical 

personnel to deal with risk and financial management and/

or a technical master’s in business administration program 

that teaches the skills needed in today’s transport organizations. Training is also being conducted in the regions to 

guide regional personnel in using technical information to 

manage risk consistently across the network.

Transport for London

Transport for London reports that senior management 

understands that asset management is the key to delivering 

the agency’s strategic objectives. It has found that investing 

time and effort early in the implementation process reduces 

resource needs later. In 2010, for example, the agency 

conducted an assessment of internal capabilities in the 15 

areas shown in figure 17 (see next page). The agency’s 

capabilities at the time of the survey are shown as the inner 

circle in red. At the same time, the agency assessed the 
44 Chapter 7: Agencies Invest in Workforce Capacity Development and Succession Planning

desired capabilities, shown in the outer green circle. The 

spider graph clearly illustrates the gaps between desired and 

existing capabilities. For example, the organization and 

culture capability rating (area 8) is at the desired level, but 

substantial improvement could be made in the agency’s data 

and knowledge (area 15).

The results of the gap analysis were used to develop plans for 

the continued enhancement of asset management plans to 

support the agency’s decision process, shown in figure 18. 

The graph includes five improvement areas: (1) policies, 

strategies, and standards, (2) data and systems, (3) capital 

renewal program, (4) indicators and measures, and (5) 

sustainability and environment. The size of each box relates 

to the magnitude of the project and the color shows which 

asset is addressed. The action items in the graph reflect the 

results on an intellectual gap analysis the agency performed.

New Zealand Transport Agency

To be a world-class asset management organization, NZTA 

recognizes that it must have links between governance and 

skills. The agency also recognizes that the skills needed to be 

an asset manager are different from those required to be a 

traditional engineer because asset management requires 

more focus on strategic planning and risk. In addition, the 

asset manager must be able to communicate with and 

manage various stakeholders and understand financial 

and performance management. 

NZTA noted that New Zealand has a serious shortage of 

skilled staff because of an aging workforce, changing skill 

requirements, education programs, and the desire of young 

workers to travel abroad. As a result, NZTA has focused on 

workforce sustainability, attracting and retaining key 

employees, building workforce capacity, and maintaining 

the well-being of the workforce. Succession planning is one 

component of the plan, which includes a career path, regular 

seminars, and a formal program of on-the-job training. The 

agency has also assessed competency gaps that will help 

determine the skills employees need to grow into their 

positions. NZTA reported that it is striving to build core 

competencies in the nine regional offices where its contracts 

are managed.

The agency supports initiatives that improve agency performance. For example, because of the difficulty in modeling 

pavement performance, 63 long-term pavement performance sites on state highways and 91 sites on local authority 

roads were established. These sites are used both to establish 

and calibrate performance models and to calibrate the data 

collection vehicle. 

Figure 17. Transport for London’s assessment of asset management capabilities.
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 45 Figure 18. Illustration of asset management development plans for Transport for London.

C6: Prolonging the Life of 

Carriageways and Footways O2: Drainage Asset 

Management Strategy

O3: Collection of 

drainage data

O3: Collection of 

drainage data

L3: Lighting Data 

Collection

L3: Lighting Data 

Collection

T3: Tunnels Value 

Management

C2: Carriageway and 

Footway Value 

Management

C5: Carriageway and 

Footway Investment 

Model

C5: Carriageway and 

Footway Investment 

Model

O1: Road Marking 

Investment Model

S1: Improve

structures data

S4: Structures Value 

Management

S4: Structures 

Investment Model

S4: Structures 

Investment Model T2: Populate TDMS

AMS4: Detailed Spec and 

Implementation of AMS

AMS4: Detailed Spec and 

Implementation of AMS

O2: Drainage Asset 

Management Strategy

AMS4: Detailed Spec and 

Implementation of AMS

O3: Collection of

drainage data

T1: Tunnels Data 

Management System (TDMS) T2: Populate TDMS

L2: Lighting data

collection protocols L3: Lighting Data Collection

S1: Improve structures data

C2: Carriageway and 

Footway Value Management

C5: Carriageway and 

S1: Improve structures data

Footway Investment Model

C3: Scheme Whole

Life Cost Model

L5: Lighting Value 

Management

L5: Lighting Value 

Management

L7: Lighting Investment 

Model

L7: Lighting

Investment Model

L5: Lighting

Investment Model

L4: Lighting Scheme

Costing Model

L4: Lighting Scheme

Costing Model

C1: Customer Research:

Stated Preference

C1: Customer Research:

Levels of Service

C1: Customer Research:

Levels of Service

S6: Structures

Performance Indicators O4: Green Estate 

Management Plan

O4: Green Estate 

Management Plan

L6: ‘Invest to Save’ portfolio 

of initiatives

L6: ‘Invest to Save’ 

portfolio of initiatives

–Year 2

L6: ‘Invest to Save’

portfolio of initiatives

–Year 3

S6: Structures

Performance Indicators

S4: Structures Value 

Management

S4: Structures Investment 

Model

S5: Parapet Prioritisation O2: Drainage Asset Management Strategy

C1: Customer Research:

Levels of Service

Continuous Improvement and annual 

updating of Asset Management 

Improvement Programme
46 Chapter 7: Agencies Invest in Workforce Capacity Development and Succession Planning

VicRoads

Agencies that have outsourced maintenance and renewal 

activities must retain a certain level of skill and technical 

capability among agency personnel to set contract requirements, negotiate with contractors, and oversee their work. 

Several agencies participating in the scan indicated that they 

may have lost too much of their internal capabilities and are 

in the process of reestablishing them. For example, VicRoads 

noted problems with agency personnel conducting pavement evaluations. The agency responded by identifying a list 

of technical skills required for the job, establishing a postgraduate degree program to build expertise, and developing 

certification requirements. 

VicRoads also establishes succession plans for replacing 

capabilities lost to retirement and recruiting from the private 

sector if it does not have the skills in-house. Now all employees have a list of capabilities required for their roles, and the 

agency maintains a computer registry of how those skills are 

satisfied. In addition to the external training programs 

available in Australia, VicRoads has both formal and 

informal mentoring programs and an 18-month graduate 

rotation program in which participants move into different 

positions every 6 months.

Highways Agency

The need for training and competency development has 

increased in the Highways Agency as a direct response to 

the budget reductions it has faced. The agency is developing the asset management skills of its staff and reviewing its 

technical standards to improve the efficiency of its maintenance and renewal activities while reducing impacts on the 

traveling public. In addition, the agency recognizes the 

need to build the right commercial skills because it relies 

heavily on outsourcing maintenance activities. In support 

of these activities, a master’s degree program in maintenance and asset management is now offered through the 

University of Manchester.

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia

IPWEA has identified three fundamentals for establishing 

a sustainable asset management program: work within 

a national framework, provide the tools required, and 

add drivers to motivate people to use the tools. As a 

result, IPWEA has taken the lead in Australia in developing 

a uniform set of templates and tools that many local 

agencies use, as shown in figure 19. The templates and 

tools, mostly Microsoft® Word and Excel files, have 

provided a consistent approach for implementing asset 

management principles. Most local agencies use the 

NAMS Plus modeling tool provided through IPWEA, 

although a smaller program is provided for small, rural, 

or remote communities. 

IPWEA’s approach has succeeded primarily because the tools 

and templates fill a void, they were developed by individuals 

respected in the field in a sustainable format, and user 

groups have been established for knowledge sharing and 

advancement. For example, the Australian Infrastructure 

Financial Management Guidelines were developed jointly by 

an asset manager, accountant, and economist so that the 

planning activities, regulatory activities, and applications 

all use a common approach. Agencies have embraced the 

opportunity to use a uniform approach to asset management, IPWEA has continually updated its products, and 

legislated and other incentives exist for using these products.

In addition to the training for elected officials, IPWEA offers 

a variety of other training programs for practitioners in 

Australia to help build capacity and develop careers. Its 

manuals serve as the basis for the training, but IPWEA 

considers the training instrumental for putting the content 

of the manuals into practice. It also provides Practice Notes 

on a variety of topics, including condition assessment, 

long-term financial planning, and asset management for 

small communities. IPWEA has partnered with the University of Tasmania to develop a graduate certificate or graduate 

Figure 19. Tools and templates developed and distributed by IPWEA.

Provide 

Framework Tools 

and Drivers

Framework Tools Drivers

Stewardship Government 

Requirements 

Agreed

AM DVD:

The Movie

Asset 

Management

Planning

International 

Infrastructure 

Management 

Manual

Legislation & 

Incentives

Long Term 

Financial 

Planning

Australian 

Infrastructure 

Financial 

Management 

Guidelines

Long Term 

Financial 

Planning 

Tools

National 

Assessment 

Model
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 47

degree in asset management. It also offers a video that 

promotes asset management concepts.

Transport Scotland

One of the tools Transport Scotland uses to determine 

strategic gaps in performance is the results of its independent performance and financial audits. These audits have 

been influential in the agency’s efforts to improve efficiency 

by at least 2 percent.

Transport Scotland also regularly benchmarks its practices 

with other countries as a way to improve its practices. 

Benchmarking is fully supported in the independent audits 

that are conducted. In addition to evaluating the performance outcomes achieved and the amount spent, the 

independent auditors consider the amount of benchmarking 

performed an important metric in assessing the quality of 

the agency’s practices.

Transport Scotland recently conducted an internal assessment of its Asset Management Improvement Programme 

Work Packages to determine improvement areas. For each of 

the four areas shown in figure 20, the agency evaluated what 

it did, why it did it, and the benefits achieved from the 

activity. It found that inventory and condition data support 

each of the other program-development activities and that 

customer views influence priorities for both short- and 

long-term planning. As a result, customer views have a direct 

influence on the types of inventory and condition data that 

must be collected. Therefore, even though the four activities 

are shown independently, Transport Scotland recognized 

that they are highly interdependent in developing a customer-oriented program. The assessment of needed improvements led to new manuals for collecting inventory and 

condition data, a new condition scale that included five 

grades, annual customer surveys, and refinements to the 

level-of-service criteria used. In addition, the agency developed a methodology for long-term planning for ancillary 

assets and developed new guidance on value for money and 

software tools to assist with short-term planning. 

The agency has also contributed to the development of skills 

in the private sector. For example, in areas of Scotland with 

fragile communities, Transport Scotland strives to grow 

small and medium business enterprises to perform contract 

maintenance work. The agency has targets for hiring local 

graduates and for putting people through training programs. 

Norwegian Public Roads Administration

NPRA indicated it has begun to note its vulnerability 

because an individual who plans to retire soon has much of 

the agency’s pavement management data collection expertise. The agency has identified sustaining competence as a 

major focus area because a large part of the agency workforce will retire in the next few years. Its efforts have included 

a research study to identify gaps in needed competencies 

and skills and to determine strategies for developing the 

needed competence for operations and maintenance. The 

agency has also established a training center in cooperation 

with the railway industry and a university. The agency is also 

striving to build more redundancy into its pavement 

management teams.

Finnish Transport Agency

The demand for pavement management experts is limited in 

the Finnish Transport Agency, so no formal training or 

mentoring takes place. However, the agency plans to have 

personnel work in pairs in all key activities. 

Training at the university level is also limited, 

with only a portion of one course at the University of Technology focused on pavement management. The four Nordic agencies participating in 

the scan have formed a Pavement Management 

User’s Group to provide a forum for technology 

transfer.

Danish Road Directorate

Only about eight staff members use the pavement management system at the Danish Road 

Directorate, so internal training needs are 

limited. The agency regularly conducts general 

training for outside stakeholders, such as local 

municipalities, which includes a review of agency 

programs and facilities. The agency also conducts 

Figure 20. Focus areas for assessing internal capabilities. annual training for Research Institute staff 

Customer

Views

Inventory and 

Condition Data

Long-term

Planning

Short-term

Planning
48 Chapter 7: Agencies Invest in Workforce Capacity Development and Succession Planning

members responsible for conducting pavement condition 

surveys and estimating the residual life of the network. 

In addition, research is considered an important component 

of building internal capabilities. To date, research has led to 

improvements in general economic models, deterioration 

models, and interpretation of measurements and data and 

incorporation of new parameters into the models. 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 49

Chapter 8. Efficiency and Value Drive Program 

Delivery Approaches

Most of the agencies the scan team met with 

contract out 100 percent of their pavement 

maintenance and renewal activities. According 

to the information the agencies provided, these 

activities were privatized in response to pressure to reduce 

the debt load or improve efficiency during times of limited 

funding with a focus on maximizing the value of the 

investment. As agencies have gained valuable experience 

with these types of contracts, contractual terms have evolved, 

as have the performance metrics that drive contractor 

performance. 

The participating agencies were frank about the advantages 

and disadvantages of the shift toward contracting maintenance activities. One advantage is that the cost of programs 

is known with certainty when the work is outsourced. These 

contracts have also helped several agencies improve government efficiency. However, several agencies indicated that 

they lost too much of their expertise and are in the process 

of rebuilding. However, it has been a challenge to attract and 

retain skills in agencies because less engineering is being 

done internally. They also report that it has been difficult to 

find the right performance metrics, and monopolies may 

form that limit competition. South Australia’s DPTI found 

that outsourcing its maintenance activities forced the 

organization to consider performance requirements from a 

road user perspective and link the performance requirements 

to pavement condition characteristics. Although it was not 

recognized at the time, the discussions that took place 

focused informally on managing risk in terms of what level 

of risk was considered acceptable and what was not.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson for the United States is that 

it takes time to develop contracts that work as planned. 

Transport Scotland is using its fourth generation of outsourcing contracts and is still working on improvements to the 

documents. Issues agencies encountered as they embarked 

on the outsourcing of maintenance and renewal activities 

include the following:

❖ Most agencies have had to adjust their programs to 

ensure that the right performance metrics are used to 

drive the desired performance. 

❖ Initially, agencies reduced their internal capabilities too 

significantly. Over time, these agencies have strived to 

rebuild their organizational competencies, but they are 

finding it difficult to attract engineers because the jobs 

involve more administrative than engineering tasks.

❖ In some instances, monopolies have formed that have 

limited the amount of competition for large projects. 

As a result, some costs are higher than expected.

On the other hand, most contract maintenance activities are 

performed as fixed-price contracts so the cost of maintenance is known and can be budgeted with certainty. Also, 

private sector costs are not subject to agency initiatives to 

improve efficiency, so there may be less interference with 

scheduled activities. 

Transport Scotland

Transport Scotland is on its fourth generation of maintenance contracts, and each generation has enabled the agency 

to improve value, delivery, safety, and relationships. With the 

first generation of contracts in the 1990s, Transport Scotland 

provided assistance to the public to help establish the skills 

necessary to perform the required work. By the second 

generation of the contracts, the market was in a much better 

position to compete for the work. The agency is now 

working on being an attractive client by providing clear aims 

and goals, introducing innovation, and paying contractors 

within 10 days. 

One of the biggest challenges Transport Scotland faces is the 

government’s national performance mandate to improve 

government efficiency by at least 2 percent. The biggest 

impact on improving the efficiency of the agency’s operation 

has been the procurement of road maintenance contracts. 

Another factor has been improved asset management 

practices, which save an estimated £3.4 million annually. 

However, some agency personnel are concerned that 

continued improvements in efficiency are not sustainable in 

light of the continued budget reductions expected. Transport 

Scotland has hired an independent specialist to evaluate its 

programs and provide advice on ways to reduce waste. This 

has led to changes such as reconstructing a single lane rather 

than both lanes on a given highway segment. 

In addition to outsourcing maintenance and renewal 

activities, Transport Scotland outsources audit and performance assurance services, the latter of which evaluate the 

four regional maintenance contracts. In essence, the audits 
50 Chapter 8: Efficiency and Value Drive Program Delivery Approaches

serve as a form of quality control because the completed 

work is compared to the activities outlined in the road asset 

management plan. Since each regional contract includes 

several maintenance contracts, one of the auditor’s recommendations was to standardize the reporting process across 

the region. Penalty points are assigned to a maintenance 

area contractor that does not deliver adequately, and after a 

certain number of points are accumulated, the contractor is 

required to correct its internal practices. 

Highways Agency

A 2010 national audit found that only 20 percent of the 

projects selected for funding were being subjected to a 

whole-life cost analysis and there was little consistency in 

the program across an entire region of the country. In the 

past, each of the 12 areas prioritized its projects separately. 

As a result, there was no national coordination. Therefore, 

the Highways Agency implemented a new process that focuses more on the whole-life appraisal of projects and adopts a 

more active role in the design of the planned maintenance 

program in each area. The process includes the six stages 

shown in figure 21.

The process includes setting program objectives, developing 

area and regional program bids, developing a national 

program and budget, confirming programs and budgets, 

tracking delivery against planned programs, and auditing 

and continuous improvement. Development of the national 

program and budget as part of the process is new to the 

process, and the step in which programs and budgets are 

confirmed allows the Highways Agency to discuss programs 

among regions, directors, and the central office. If contractors do not deliver in accordance with the plan, penalties are 

applied. If a contractor acquires too many penalty points, 

the contractor is required to improve its processes. Incentives 

are built into the contracts for exceeding plan expectations. 

The Highways Agency reports that the new process has 

improved efficiency and the program is 12 months ahead 

of schedule.

In another example of efficiency improvement, the Highways Agency has established managed motorways in which 

the hard shoulder is used during times of high congestion. 

Electronic signs are used to manage traffic, and the strategy 

provides a way to address capacity needs on an as-needed 

basis without building new lanes.

The use of maintenance contracts was also driven by the 

Highway Agency’s efforts to provide the best level of service 

possible for the lowest cost. When the Public Accounts 

Committee audited the maintenance contracts in 2010, it 

found that best practices were being used, but it challenged 

the Highways Agency to get more value out of the contracts 

without losing the focus on whole-life costs or creating 

safety problems. As a result, the agency initiated changes 

in the pavement standards and in the construction of the 

binder course. For longer term efficiencies, the agency is 

looking at strategies for strengthening analysis capabilities, 

improving workmanship, and lowering the intervention 

threshold.

VicRoads

The need to be more efficient and effective drove VicRoads 

to develop privatized maintenance contracts. The agency has 

used three different contracting approaches since it began 

outsourcing maintenance work. Initially, contracts called 

for contractors to work in accordance with 

schedules outlining certain activities. Over 

time, these evolved into fixed-price contracts, 

but the agency is now testing an alliance 

contract in one region that shares risk and 

reward and focuses on outcomes. 

In addition to using external contractors, 

VicRoads sponsors a competitive maintenance 

workforce in the agency that competes with 

external contractors. When one of the internal 

teams competed in New South Wales for a 

sprayed-seal contract, it was found to be very 

cost-effective. These internal providers typically 

have strong links to industry and have represented VicRoads well. They also provide 

VicRoads with a better feel for the types 

of issues contractors deal with under these 

contracts and allow VicRoads to respond 

Figure 21. Six stages in the Highways Agency maintenance program. quickly if something goes wrong. 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 51

VicRoads reports that because of its priority on keeping 

moisture out of the road surface, contractors must patch and 

repair roads before any area has more than 100 square feet 

of deterioration. This early intervention keeps the roads safe 

and prevents them from deteriorating to the point that more 

extensive rehabilitation is required.

New Zealand Transport Agency

As in several other agencies, asset management became a 

focus of NZTA because of limited funding to manage its 

deteriorating assets. Both operational services and maintenance work are contracted out using a variety of contract 

delivery models that include conventional models, performance-specified maintenance contracts, and a hybrid of the 

two. Alliance contracts that share risk and rewards are also 

used to some degree. There is constant pressure in the agency 

to improve efficiency, largely driven by NZTA board mandates to improve efficiency by at least 2 percent. 

To help improve agency efficiency, funding is provided to 

regional engineers in 3-year block grants so they have a high 

degree of certainty of the funding amount that will be 

available each year. Funding in the block grant can be used 

for operations, maintenance, and renewal projects, so 

regions have flexibility to move money between activity 

classes as needed. Vendors for maintenance contracts are 

prequalified, but about 80 percent of the work for network 

consultancy services goes to one vendor. Physical works are 

split among six to eight major contractors, with the top two 

conducting about 70 percent of all work. As a result, the 

agency fears a monopoly may be developing, which could 

result in higher prices in the future. However, NZTA has a 

strong culture of collaborating with industry to identify 

opportunities for improvements in efficiency to achieve 

required cost reductions.

Rijkswaterstaat

Rijkswaterstaat faces many of the same challenges as other 

organizations that contract out the maintenance and 

renewal of the road network. The agency indicated that there 

is constant tension between the interests of the agency and 

contractors. In most cases, agency personnel are suspicious 

of contractors’ motivations and contractors look to the 

freedom of the market to drive contractual considerations. 

Transport agencies are under pressure to improve efficiency, 

get better value for the money, and reduce the number of 

civil workers, but this comes at a cost of lost technical 

expertise in the agency. Agencies also must deal with social 

initiatives and manage risk, which could lead to political 

change, financial risk to the country, and changes in the 

overall level of service it can provide to the public. As one 

strategy for managing risk in this environment, contractors 

must demonstrate the benefits of innovations before they 

are allowed to implement them under their contracts. 

The service-level agreements the agency uses have evolved 

over time because of the difficulties of having regions 

operate independently. Previous versions of the agreements 

did not include much detail, so the regions had the freedom 

to interpret the agreements as they saw fit. Today the 

agreements are more detailed and include a prioritized list 

of projects that will be constructed over the 4-year term. As a 

result, the agreements have helped the agency better align 

the maintenance programs with the minister’s policy goals.

South Australia Department of Planning, 

Transport and Infrastructure 

The Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure 

began contracting routine maintenance activities in the late 

1990s in response to the government’s mandated privatization. This gave the department an opportunity to create a 

more business-focused, commercially driven funder-purchaser-provider model. Under this model, about half of the 

state’s maintenance is outsourced to private contractors and 

the remaining department workforce manages to the same 

form of maintenance specification.

One advantage the department realized from outsourcing its 

routine maintenance activities was development of a 

specification that enables the contractor to manage the road 

network in a manner comparable to how the department 

would manage it. This required department personnel to 

carefully consider performance requirements from a road 

user perspective and link the performance requirements to 

pavement condition characteristics. Although it was not 

recognized at the time, the discussions that took place 

focused informally on managing risk in terms of what level 

of risk was considered acceptable and what was not. 

Transport for London

Value management and value engineering are important 

strategies to driving down the costs of capital and operation maintenance at Transport for London. Value management techniques are used at the program level, and value 

engineering activities are used at the project level. At the 

program level, the value criteria consider both risk scoring 

and financial scoring. Risk scoring is based on an analysis 

of safety (in terms of the risk posed to the public), function 

(in terms of the risk to network performance), and environment (in terms of the risk to the environment). The 

financial scoring evaluates whole-life savings from reductions in direct costs to Transport for London or indirect 

costs to the economy. Scores are assigned for each major 

asset class and compared in terms of the total risk to the 
52 Chapter 8: Efficiency and Value Drive Program Delivery Approaches

agency. The agency is still refining this process, but initial 

findings indicate it will help improve the effectiveness of 

asset management programs. 

Another Transport for London initiative was to clarify 

responsibilities and establish a clear decisionmaking process 

to improve organizational efficiency. These efforts resulted in 

a 2009 reorganization in which activities were combined 

into an expanded internal client division called Highways 

Asset Management. The new division combines data, 

performance modeling, analysis, and program organization 

in a single entity. 

Swedish Transport Administration

The Swedish Transport Administration is contracting out 

20-year design-build-operate-maintain contracts with safety, 

surface, and durability performance measures. The contractor must rent access to enter the road for maintenance 

activities, so there is an incentive to do the right treatment 

the first time and minimize the amount of time spent 

on the site. 

Finnish Transport Agency

The privatization of the Finnish Transport Agency was 

instituted in response to the government’s desire to downsize the organization and make road maintenance more 

effective. Overall, the program has worked well and the 

agency is relatively satisfied. It is too early to report on the 

success of the agency’s long-term service agreements because 

those contracts were at the pilot stage at the time of the scan. 

The agency offers the following advice for success with 

privatized contracts:

❖ Develop a good procurement strategy.

❖ Use objective road condition measurements.

❖ Allow a reasonable level of flexibility in the contracts.

❖ Develop a cooperative relationship with the 

private sector.

❖ Do not expect immediate benefits. 

❖ Make improvements to the contracts based 

on experience.
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 53

Chapter 9. Application of Key Findings in the 

United States

The agencies the team met with during the scan 

provided a wealth of information that will benefit 

the United States as its transportation agencies 

strive to find more effective methods of managing 

pavements and monitoring performance. The scan provided 

several strategies for addressing the transportation issues the 

United States faces today:

1. Performance data and systematic processes are used to 

evaluate investment strategies. As a result, agencies can 

respond effectively to pressures caused by decreasing 

budgets, government efforts to improve efficiency, and 

increasing customer expectations. 

2. Consideration of whole-life costs associated with 

preserving asset value has been instrumental in shifting 

agency culture to support asset management and 

improving agency accountability. By calculating and 

communicating the long-term maintenance costs 

associated with system expansion projects, stakeholders 

have resisted pressure to expand the system without 

addressing long-term costs. Further, agencies can 

determine the financial sustainability of their programs 

by evaluating the percentage of depreciation funded 

each year and accounting for any unfunded depreciation as an agency liability.

3. Internationally, there has been a shift toward serviceoriented performance measures as a way to address 

customer-driven priorities such as reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety. These customer 

expectations must be balanced against funding and 

risk tolerance when developing an acceptable level 

of service. 

4. The ability to commit funding and projects as part of 

4-year programs has been a critical component of an 

agency’s ability to ensure that treatments are applied 

at the right time to be economical.

5. Holding elected and appointed officials, agency 

employees, and contractors accountable for their 

actions has served as a catalyst to the success of performance-based programs. For instance, government 

performance audits of agency spending have reduced 

political interference in program development and 

have helped ensure that the government gets the best 

value for its investment.

6. Outsourcing maintenance activities is one way agencies 

have improved government efficiency, but the programs 

have not been without challenges. Among other 

lessons, agencies have learned that they must retain a 

certain degree of competency to remain smart buyers 

of the required services.

7. Strong investment in asset management capabilities 

results in well-established, trained, and assimilated 

units in the organizations that stakeholders, including 

executives and legislators, look to for information. 

Building and maintaining agency capacity requires 

skills outside of a traditional civil engineering program. 

It requires a better understanding of finance, accounting, risk, and communication, among other skills. 
54 
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 55

Chapter 10. Implementation Strategies, 

Dissemination, and Recommendations

The scan team included representatives from 

Federal, State, and local agencies to foster the 

implementation of the findings into the practices 

of transportation agencies throughout the United 

States. The representatives from FHWA and State highway 

agencies have identified strategies that can be implemented 

through FHWA programs, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, and State initiatives. The local agency 

representative will work with the FHWA’s Local Technical 

Assistance Program to encourage adoption of the key 

findings at the city and county level.

Based on the findings from the scan, the delegates identified 

the following implementation strategies to foster the use of 

systematic processes for managing pavements that support 

performance-based decisions to improve serviceability, 

accountability, and stewardship in the United States:

❖ Develop guidelines for asset management plans and 

long-term financial plans as the foundation for sound 

and transparent investment.

❖ Improve accountability through the use of program 

assessments that answer the question “Is the agency 

working its plan?”

❖ Develop agency capabilities.

❖ Communicate the findings and introduce the serviceoriented approach observed in the agencies visited.

Encouraging use of long-term financial plans and providing technical assistance on how to develop them were the 

top implementation goals of the scan team. IPWEA has 

developed templates for use by local agencies in Australia, 

and the scan team would like to see similar templates, 

suitable for State agencies, developed in the United States. 

The financial plans would make agency funding transparent in the same way that publicly traded stocks are transparent: agencies would have to fund the depreciated value 

of their assets each year or account for this loss of value to 

the public as a liability.

Program assessments, termed audits by most of the visited 

agencies, close the loop between the work plan and the work 

conducted. The agencies depended on these program 

assessments to reduce political additions to their work plan 

because they are held accountable for work completed. The 

program assessment is a regular part of the business cycle and 

is a tool to keep the program on track and within budget.

In developing asset management plans, long-term financial 

plans, and program assessments, the countries found that 

new skills were required in their agencies. The financial plans 

require close communication between accountants familiar 

with depreciation accounting and engineers knowledgeable 

about maintaining the assets. Data are required and data 

collection and analysis are necessary for sound decisionmaking. Agencies in the United States will need this marriage of 

financial accounting and technical expertise, as well as the 

technology to support asset management.

Communication is an important first and ongoing step in 

implementing any research or scan findings. Through this 

report, the executive summary, and presentations to committees of AASHTO, FHWA, State and local agencies, and TRB, 

the scan participants are committed to bringing the value of 

the scan into U.S. practice.
56 Appendix A: Scan Team Members

Appendix A. Scan Team Members

Richard M. Tetreault (Cochair)

Director of Program Development/Chief Engineer

Vermont Agency of Transportation

1 National Life Dr.

Montpelier, Vermont 05601

Telephone: 802-828-2663

Fax: 802-828-2437

E-mail: richard.tetreault@state.vt.us 

Julius B. (Butch) Wlaschin, P.E. (Cochair)

Director

Office of Asset Management

HIAM-1, E75-115 

Federal Highway Administration

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE 

Washington, DC 20590

Telephone: 202-366-6377

Fax: 202-366-9981

E-mail: butch.wlaschin@dot.gov

Kathryn A. Zimmerman, P.E. (Report Facilitator)

President

Applied Pavement Technology, Inc.

115 West Main, Suite 400

Urbana, IL 61801

Telephone: 217-398-3977

Fax: 217-398-4027

E-mail: kzimmerman@appliedpavement.com

Thomas E. Baker, P.E.

State Materials Engineer

Washington State Department of Transportation

1655 South Second Ave.

Tumwater, WA 98512-6951

PO Box 47365

Olympia, WA 98504-7365

Telephone: 360-709-5401

Fax: 360-709-5588

E-mail: bakert@wsdot.wa.gov

Timothy K. Colling 

Director, Center for Technology and Training 

Michigan Tech Transportation Institute 

309 Dillman Hall

Michigan Tech University 

Houghton, MI 49931 

Telephone: 906-487-2102

Fax: 906-487-3409

E-mail: tkcollin@mtu.edu 

Judith B. Corley-Lay

State Pavement Management Engineer

North Carolina Department of Transportation

3401 Carl Sandburg Ct.

Raleigh, NC 27610-2049

Telephone: 919-212-6001

Fax: 919-212-6054

E-mail: jlay@ncdot.gov

Kevin L. McLaury, P.E.

Division Administrator

Federal Highway Administration Montana Division

585 Shephard Way

Helena, MT 59601 

Telephone: 406-441-3900

Fax: 406-449-5314

E-mail: kevin.mclaury@dot.gov 

Nastaran Saadatmand, P.E. 

Pavement Management Program Manager 

Federal Highway Administration

HIAM-10, Room E72-462

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE

Washington, DC 20590 

Telephone: 202-366-1337

Fax: 202-366-9981

E-mail: nastaran.saadatmand@dot.gov 

Roger L. Safford, P.E. 

Region Engineer 

Michigan Department of Transportation

1420 Front Ave.

Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Telephone: 616-451-3091 or 616-451-4488

Fax: 616-451-1898

E-mail: saffordr@michigan.gov
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 57

Biographic Sketches

Richard M. Tetreault, P.E., (cochair) is director 

of program development and chief engineer of the Vermont 

Agency of Transportation. His responsibilities include 

leadership of the statewide highway capital improvement 

programs (roadway, pavement, bridge, highway safety, and 

traffic operations) from project scoping through construction. Each of these major programs uses some form of asset 

management principles coupled with performance measures, both supported by the State legislature during the 

budget development process. Tetreault’s previous responsibilities include district transportation administrator for one 

of the nine State highway maintenance districts and chief 

bridge inspector. He has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Vermont and is a licensed professional engineer. Tetreault is a member of the American 

Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials 

(AASHTO) Standing Committee on Highways.

Julius B. Wlaschin, P.E., (cochair) is the director 

of the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Office of 

Asset Management. He provides national leadership to State 

and local governments in maintaining, operating, and 

upgrading transportation (highway) assets efficiently over 

time. His office establishes policy, guidance, and technical 

assistance on system management, performance monitoring, 

construction, and system preservation. Wlaschin provides 

training and outreach to State and local transportation 

agencies on economic and life-cycle cost analysis for transportation assets. He currently leads a nationwide effort to 

assess infrastructure health. Wlaschin is the secretary of 

AASHTO’s Planning Subcommittee on Asset Management 

and the Highway Subcommittee on Construction. He is a 

graduate of Lamar University with a bachelor’s degree in 

civil engineering. Wlaschin received his master’s degree in 

geotechnical engineering from Georgia Tech. He is a registered professional engineer and a member of the American 

Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Society of 

Testing and Materials (ASTM), and the Transportation 

Research Board (TRB).

Kathryn A. Zimmerman, P.E., (report facilitator) is 

the president of Applied Pavement Technology, Inc. 

(APTech). Zimmerman founded the company in 1994 and, 

through more than 26 years of experience, has become an 

expert on asset management and pavement management, 

assisting State and local agencies with the identification and 

implementation of organizational and technical enhancements needed to support the use of management systems. 

She has developed and taught courses on pavement and 

asset management and is the author of the new version of 

the AASHTO Pavement Management Guide. Zimmerman 

earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University 

of Illinois. She is a licensed professional engineer in Illinois 

and 29 other States. She chairs the TRB Committee on 

Transportation Asset Management and is a member of the 

TRB Maintenance and Operations Management Committee. 

She also serves as a Steering Committee member for the 

International Conferences on Managing Pavement Assets 

and as a panel member for National Cooperative Highway 

Research Program (NCHRP) Project 14-25: Guidelines/

Methodology for Developing Cost-Effective and CostEfficient Levels of Service.

Thomas E. Baker, P.E., is the State materials engineer 

for the Washington State Department of Transportation 

(WSDOT). Baker manages 160 engineers and technicians 

who perform testing and engineering services for the State 

and local agencies. He runs the WSDOT Pavement Management program and directs WSDOT’s integration of pavement 

preservation with pavement maintenance. Baker serves as 

chair of AASHTO’s Technical Section on Asphalt-Aggregate 

Mixtures and vice chair of its National Transportation 

Product Evaluation Program. He is a member of FHWA’s 

Technical Working Group on Warm-Mix Asphalt and TRB’s 

Long-Term Pavement Performance Steering Committee and 

sits on the panel for NCHRP 9-26A, working on precision 

and bias statements for AASHTO test standards. Baker is also 

on the Renewal Committee of TRB’s second Strategic 

Highway Research Program. Baker has degrees in civil 

engineering and atmospheric sciences from the University of 

Washington. He is a licensed professional civil engineer in 

the State of Washington. Baker serves on technical committees for AASHTO, ASTM, TRB, and FHWA.

Dr. Timothy K. Colling is a senior research 

engineer and the director of the Center for Technology and 

Training (CTT), part of the Michigan Tech Transportation 

Institute at Michigan Tech University in Houghton, MI. He is 

a registered professional engineer in Michigan and Wisconsin. Colling helps State and local agencies implement 

pavement management practices and systems through his 

work at CTT, which administers the Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) for Michigan. LTAP programs bring 

research into practice through technology transfer, training, 

and technical assistance. He is the technical lead for the 

development of an asset management software package used 

in Michigan. Colling also teaches classes in pavement 

distress identification and asset management implementation. He has been involved in several pavement management-related research projects, including determining new 

methods of assessment, developing predictive deterioration 

modeling methods, and assessing the value of asset management practices. Colling has Ph.D. and master’s degrees in 

civil engineering and a bachelor’s degree in environmental 

engineering from Michigan Tech University. His research 

focuses on pavement management systems and pavement 
58 Appendix A: Scan Team Members

distress assessment. Colling is a 2009 Eno Transportation 

Foundation Fellow and received the TRB 2010 Charles V. 

Wootan award for the paper he coauthored on pavement 

management implementation. 

Dr. Judith B. Corley-Lay is the State pavement 

management engineer for the North Carolina Department 

of Transportation (NCDOT). In that role, she oversees the 

pavement management system, data collection to support 

pavement design and pavement management activities, 

and pavement analysis and design. She serves as vice chair 

of AASHTO’s Joint Technical Committee on Pavements and 

chair of the DARWin-ME Task Force for mechanistic 

empirical pavement design. She has participated in development of pavement performance metrics at NCDOT, both 

for system evaluation and performance management. 

Before joining NCDOT in 1990, she was a research associate and adjunct professor of civil engineering at Texas A&M 

University and the Texas Transportation Institute. CorleyLay is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington 

with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering 

and a Ph.D. in engineering. She is a licensed professional 

engineer in North Carolina and serves on several technical 

committees of TRB and NCHRP.

Kevin L. McLaury, P.E., is the division administrator 

for FHWA’s Montana Division. He is responsible for providing leadership, guidance, and direction to 21 staff members 

in the delivery of the $350 million Federal-aid program in 

Montana. McLaury is also involved nationally in the development of FHWA’s performance management metrics. 

Before his current position, he served FHWA in a number of 

positions, including pavements and materials engineer in 

Nebraska and team leader for the national review on 

material and construction quality assurance. McLaury has a 

bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from South Dakota 

State University and a master’s of business administration 

degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a 

registered professional engineer in South Dakota. McLaury 

serves on a number of national committees on pavements 

and materials, administration, information technology, and 

tribal relations.

Nastaran Saadatmand, P.E., is the pavement 

management program manager for FHWA’s Office of Asset 

Management. Saadatmand is responsible for promoting the 

use of pavement management systems in decisionmaking. 

She leads development of FHWA pavement performancerelated initiatives. She also leads several other major activities, including development of the Pavement Management 

Roadmap and the Pavement Health Track tool to measure 

pavement performance. Before joining FHWA in 2001, 

Saadatmand held various positions at the New Hampshire 

Department of Transportation, including supervisor of data 

collection. She has more than 21 years of experience in 

highway engineering. She holds a master’s degree in civil 

engineering from the University of New Hampshire and a 

professional engineer license in New Hampshire.

Roger L. Safford, P.E., is the region engineer for 

the Grand Region of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). He is the agency executive responsible for 

State transportation outcomes and operations in the 

eight-county region of West Michigan, which includes 

Grand Rapids, the State’s second-largest city. He is one of 

two MDOT representatives on the statewide Michigan Asset 

Management Council, an entity established by statute to 

report annually on the condition of the State’s roads and 

bridges to the Michigan Legislature. In the past, Safford 

supervised the planning and development of MDOT’s road 

and bridge program in the Detroit metropolitan region, 

developing and implementing road and bridge preservation strategies for a complex system that carries over 50 

percent of all vehicle-miles traveled in Michigan. Safford 

has been with MDOT for 23 years and is a licensed professional engineer in Michigan. He has a degree in civil 

engineering from Michigan State University.
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 59

Appendix B. Amplifying Questions

Please provide the following information:

❖ General agency information, including the size of the 

pavement network and the number of districts, 

divisions, or regions. Include a summary of the role of 

each stakeholder in managing the pavement network 

and a characterization of the agency’s decision process 

as centralized, decentralized, or mixed. In particular, 

the delegates are interested in the following:

 What is the responsibility of the regional offices 

versus the central office in developing the pavement 

program?

 What part of your organization is responsible for 

establishing the budget for pavement preservation?

 Who is responsible for making the decision on the 

type and timing of a treatment for a particular road?

❖ A description of the different funding sources (revenue 

streams) that contribute to pavement infrastructure 

improvements, including information on restrictions 

placed on how money may be used. The delegates are 

also interested in how pavement preservation activities 

are funded (e.g., general fund taxes, user fees, borrowing) and whether there are any equity formulas (or 

statutes) in place that dictate how funding will be used 

(e.g., geographically).

❖ A summary of the adequacy of funding to meet 

network needs and any current trends in funding that 

your agency has experienced in recent years. In particular, the delegates are interested in determining the 

percent of existing pavement needs that are being met 

by the current level of available funding and whether 

that percentage has been increasing or decreasing in 

recent years.

❖ A description of how maintenance and rehabilitation 

activities are conducted using in-house personnel, 

contractors, or a combination of both. If the work is 

outsourced, please provide a summary of the following 

information:

 What is covered under the contract (e.g., maintenance, rehabilitation, operations)?

 How long is the contract period?

 How much competition is there for these contracts? 

 How is the uniformity of quality and performance of 

treatments tracked?

 How do you deal with suppliers or contractors who 

do not deliver consistent products?

 Is the contractor or consultant at the table in making 

treatment decisions?

 Are there warranty provisions in these contracts?

❖ A description of your pavement management software 

capabilities, including information on the type of 

pavement condition data used to determine maintenance needs and report network conditions. Information on the amount of money spent on pavement 

management activities as a percentage of the total 

capital improvement program would also be appreciated. In addition, the delegates would welcome 

information on the types of treatments considered in 

the pavement management system.

❖ A summary of the key performance measures that drive 

your program.

Information To Be Covered During Meetings 

With Scan Delegates

The following four topic areas will be explored in detail with 

each of the participating countries:

1. Use of sustainable performance-based programs for 

managing pavements

2. Identifying effective communication strategies to 

promote pavement management policies

3. Developing agency cultures to support pavement 

management policies

4. Availability of techniques and tools for managing 

pavements effectively 

To address these areas, we are interested in meeting with 

those individuals who make investment decisions for the 

preservation and maintenance of pavements and other 

assets. Ideally, the group will include individuals responsible 

for making strategic and tactical decisions and those individuals who work with elected officials in setting agency 

policies for pavement (and other asset) preservation. 

It is anticipated that each agency will present information on 

its practices in each of the four topic areas. When preparing 

agency presentations, representatives are asked to orient the 

presentations to the questions provided in this document.
60 Appendix B: Amplifying Questions

Topic Area 1 Questions: 

Use of Sustainable Performance-Based 

Programs for Managing Pavements

1. What are the primary factors that have led to good 

pavement management decisions within your agency? 

What was the trigger that motivated your current 

practices?

2. How did you create the framework for a sustainable 

pavement management model? Please include information on how you built support for this framework 

and the types of challenges you overcame.

3. What role do public officials, agency personnel, the 

private sector, and the public have in your pavement 

management decisions? How have you built support 

for these decisions within each stakeholder group?

4. To what degree does pavement management information influence highway policies, investment decisions, 

and treatment selection? Is pavement management 

information considered separately or as part of an asset 

management model that considers other assets and 

modes of transportation? To what degree is a formal 

risk assessment a part of your decision process? Please 

explain your responses.

5. How does your agency describe pavement preservation 

and what percentage of your budget is spent on these 

types of treatments? How do you determine the 

appropriate amount of money to be spent on pavement preservation activities?

6. Describe the strategic, tactical, and operational performance measures that are used to manage your pavement network and how performance targets are 

established. Indicate whether targets are set based on 

the results of an optimization analysis, customer 

feedback, or some other method.

7. How have you reconciled national versus local or 

provincial authority in determining uniform performance measures and tools? For example, in the United 

States different methods of reporting pavement 

conditions have been adopted and/or different methods of collecting information are used. How important 

do you think it is to have common performance 

measures and data collection procedures? 

8. How does your agency know that the current business 

model is better than previous models? For example, are 

benefits documented? Does money go further than it 

did before? Are stakeholder needs better addressed?

Topic Area 2 Questions: 

Identifying Effective Communication Strategies to 

Promote Pavement Management Policies

Please provide examples of the types of information your 

agency provides to keep staff, the public, and elected officials 

informed of current pavement conditions and to document 

the impacts of your agency’s pavement management 

decisions. 

1. Please describe your agency’s experience with the 

various forms of communication that have been used 

with different stakeholder groups, including any 

experience your agency has had with Web-based 

programs, social media, and focus groups. What 

methods have worked best? Worst? What methods have 

you tried in the past that have not worked as expected?

2. What tools and methods does your agency use to evaluate customer needs and wants? How does the information you obtain influence agency decisions and 

policies? What changes were required in the decision 

processes to incorporate customer input?

3. What has been the most effective information your 

agency has used to drive executive management and 

elected officials to make smart, long-term decisions? 

4. How have your agency’s methods of communication 

changed with time? For instance, has your agency 

modified the information or level of detail reported? 

5. How does your agency determine the effectiveness of 

its communication methods? What metrics are used 

and how frequently are they evaluated?

6. How closely does the information reported to the 

public match the performance metrics that are used to 

drive the pavement preservation program? If there are 

differences, how does your agency address these 

discrepancies?

Topic Area 3 Questions:

Developing Agency Cultures to Support Pavement 

Management Policies

1. What steps did your agency take to develop a culture 

that supports long-term investment in pavements? For 

instance, what knowledge was shared with senior 

management and policymakers that allowed for them 

to buy in to the changes?
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 61

2. What motivated the transition to privatized maintenance in your agency? What impact has this decision 

had on your agency, both positive and negative?

3. How are the cultural incentives to improve performance institutionalized? For instance, do you reward 

those who improve performance with more funds or 

do you redirect resources to bolster areas that may be 

struggling to meet the performance standard? In 

general, what incentive is there to improve?

4. Please describe the degree to which data, analyses, and 

decisions are integrated in your performance-based 

organization. For instance, are material, construction, 

design, maintenance, and planning factors considered 

in the decision process? If so, how was this degree of 

integration achieved and how long did it take to 

achieve it?

5. What types of training and/or mentoring are in place to 

sustain your agency’s culture? Are there specific training 

programs focused on pavement management? If so, 

what is included in the training program and who is 

expected to participate? How do you educate stakeholders who do not operate the pavement management system, but who are involved in decisions using 

pavement management information?

6. What challenges have you faced as you have strived to 

maintain a performance-based culture over time? For 

instance, has your agency had to reaffirm the benefits of 

pavement preservation to decisionmakers? Have there 

been instances in which the public has expected 

performance targets that were unrealistic? Have there 

been barriers that have been particularly difficult to 

overcome? 

7. Have you had any situations in which initial performance metrics did not support the level of performance 

your agency was hoping to see? How did you address 

these situations? Further, are there any examples of 

performance measures that were found to be ineffective, but that leaders or elected officials refused to 

change?

8. What role does research (or do research findings) have 

in supporting your asset management activities? In 

particular, the delegates are interested in the importance of agency-sponsored research when most of the 

pavement maintenance activities are contracted out. 

Topic Area 4 Questions: 

Availability of Techniques and Tools for Managing 

Pavements Effectively

1. Describe the role of available technology and tools in 

supporting your decision processes. Specifically, what 

parts of the decision process are well supported by 

available tools and what aspects need further development? 

2. What types of technology and tools are in place to be 

able to show that your agency’s current program is 

effective? In other words, does your agency have a way 

to demonstrate that performance management is 

working? 

3. Please explain how your agency’s decision process 

considers corridor and/or multimodal needs in 

conjunction with existing and predicted pavement 

needs. For example, do you have tools in place to 

support cross-asset optimization (e.g., pavements, 

bridges, and safety appurtenances)? If so, how is this 

analysis performed? Please describe the tools your 

agency has in place, and identify any tools under 

development to further support this analysis. Who is 

involved in the process and how do they interact?

4. Was privatization a part of a recommended pavement 

management strategy, or was it driven by some other 

factor? In your opinion, has it worked as expected? 

Why or why not? What advice would you offer to other 

agencies that are considering privatization as a pavement management strategy?

5. How has your agency developed its pavement performance models? Do your models consider pavement 

structural conditions? Do you have performance 

models for all assets you are managing? 

6. How well do your agency’s tools adapt to changes in 

vehicle weights, tire pressures, policy decisions (e.g., 

policies to use quieter pavements), and changing 

stakeholder needs? Have you been able to use these 

tools to demonstrate the impact of possible political 

initiatives to elected officials? Please explain. 

7. How is success in pavement management rewarded 

within your agency? For example, are managers or 

contractors rewarded for meeting strategic goals or 

targets? Are there consequences if targets are not met? 

Please explain your responses.
62 Appendix C: Host Country Contacts

Appendix C. Host Country Contacts

New Zealand

Dave Bates

Chief Advisor HNO

New Zealand Transport Authority National Office

Private Bag 6995

Wellington 6141, New Zealand

Telephone: 011+64 4 894 5400

E-mail: dave.bates@nzta.govt.nz 

Tomas Dryburgh

Graduate Engineer

New Zealand Transport Authority National Office

Private Bag 6995

Wellington 6141, New Zealand

Telephone: 011+64 21 452 017

E-mail: tomas.dryburgh@nzta.govt.nz 

Australia

Chris Champion

Chief Executive Officer

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia

Level 12, 447 Kent St.

Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia

Telephone: 011+61 2 9639 3650

Fax: 011+61 2 9639 7539

E-mail: cchampion@ipwea.org.au

Paul Taylor

Road Assets Unit Manager

Department for Transport, Energy, and Infrastructure

Level 7, 77 Grenfell St.

Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia

Telephone: 011+61 8 8343 2681

Fax: 011+61 8 8343 2978

E-mail: paul.taylor@sa.gov.au

Peter Williams

Director, Commercial and Business Services, and Director, 

International Projects

Technical and Information Services Division

VicRoads

60 Denmark St.

Kew, Victoria 3101, Australia

Telephone: 011+61 3 985 2288

E-mail: peter.williams@roads.vic.gov.au

Wendy Goad

Projects Operations Officer

VicRoads

60 Denmark St.

Kew, Victoria 3101, Australia

Telephone: 011+61 3 9854 2276

E-mail: wendy.goad@roads.vic.gov.au

Ian Cossens

Manager–Maintenance Strategies

Network & Asset Planning

VicRoads

60 Denmark St., 3rd Floor,

Kew, Victoria 3101, Australia

Telephone: 011+61 3 9854 2766

Fax: 011+61 3 9853 0341

E-mail: ian.cossens@roads.vic.gov.au

Graham Clarke

Manager Program Delivery

VicRoads

12 Lakeside Dr.

Burwood, East Victoria 3151, Australia

Telephone: 011+61 3 9881 8801

Fax: 011+61 3 9887 7590

E-mail: graham.clarke@roads.vic.gov.au

Sweden

Per-Erik Winberg

International Secretariat

Swedish Transport Administration

Röda vägen 1

SE-781 87 Borlänge, Sweden

Telephone: 011+47 22 07 37 68

E-mail: per-erik.winberg@sweroad.se 

Jan-Erik Lundmark

Head of Maintenance

Swedish Transportation Administration

Kyrkgatan 43 B

SE-831 25 Ostersund, Sweden

Telephone: 011+46 611 441 14

E-mail: jan-erik.lundmark@trafikverket.se
Managing Pavements and Monitoring Performance: Best Practices in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand 63

Norway

Marit Due Langaas

Director of International Activities

Norwegian Public Roads Administration

Telephone: 011+47 22 07 32 62

E-mail: marit.langaas@vegvesen.no

Even K. Sund

Senior Principal Engineer, Pavement/Asset Management

Norwegian Public Roads Administration

PO Box 8142 Dep

NO-0033 Oslo, Norway

Telephone: 011+47 93 05 86 35

E-mail: even.sund@vegvesen.no

Finland

Pär-Håkan Appel

Director of International Affairs

Finnish Road Administration

Opastinsilta 12A, PO Box 33

FIN-00521 Helsinki, Finland

E-mail: par-hakan.appel@tiehallinto.fi

Vesa Männistö

Senior Advisor, Maintenance Management

Finnish Transport Agency

PO Box 33

FI-00521 Helsinki, Finland

Telephone: 011+358 20 637 3569

E-mail: vesa.mannisto@fta.fi

Denmark

Sven Krarup Nielsen

Danish Road Directorate

Danish Ministry of Transport

Niels Juels Gade 13

DK-1059, Copenhagen K, Denmark

Telephone: 011+45 33 41 33 33 or +45 7244 3333

Fax: 011+45 33 15 63 35

E-mail: skn@vd.dk

Søren Knudsen

Danish Road Directorate

Danish Ministry of Transport

Niels Juels Gade 13

DK-1059, Copenhagen K, Denmark

Telephone: 011+45 7244 3418 (Direct)

E-mail: sokn@vd.dk

The Netherlands

Richard W. van der Elburg

Senior Advisor

Policy Analysis and Forecasts/International

Rijkswaterstaat Centre for Transport and Navigation

Schoemakerstraat 97c, 2628 VK Delft, Netherlands

PO Box 5044, 2600 GA Delft, Netherlands

Telephone: 011+31 887 982 372

Fax: 011+31 887 982 999

E-mail: richard.vander.elburg@rws.nl

Anita Baas

Head of Asset Management

Rijkswaterstaat Centre for Transport and Navigation

Schoemakerstraat 97c, 2628 VK Delft, Netherlands

PO Box 5044, 2600 GA Delft, Netherlands

Telephone: 011+31 6 310 114 98

E-mail: anita.baas@rws.nl

Hungry

Dr. Laszlo Gaspar

Head of Certification Bureau

Road and Bridge Division

KTI–Institute for Transport Sciences

H-1518 Budapest, PO Box 107, Hungary

Telephone: 011+36 1 464 4414

E-mail: gaspar@kti.hu

United Kingdom

Paul Johnson

Head of Research Strategy, Network Services Directorate

Highways Agency

The Cube

199 Wharfside St.

Birmingham B1 1RN, United Kingdom

Telephone: 011+44 121 678 8275

E-mail: paul.johnson@highways.gsi.gov.uk

Ruth Tilstone

International Inward Visit Coordinator

Network Services

Highways Agency

Piccadilly Gate, Store Street

Manchester M1 2WD, United Kingdom

Telephone: 011+44 161 930 5540

Fax: 011+44 161 930 5256

E-mail: ruth.tilstone@highways.gsi.gov.uk or nsdkpginternational@highways.gsi.gov.uk
64 Appendix C: Host Country Contacts

Vicky Bowden

Assistant Knowledge Strategy Coordinator

Highways Agency

Piccadilly Gate, Store Street

Manchester M1 2WD, United Kingdom

Telephone: 011+44 161 930 5809

E-mail: vicky.bowden@highways.gsi.gov.uk

Ramesh Sinhal

Pavements Team Leader

Highways Agency

5th Floor, 123 Buckingham Palace Rd.

London, SW1W 9HA, United Kingdom

E-mail: ramesh.sinhal@highways.gsi.gov.uk 

Ginny Clarke

Chief Engineer

Highways Agency

5th Floor, 123 Buckingham Palace Rd.

London, SW1W 9HA, United Kingdom

E-mail: ginny.clarke@highways.gsi.gov.uk

Mary Treen

Senior Communications and Campaign Manager

Transportation Research Laboratory

Crowthorne House

Nine Mile Ride

Wokingham Berkshire RG40 3GA, United Kingdom

Telephone: 011+44 1344 770 514

E-mail: mtreen@trl.co.uk

Brian Ferne

Chief Technical Advisor–Pavement Engineering

Transport Research Laboratory

Crowthorne House

Nine Mile Ride

Wokingham Berkshire RG40 3GA, United Kingdom

Telephone: 011+44 1344 770 668

Fax: 011+44 1344 770 356

E-mail: bferne@trl.co.uk

OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

FHWA/US DOT (HPIP)

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE

Washington, DC 20590

Tel: (202) 366-9636

Fax: (202) 366-9626

international@fhwa.dot.gov

www.international.fhwa.dot.gov

Publication No. FHWA-PL-12-031 HPIP/8-12(3.5)EW