###### Abstract  
Pavement performance models (PPMs) are utilized to predict pavement network conditions which is an essential part of any sustainable pavement management system (PMS). The reliability of a PMS and its outputs is proportional to the reliability of the PPM used. This article describes a mechanistic-empirical pavement performance model based on pavement response parameters--strains calculated in the pavement layers measured by tensometers embedded in the pavement surface and verified by calculations in the elastic half-space model and supplemented by empirical data from long-term pavement performance monitoring and accelerated pavement testing. Hence, the herein described PPM combines pavement serviceability evaluation, pavement bearing capacity, and the physico-mechanistic properties of paving materials. The analytical methods which were used to ascertain the physico-mechanistic characteristics, the material fatigue degradation model, and the surface degradation, unevenness in particular, are described. A comparison of the empirical PPM created in the last century used by the national road administrator to this day and the newly created PPM is presented. The comparison shows the difference in the calculated socio-economic benefits and subsequent cost-benefit analysis results. The comparison shows that the use of the old PPM may have produced false economic evaluation results that have led to poor decision making, partially explaining the unsustainable trend of road network management in our country. payment performance; pavement structure; APT testing; pavement modeling 2024 These models are the most commonly used method for modeling pavement degradation. The mathematical function of these models expresses the relationship between the independent variables and a parameter that characterizes the serviceability of the pavement. These mathematical models represent the prediction of the deterioration of the parameter of interest [5; 6; 7]. Deterministic PPMs can be classified as mechanistic, empirical, and mechanistic-empirical [8]. Mechanistic models are based on the knowledge of the state of stress in the different layers of the pavement structure. The stress state is monitored at different load levels and the individual degradation function models take into account the radial stresses in the bound layers or the deformations in the individual pavement layers. The given models can be verified by incorporating strain gauges in the pavement structure, or they can be formed by a computational model based on response theory, such as the finite element method [9; 10]. Empirical models are based on statistical regression analyses of long-term monitored LTPPM pavement sections or APT, on which serviceability variables are continuously evaluated. Empirical degradation models represent a suitable alternative for evaluating a group of individual constructs in a broader context, and it is thus possible to use statistical evaluation of the parameter in a relative definition such as flexible pavements, motorway pavements, arid-climate pavements, etc. [11; 12]. Mechanistic-empirical models combine the pavement response to stress and strain in individual pavement layers with the rheological and fatigue properties of materials used in the pavement layers with empirical data from APT and LTPPM. The performance is given by the residual service life calculated from pavement capacity calculations, e.g., elastic half-space calculations, while the serviceability parameters are determined by the degradation function from the empirical measurements [13; 14]. Analytical calculations and laboratory measurements are utilized to determine the fatigue parameters and physico-mechanical properties of asphalt materials, i.e., properties that describe how a material behaves under various physical and mechanical conditions. These properties are crucial for understanding the performance of materials in terms of their suitability for application in the pavement structure.