Abstract
In Japan, many infrastructure elements built during the era of rapid economic growth have become dilapidated in recent years. In the near future, their repair, reconstruction, and maintenance will be necessary, and the costs for those purposes will increase significantly. Pavements must be managed in an efficient and rational manner with a limited budget, and the development of method to enable such management is imminent.
In response, there is a call for introducing the concept of Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) and a Pavement Management System (PMS). Methods for the LCCA and those for operation of the PMS are being developed in various engineering subspecialties.
The national highways in Hokkaido, whose length totals about 6400km, are a huge infrastructure for the region. Under the current strict budget situation, the level of service needs to be efficiently maintained to afford sufficient driving safety and comfort.
We practiced case studies of the life-cycle cost analysis with road user costs and discussed procedure of the planning method for pavements repair and maintenance.
