The Town of Ayer, Massachusetts, recently increased its pavement management budget to cover the cost of additional roadway treatments. Following budget approval, the Town reached out to WithersRavenel to verify that their current pavement management strategy is the most effective use of the funds.
WithersRavenel helped the Town implement lifecycle modeling and use it to develop a pavement life cycle model. The model used four sources of data: the Town’s GIS data, prioritization rules (condition assessment model criteria), Pavement Condition Index (PCI) rating data, and a decision model. WithersRavenel established the decision model through workshop meetings with the Town’s pavement system managers.
Multiple budget scenarios, including the Town’s newly approved budget, were entered into the life cycle model. After reviewing the results, WithersRavenel confirmed the new annual budget is the most efficient use of funds for improving and maintaining the Ayer road system.
Now that lifecycle modeling has validated the budget, the Town can focus on using the pavement life cycle model to schedule the recommended treatments to improve the overall condition of their roads in both the near and long term.