20 Years Experience in the Paver Pavement Management System: Development and Implementation

The development of a pavement management system for the US Army began in 1968. Since that time there have been many successes, but the road to development and implementation has been full of obstacles and can generally be described as “rough. This paper discusses the Army's PAVER pavement management system in terms of its history, development challenges, implementation obstacles, and solutions.

The Development issues that proved to be significant included: * Engineering technology as it relates to pavement mechanistic behavior, pavement distress, condition prediction modeling, and optimization. * A sponsor who understands the importance of pavement management and is willing to defend its development. * A user group that is progressive and willing to give constructive direction and feedback. * A research team that is not discouraged by tough challenges or initially disappointing results.

The Implementation issues that proved to be significant included: * Availability of manpower and monetary resources. * The pavement management system's ability to provide for field needs such as annual planning, long-range work planning, and project justification. * Availability of credential training. * Endorsement by nationally respected organizations such as APWA, FAA, and FHWA. * Obtaining system approval by the head organization. * Finding the right branch and the right responsible person within the implementing agency.

This paper discusses all the above issues and includes a description of PAVER'S evolution from 1968 to 1990, from both a development and an implementation point of view.