scope:

SUMMARY: The overall goal is to make pavement management the standard operating procedure in agencies for pavement decisions. This occurs when the agency personnel look to pavement management for information and support when pavement questions occur, funding is planned, and sections are programmed for maintenance and rehabilitation.

A series of phases and steps have been prepared to guide potential adopters of pavement management and those who are trying to make better use of existing pavement management systems. Each agency is different, and no single set of steps can be followed blindly. The pavement management champion will be primarily responsible for working through these guidelines and preparing implementation plans for the agency. Some steps will need to be dropped, and the order of some steps may need to be changed. After initial efforts, some steps may need to be repeated. However, most of these steps are necessary for successful implementation and use of PMS.

Developing an implementation plan can take considerable effort and time, but this planning is essential if the system is to be fully implemented. Failure to involve all users in the process has had dire consequences in several agencies. This implementation guide was developed to help avoid some of those pitfalls and overcome others. The Federal Highway Administration (1991) developed a series of checklists that may also be helpful in the implementation process.