Highway Maintenance Response Time Standards

DRAFTSpecific guidance on infrastructure maintenance and operations activities is nowprovided. A contact list to address specific questions is located in Appendix C.MAINTENANCESigns (ground mounted), pavement markings (paint only), and lighting are also listed forthe sake of completeness, although these activities are fully funded out of theTransportation Maintenance Division (TMD) and Traffic Engineering and HighwaySafety Division (TE&HS) operating budgets.Pavement Maintenance GuidancePavement degradation is caused by three reasons: improper design for the load carried,deterioration of subbase due to saturation, and environmental aging. Pavementpreventive and design modification (corrective) maintenance does not correct underdesignedpavement structures, but these activities can slow deterioration caused byenvironmental aging. As pavements age, cracks develop allowing water to infiltrate thepavement structure. This water can then strip asphaltic materials from hot mix asphaltpavements and also lead to base failures for both Hot Mix Asphalt and Portland cementConcrete Pavements. The ultimate goal of pavement maintenance is to seal water outof the pavement structure. This is accomplished in different ways depending on thetype, age, and condition of the respective pavements.Hot Mix Asphalt Surfaced PavementsCrack SealingCrack sealing should be performed on pavements in relatively new condition.The cracks should be single, and well defined. The pavement sufficiency scorewill typically be 7 or 8 in this case. Often, these type cracks will appear as earlyas two to four years after pavement overlays and/or reconstruction, depending onthe original treatment and other environmental factors.6