Pavement Maintenance - Cornell Local Roads Program - Cornell ...

Pavement Maintenance
Preventive maintenance: Application of a treatment before significant deterioration occurs. It
typically extends the life of the pavement and is usually planned. Surface treatments are usually
considered preventive maintenance.
Corrective maintenance: Fixes pavement failures after they have occurred. A semi-permanent
area patch is a form of corrective maintenance. A truing and leveling layer to fill minor ruts, with
a follow up overlay, is another example. Corrective maintenance generally costs more than
preventive or routine maintenance.
Planned maintenance is generally preferred to unplanned (demand) maintenance, and preventive
maintenance is preferred to corrective maintenance. Figure 16 shows the relationship between
condition and the life of the pavement. The pavement starts in very good shape and deteriorates
slowly at first. Maintenance repairs done early in the life of the pavement are much less
expensive.
Figure 17 shows the relationship between pavement condition and the various levels of
maintenance. These two figures show that routine and preventive maintenance are the most
economical options. Reconstruction techniques are the most expensive, and are usually done
when there is no other choice. Although not shown in Figure 17, there are times in the life of a
pavement when the best alternative is to do nothing. This is usually when the pavement is not a
candidate for maintenance, and rehabilitation or reconstruction are not yet justifiable.
Figure 16 - Pavement deterioration curve
30 Cornell Local Roads Program