Illinois Tollway Pavement Management

Problem Statement and Objectives

One of Illinois Tollway's primary objectives is to provide a safe, reliable infrastructure to the traveling public. In the late 1990s, the Tollway faced an aging roadway network that required substantial maintenance and rehabilitation to provide continued satisfactory service. Many of its pavement structures were built in the 1950s and had been overlaid numerous times. The original pavements and overlays were deteriorating at an ever-increasing rate, pavement failures were occurring more frequently, and the Tollway was generally in a reactive mode in managing its pavements. To more proactively address its pavement network, the Tollway retained ARA in 1999 to provide a comprehensive suite of pavement management services. ARA's initial efforts focused on clearly outlining the Tollway's pavement management needs, collecting and compiling the pertinent pavement management data, and preparing the proposed software systems. Once these initial efforts were completed, ARA focused its attention on uploading and analyzing the compiled data, developing pavement performance models, and establishing maintenance and rehabilitation strategies and decision trees. Today, this information resides at the Tollway in an easy-to-operate computerized pavement management system called RoadCare that is regularly updated and maintained by ARA.

In support of the Tollway's RoadCare system, ARA conducts annual assessments of network-wide pavement conditions using its digital survey vehicle, updates the RoadCare pavement performance & decision models, and generates a multi-year rehabilitation plan. ARA also performance project-level pavement studies and conducts pavement-related research for the Tollway.

Results and Benefits

The successful implementation of the RoadCare pavement management system and ARA's supporting services now allows the Illinois Tollway to cost-effectively manage its pavement network. Payoffs from the system include:

• A business-oriented approach to managing pavement assets.
  
• Well-founded pavement maintenance and rehabilitation plans that can be readily communicated to senior management and the traveling public.
  
• A systematic process for preserving the pavement network.
  
• Logical prioritization among competing projects

ARA and the RoadCare pavement management system played a key role in the development of the Tollway's current $5 billion congestion relief program. Overall, ARA has saved the Illinois Tollway an estimated $50 million through the implementation of state-of-the-art pavement management system, research, improved pavement designs, innovative materials, and more efficient processes.