Performance-based maintenance contracts are becoming increasingly popular method of procuring maintenance work. This study presents a framework for specifying such contracts. This framework is based on developing a pavement reliability model that is able to account for the effects of rehabilitation actions. The developed reliability model is able to predict the pavement performance before as well as after rehabilitation actions. Numerical illustration for optimization model shows that the developed model can be used to obtain an optimal trade-off between cost and performance. Further, the model considers a tradeoff between economies of scale associated with managing longer pavement sections, and risk mitigation benefits with managing relatively smaller e.g. more homogeneous sections. The results indicate that the length of optimal management sections depends not only on risk premium costs, but also the ability of the contractor to explore economies of scale. The model is illustrated using typical data available to transportation agencies.

Road asset management is one of the top priorities of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy 2020. The implementation of performance-based road maintenance contracts (PBCs)—an essential element of road asset management—promotes effective and efficient maintenance of road networks. Well-designed PBCs keep roads in predefined good condition at relatively low cost. This guide aims to help policy makers in CAREC member countries understand and implement PBCs. After a brief history of the development of PBCs, it discusses the various types of PBCs and their relative advantages and disadvantages. It highlights PBC implementation in selected developed, developing, and transitional countries, including CAREC member countries, to illustrate best practices.

Performance-based Maintenance Contracts (PBMCs) are increasingly being used for roadway maintenance as an alternative to method-based specifications. However, this technique is still relatively new and several issues have not been adequately addressed in the literature. The paper provides a systematic process for developing quality assurance measures to be used within these contracts. The process addresses key issues, including the development of performance standards and targets, a method for monitoring the roadside performance, and a methodology for developing pay adjustment factors. The developed performance standards presented in the paper are easily measured and assigned grades of pass, fail, or not applicable. The required sample size is a function of the project characteristics, including performance variability along the project, required confidence level, and allowable tolerance. Finally, the pay adjustment curves are a function of the initial project LOS, the target LOS, and the maintenance cost to achieve the target LOS.

Construction zones can greatly affect the traffic flow on roadways, especially when lane closures are required. Traditionally, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has used traffic management specifications that only allow lane closures and road work to be done during predetermined hours or specifications that require a certain number of lanes to be open at all times. Recently, mobility-based work-zone traffic flow maintenance has been considered. This method requires continuous monitoring of mobility-based performance data and a mechanism to send alerts to the contractors when the mobility data does not meet the standards set by the specifications. UDOT recently tested mobility-based performance specifications at an urban arterial work zone and studied issues related to implementation of mobility-based performance specifications. Parallel to this experiment, UDOT funded a study to develop guidelines for implementing mobility-based performance specifications to manage traffic flow in work zones. Dynamically collecting mobility-based data such as travel time and speed is now feasible using technologies such as Bluetooth and microwave sensors. The core benefit of using mobility-based performance specifications is that they can give the contractor more flexibility in construction work scheduling while maintaining an acceptable level of traffic flow. If the level of traffic flow is not maintained, then the contractor is assessed a financial penalty. The penalty is determined by the amount of time where the flow is not maintained at a predetermined condition. To discuss issues and develop guidelines, a task force consisting of UDOT representatives, several representatives from the construction industry, and researchers from Brigham Young University was formed. Through three task force meetings, a set of 12 guidelines were developed, including guidelines about when mobility-based performance specifications should be used and which mobility data should be used. Some of the issues were difficult for the task force members to agree on, and a decision-making theory called the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was used to find best approaches to deal with some of the difficult issues associated with the implementation of mobility-based performance specifications in highway construction contracts. These guidelines should be reviewed as appropriate in the future as UDOT accumulates experience in using these types of specifications.