Sustainability Indicators Applied in Pavement Management Systems

Road infrastructures are simultaneously the causes and consequences of socio-economic development of any country. They have crucial importance in operation of the economy, because they stablish the necessary movement of people and goods in a quick, safe, and effective way when they are in a good condition. The decrease in the quality of road pavements is due to the evolution and occurrence of degradation, resulting from the joint action of traffic and weather conditions, and consequently arise the need undertake to conservation/rehabilitation operations in order to restore its structural and functional qualities. To provide the high-level service to users (security, economic, comfort and environmental quality), it is crucial to have knowledge of the condition of the pavement throughout its life cycle. The performance indicators (PI) provide qualitative and quantitative information, concerning the pavement conditions, based on observed and measured pathologies, allowing to identify the need for intervention. Thus, it is important to highlight that in many realities the environmental PI are rarely used in the road sector, with emphasis only on the economic sector. This paper aims to propose environmental, social, and economic performance indicators for road pavement maintenance and rehabilitation works, to be implemented in pavement management systems. The sustainability is achieved after reconciling three main factors: environmental, social and economic. It is not enough for an organization’s managers to focus on just one or two aspects of sustainability, but rather, focusing on all three aspects, as each is vital to fully achieving sustainability.