Did you know that you can win an award for pavement management?
I just read a story about the City of El Cerrito, CA. They received the Most Improved Roads Award in the Bay Area. This award is sponsored by MTC – the Metropolitan Transportation Commission – to encourage cities and counties improve their roadways and implement pavement management systems.
MTC ranks cities based on the overall quality of their road networks. The measure of quality is the PCI, the pavement condition index, a number between 0 and 100, with 100 being a perfect street and 0 represents failing pavement.
What’s a winning PCI index?
Winners are actually not selected based on the PCI itself, but on the improvement from previous years. In only 4 years El Cerrito improved their average PCI from 48 to 85. In 2006 they were ranked last place in in the Bay Area. In 2011 they are tied for second place.
Their success is rooted in good pavement management. So, let’s find out how they did it. Go to the City’s street paving website to see how they implemented a comprehensive pavement management program and how they got the buy-in of their community.
Which Pavement Mangement System Works Best?
In order to support local communities and to accomplish the pavement management goals for the Bay Area, the MTC developed their own pavement management system called Street Saver®. It is completely Internet based and users can access and store all data online. StreetSaver® comes with a mobile data collection module as well as training and support. It’s prediction model is specifically geared towards the Bay Area and California.
StreetSaver® is available to everyone (not just the Bay Area). They currently have 300 users nationwide. Transportation and public works departments outside of the Bay Area can access StreetSaver for $1,500 per year.
Watch this short video for an introduction to StreetSaver®:
Pavement management has become a requirement to get state funding for transportation projects in California. This creates a tremendous incentive for Cities and Counties to implement and maintain a pavement management system.
Transmap has worked with StreetSaver® on multiple projects in California. The largest one conducted for the City of Fresno in 2009.
Do you want to beat El Cerrito’s PCI? Let us help you develop a pavement management plan, that will transform you road network to excellence.
