Optimizing Resource Allocations for Routine Highway Maintenance

(PI: Zhanmin Zhang, CoPIs: Michael Murphy, James O'Connor, Chandra Bhat, and Yetkin Yildrim)

TxDOT has been experiencing fluctuations of budget over the years in terms of the resources available for maintaining and preserving the highway infrastructure. This fluctuation in budget can potentially make the highway condition unstable if the maintenance budget falls short for a sustainable period of time. As a result, it is important for TxDOT to look into maintenance and rehabilitation policies that lower the risk of unstable road network conditions. However, the question of how to minimize the risk of such budget fluctuations on network-level roadway has not been addressed in the current literature. There is an immediate need to develop a methodology that can help minimize the impact of budget fluctuations on highway maintenance programs. Therefore, guidelines are needed to assist TxDOT districts in making critical maintenance decisions when there is a budget cut. Such guidelines should consider not only the direct impact of reducing certain maintenance activities, but also the cascading effect of doing so. Consequently, the primary objective of this project is to develop a methodological procedure for minimizing the impact of budget fluctuations on highway conditions and to provide guidelines for assisting TxDOT districts in making critical maintenance decisions when there is a budget cut to decide what activities or projects are the most cost-effective.