Our Efforts to Understand Roadway Assets Conditions and Management Techniques in Small Communities of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Two factors may assist in deciding whether or not a municipality should expect to have a roadway management guideline, these being population size and road network size. A large population size tends to contribute more vehicles to the roads, which leads to frequent maintenance needs and therefore would benefit from a road management guideline. Similarly, municipalities with large road networks may choose to follow a road management guideline to optimize their maintenance schedules. But, in some cases, municipalities with only a few kilometers of roadway can play a vital role in the provincial network, especially when those roads link important destinations. So, a few pertinent questions arise. Do population size and road network length determine whether a municipality or town adopts a road management system? How do municipalities with small population size and shorter road networks manage their roads? What can be the most feasible way for those municipalities to manage their roads? To answer these questions, a province-wide municipality staff survey was conducted in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada. Most of the municipalities in this province are sparsely populated, and the internal road networks are very small. The survey was conducted to determine the condition of the roadway assets in these small municipalities, the resources available, and the requirements of work by transportation agencies to do in order to improve their roads. This project was not a government-funded project, and there was no incentive for the participants. Therefore, participation was completely voluntary. The results provide significant information about roadway asset conditions and management systems in the municipalities. Analyzing the results from the survey, the above-mentioned questions were attempted to answer.