Pavement Preservation – Effective Way of Dealing with Scarce Maintenance Budget

Pavement preservation involves minimizing the destructive impact of climate and traffic by the regular or intermittent timely application of remedial treatments to the pavement. Pavement preservation system should include: pavement management system (PMS); long-term network planning; optimization; costeffective decision making; and sustainable financing. Objective measurement of pavement performance is required to determine the appropriate treatment. Preventive treatment of asphalt pavements used in Ontario include: crack sealing; crack filling; fog seals and rejuvenating seals; chip seals; slurry seal; cape seal; microsurfacing; non-structural HMA overlay; surface milling and non-structural overlay; cold in-place surface recycling; and hot in-place HMA recycling. Emerging technologies include Nova Chip and Metro MatTM, for instance. This paper first discusses the traditional mindset of many road authorities and how it cannot handle the current needs of road users and the growing concerns of scarce maintenance budget. Next, the concept of pavement preservation is introduced, as well as what separates it from common preventive maintenance practices. A short review of the current preventive treatments used in Ontario is then provided. Examples of successful pavement preservation adopted by municipalities and road authorities in Ontario and in the US are also given. The paper concludes by discussing the issue of how road authorities can move forward with this correct approach.