Government agencies such as municipalities own several lane kilometers of roadways all in varying
conditions depending on their traffic loads, environment, material types, and construction methods.
Managing a vast inventory of assets can be challenging and depending on the size of the municipality, sufficient resources may not always be present for municipalities to accurately understand their networks’ needs. Size of municipalities not withstanding, funding to maintain these networks always remains a challenge. Finite funds are constantly competing against other priority infrastructure as well as politically motivated projects being broadcasted the loudest. Moreover, not all networks are created equal; some networks may be more rural and require different treatment and maintenance needs compared to an exclusively urban environment. Understanding all these parameters is critical in order to grasp the complexities and challenges that Alberta municipalities and agencies face when maintaining their transportation networks. To determine these answers, a questionnaire survey was conducted to the Pavement Management Users Group in Alberta. The results showed several consistencies related to the use of traditional pavement treatment methods, such as mill, overlay, and conventional reconstruction.
This study noted, however, that there exists a gap in the use of preservation methods, such as
microsurfacing, being used around the province of Alberta, as well as staff resource and asset
management challenges. This survey provides a unique insight into the treatment selections and
resources dedicated to roadways and strategies around the province.
