Goal
To expand and preserve Québec’s pavement assets with an improved pavement management system (PMS), resulting in greater organizational efficiency, transparency and cost savings. The Québec Ministry of Transportation installed a French language version of AgileAssets’ PMS in 1998-1999 which represented a major improvement in efficiency. In 2010, Québec again chose AgileAssets to implement a web-based upgrade to support greater capabilities and seamless data-sharing.
Challenge
Due to the vast size of the territory, harsh climate, heavy traffic in the large urban centers, and a recent increase in the number of heavy vehicles traveling and leading to deterioration on roadways, Québec is one of the most difficult areas in the world in which to maintain and operate a road network.
Solution
The Québec Ministry of Transport chose AgileAssets’ web-based Pavement Management System to tackle the challenges posed by the internal and external environments in March 2010. Choosing a customized, entirely French system, Québec saw immediate positive effects in information sharing and transparency within the department. This de-centralized system has an extensive network master file with comprehensive information on location, description, work history, traffic, speed, condition and expected treatments. The AgileAssets web-based upgrade produces regular network condition reports in addition to various optimization scenarios and projected impact scenarios regarding diverse budget levels and network condition strategies. The AgileAssets analysis offers a multi-year/multi-constraint optimization using the residual service life (RSL) as network management indicator predicting the long-term benefits of various treatments.
Benefits
Following the implementation of the AgileAssets web-based upgrade in 2010, Québec saw overall improvements in efficiency, decision making, organizational development, accountability, planning, reporting, speed of information gathering and transparency. The use of RSL as network management indicator proves to be a meaningful improvement over the use of single performance indicators such as IRI. The upgraded PMS has allowed for efficient budget allocations, with treatments suggested by the PMS representing 60% of these allocations. Other breakdowns include: 5% for preventive, 10% for worst sections, and 25% for choices made by Territories.
