Pavement maintenance management framework for flexible roads: a case study of Pakistan

Roads play a pivotal role in the overall economic growth of any country. Developed countries allocated sufficient budget to make new roads and to maintain the existing roads. They also have a proper pavement management system (PMS) in practice to manage roads, whereas developing countries suffer from budgetary issues to make new roads and maintain the existing road network. Therefore, this paper explores the awareness of PMS via direct and indirect methods in Pakistan with a proposed framework of the low-cost model and pavement maintenance indicators for developing countries. This paper also performs a scientometric assessment of PMS. A detailed literature review has been carried out for this study, followed by a quantitative study from experienced professionals. The scientometric data is collected from the Scopus database from 1975 to 2020, whereas the data for PMS awareness assessment has been collected using questionnaires from different experts working directly and indirectly in the road management sector. The data has been analyzed using the arithmetic mean because of the nature of the questions and scope of the study. The direct method results show that experts are aware of PMS for a new road, but they have no PMS to rehabilitate roads. The indirect method results show that the authorities are applying various components of PMS, but there is no proper PMS in practice. This paper helps decision-makers to make better decisions and policies for improved road maintenance and rehabilitation. The proposed framework in the study can significantly assist the UN-SDG 9 (Facilitate Sustainable Infrastructure in Developing Countries) and 11 (Affordable and Sustainable Transport System).