Municipal Infrastructure Asset Levels of Service Assessment for Investment Decisions Using Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract

A given infrastructure system has different levels of service (LOS) for different users. To date, limited work has been done to combine these LOS to an asset level LOS. In addition, existing methods to determine LOS are based on the quantitative performance measures related to the capacity of the infrastructure systems. These methods neglect other qualitative factors, for example, neighborhood safety and appearance. This paper describes a proposed asset level of service (ALOS) determination methodology, which can be integrated with decision support systems (DSS) as a performance indicator. The proposed ALOS is a composite LOS for different users of the infrastructure system. Incorporation of ALOS with DSS will aid the municipalities in producing improved resource allocation plans in compliance with service standards, applicable codes, and regulations. In this paper, a framework of the development of ALOS in municipal infrastructure systems is presented. The analytical hierarchy process is used to model the ALOS. The developed framework is then applied to calculate the ALOS for the municipality/urban roads, to combine LOS for vehicle users, bicyclists, and pedestrians; accounting for qualitative factors, such as neighborhood safety and aesthetics.