Highway Management Systems: State of the Art

Abstract

Highway management systems, in use for 25 years, are poised at a major stage of redevelopment. This need for redevelopment is driven by changes in management, decision making, and information requirements in transportation agencies. While these changes have several causes, a focal point is the set of new requirements in planning, programming, and management systems of the 1991 federal ISTEA legislation. A concurrent development has been the emergence of new computer hardware, software, and communications technology that enable management systems to be integrated within networks, providing a unified and coordinated storage and analysis of information regarding different aspects of highway transportation, able to be displayed in new, attractive ways. The new generation of management systems that will result from these combined developments will promote different ways of looking at highway infrastructure problems: e.g., a greater reliance on economic as well as engineering principles, involving benefits and costs based upon life-cycle analyses; a corresponding lesser reliance on arbitrary standards and criteria; greater flexibility in the types of analyses conducted and interpretation of results; and an enhanced ability to consider the implications of future scenarios (e.g., introduction of new highway technology).