University of Michigan Pavement Management Pilot Program

It is estimated that the University of Michigan (U of M) maintains 12.74 million square feet of hard surfaces.  These include parking decks, parking lots, roads, and sidewalks.  Maintaining this network of transportation routes in a cost-effective manner is crucial to the University of Michigan’s annual Capital Improvement budget.  For long-range planning, it is essential to have cost analysis tools in place to determine where improvement dollars should be spent.

Working closely with U of M’s Engineering, Facilities, and Construction Staff, Spalding DeDecker. (SD) completed a Pavement Management Pilot Study that involved Public Property Improvements, Parking and Transportation Services, Student Housing, and Family Housing.  The purpose of the study was to create a program to direct capitol funds for pavement repair projects to achieve a systematic and valued engineered approach applied uniformly across the University’s matrix of parking lots, roads, sidewalks, and parking deck surfaces.

The program rated assets in the study area relative to condition, use, priority, and surface type.  A five-year capital expenditure program was developed from computerized predictions of how the condition of each surface would change.