Varios

The use of an analytical
hierarchy process in pavement
maintenance priority ranking
Rezqallah H. Ramadhan, Hamad I. Al-Abdul Wahhab and
Salih O. Duffuaa

An analytical
hierarchy
process
25

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia
Keywords Analytical hierarchy process, Priority rules, Saudi Arabia
Abstract This paper describes the use of an analyticalhierarchy process (AHP) in determining the
rational weights of importance of pavement maintenance priority ranking factors. These weights
were obtained by capturing the local people’s perception towards this vital part of the pavement
management system (PMS). In this regard, different groups of individuals were asked to estimate
the weight of importance in pavement maintenance of differentfactors for ranking pavement
sections. These factors were road class, pavement condition, operating traffic, riding quality, safety
condition, maintenance cost, and the overall importance of the road section to the community. The
AHP method of pair-wise comparison was employed to get the factor weights, which were compared
with the weights obtained from the direct assignment method. It wasconcluded that the two
methods were statistically similar which confirms that the results of the direct assignment method
can be used safely with a sound reliability and consistency. This conclusion comes from the fact that
the AHP method has a high reputation and applications, and it uses a high-precision technique for
obtaining the weights (priorities) of alternatives or items. Priority factorweights were used in
developing a pavement maintenance priority ranking procedure for a road network. This procedure
was validated by real case studies, and found to be logically and efficiently able to handle the ranking
of a huge number of pavement sections for maintenance and repair.

Introduction
Application of maintenance actions at the right time results in the saving of
considerablemaintenance funds. This is due to the fact that pavements can be
restored, with limited funds, to a near perfect level of service, when of a fair
condition, compared to the cost needed to bring the pavement to the same level,
when the pavement is allowed to deteriorate to a poor condition. This right
maintenance timing can be captured if pavements are evaluated periodically and
managed in arational systematic manner. One of the main activities of any
pavement management system (PMS) is maintenance priority ranking. The
priority setting or ranking process, as used in PMS, aims to rank pavement
sections in an order of urgency for maintenance and repair. The importance of the
prioritization process in PMS comes from the fact that it is the main step before
The authors wish toacknowledge the Civil Engineering Department and Research Institute of
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals for supporting this research. Acknowledgement
is also due to the Ministry of Communication, Municipality of Riyadh, and Municipality of
Dammam in Saudi Arabia, for their cooperation in data collection.

Journal of Quality in Maintenance
Engineering, Vol. 5 No. 1, 1999,
pp. 25-39, ©MCB University Press,
1355-2511

JQME
5,1

26

the final decision on maintenance program execution. The quality of priority
setting can directly influence the effectiveness of available resources that are, in
most cases, the primary judgment of the decision maker (Sharaf, 1993).
Priority analysis is a systematic process that determines the best ranking list
of candidate sections formaintenance based on specific criteria such as
pavement condition, traffic level, pavement function, etc. Various methods and
schemes are used for priority analysis ranging from simple listing based on
engineering judgment to true optimization based on mathematical
formulations. Examples of these different methods are detailed in Haas et al.
(1994). These methods can be divided into two broad...