Shattering PlatesMost of us have experienced a situation where we come across a bumpy stretch of road or a rough patch of pavement. As we get to the end of this bumpy stretch, it’s usually the same expression: “Someone should fix that darn road!”  Well, should they? StreetSaver’s philosophy, in its simplest terms, is “keeping good roads good”. The entire outlook of applying preventative maintenance to a good road while letting a poor road deteriorate while waiting for funding might seem foreign to many. StreetSaver proves this method to be the most cost effective. How does it do it?

Pavement Condition Index or PCI is the composite index StreetSaver uses to measure the pavement condition of the road surface. Its scale ranges from 0 to 100 with 0 being the pavement in the worst possible condition and in need of complete rehabilitation to 100 being the pavement in perfect condition with no work needed. The key to StreetSaver’s effectiveness lies in this index. A road is costlier to completely rehabilitate after it’s fallen into poor condition than it would have been had preventative maintenance been applied while still in good condition.

Imagine having 100 roads that are all slowly deteriorating. The first thought is usually to begin work on the worst off. This would be very costly. Once the worst one has been completed the second and third worst are now in the same state of disarray. Imagine a slow moving conveyer belt with porcelain plates that are continually falling off and shattering. You can begin to piece together the shattered plates (rehabilitation) while dealing with the pace of those that continue to fall. Or you can work on removing the plates from the conveyer belt altogether (preventative maintenance). Which would be more cost effective? 

StreetSaver uses PCI to trigger maintenance strategies. If best management practices are followed, it will deliver the promise to “keep good roads good”, while taking into consideration the roads that are in dire need of complete rehabilitation. This formula takes care of all roads in the most timely and cost effective matter while most importantly keeping the bigger picture and end result well in mind.

 

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