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The highway network of a country forms the backbone of its economy and represents a huge investment

in millions of dollars that allows for the safe and efficient movement of people and goods. Economically

feasible and technically sound decisions on design, construction, maintenance, rehabilitation, and

reconstruction of highway pavements are crucial for preserving the highway network in an acceptable

condition. The economic prosperity of a country is strongly associated with the relative size and physical

condition of its road network, which is the most important component of its transportation

infrastructure (Hudson et al., 1997). High paved road density values in Km per million inhabitants

(Queiroz et al., 1994; Mobility, 2001; Uddin, 2002a) are reported for industrialized countries (examples:

12,517 for the United States; 9,330 for the European Union of Western European countries; 9,200 for

Japan; and 7,880 for Central and Eastern European countries). Comparatively low values of this

important economic development indicator are observed in developing countries (examples: 104 for

Afghanistan; under 200 for China and India; 310 for Nigeria; and 763 for Brazil). These trends show that

new construction and upgrade road projects consume most road funds in many developing countries,

and more funds are allocated in industrialized nations to maintenance, rehabilitation, and preservation

of the existing pavement assets. As competition for funding among different sectors of the economy and

society has grown, there is a critical need to implement modern management and systems engineering

tools to assist decision makers for cost-effective and longer lasting pavement construction and effective

use of funds for timely maintenance to preserve the condition and prolong the life of pavement assets.