ABSTRACT
Thekwini Municipality has implemented a Road Management System with different levels of decision support to allocate funds through Life Cycle Cost Analysis and optimisation of investments under constrained budget conditions. The Municipality uses the ‘area-under-curve’ optimisation function to prioritise maintenance and rehabilitation projects. However there is increasing pressure from non-engineering sectors to adopt a fix-worst-first approach. Roads that have deteriorated rather severely attract the most attention from road users and are also typically the ones highlighted by politicians to show their concern for road users and the broader electorate. While the fix-worst-first approach may be simple and practical, it is expensive and does not optimise the scarce resources of the Municipality. This paper discusses the impact on the paved road network if the Municipality prioritises maintenance and rehabilitation projects using fix-worst-first in lieu of optimisation.
