Prioritization of pavement maintenance sections using objective based Analytic Hierarchy Process

The application of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method for the prioritization of pavement maintenance sections is widespread now-a-days. Although the evaluation of pavement maintenance section through AHP method is simple, where the relative importance (on Saaty's scale) assigned to each parameter in the hierarchy varies between the experts (transportation professionals) consulted, which leads to discrepancies in the final rankings of the sections', due to the subjectivity in the process. Further, experts base their decisions solely on their experience while consideration is not given to the actual quantitative physical condition of the roads. To overcome these difficulties an objective based AHP method is proposed in this study, where pairwise comparison values are assigned based on the collected field data from a road network in Mumbai city, consisting of 28 road sections. The final ranking list of candidate sections takes into consideration the priority weight of alternatives, which reflect the road conditions. The solution of priority ratings of AHP method is compared with the corresponding solution of road condition index method, a traditional pavement maintenance procedure. The findings of the present study suggest that objective based AHP method is more suitable for the prioritization of pavement maintenance of roads.