1. Preventive Maintenance
Module 1-2
Introduction to
Preventive Maintenance
This module provides background information and introduces the concepts of pavement preventive maintenance. It is included to help all participants approach pavement preventive maintenance from a similar viewpoint.
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2. Learning Outcomes Explain the concept of preventive maintenance
Discuss the importance of treatment timing
List the benefits of a preventive maintenance program
Describe a good candidate pavement for preventive maintenance
Build slide. Introduce these learning outcomes by stating “At the end of this course, you will be able to….”

3. ... or learning from failure
Failing to Learn
Over-applied band-aid crack sealant leads to moratorium in New York
Cracked windshield claims lead to bans (many agencies)
Claims in Michigan lead to restrictions on double chip seals and microsurfacing
Many agencies respond to construction failures by issuing moratoriums on the future use of the treatment. Often these construction failures are the result of failing to:
Select the right project.
Use the right materials.
Follow the correct construction procedures.
Perform the necessary quality control checks.
The goal of the course is to help both contractors and agencies do a better job of constructing preventive maintenance treatments so that we can get in, fix it once, fix it right, get out, and stay out.
... or learning from failure

4. Defining Preventive Maintenance
Planned strategy
Cost effective treatments
Maintains or improves functional condition
Does not increase structural capacity
Q: Ask the participants if they can define preventive maintenance. Spend a few minutes collecting participant responses and writing them on the white board.
A: After collecting sufficient feedback from the group, hit a key to display the list of preventive maintenance characteristics (or defining factors) summarized on this slide. The presented list is built from the definition of preventive maintenance used by AASHTO.
Q: What are measures of functional performance?
A: Functional performance refers to surface characteristics. Examples include ride (typically reported with IRI) and friction (as reported with a skid number).

5. Preventive Maintenance Concept
The basic philosophy behind pavement preventive maintenance is keeping good roads in good conditions. This definition covers all pavement activities. The real challenge is identifying the right treatment, the right pavement, and the right time. It’s more of a challenge because we are trying to do this within a framework or to meet a set of objectives.
Point out that federal dollars can be used for preventive maintenance.
Keeping good roads in good condition!
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6. Preventive Maintenance and Safety
Treatments are excellent opportunity to improve safety characteristics
Potentially more frequent work zones present challenges to both workers and drivers
Safe practices should always be followed
While this course focuses on treatments, the importance of safety should be emphasized by the instructor throughout the presentations. There is a nationwide movement to decrease crashes and fatalities on our nation’s roadways. Up front, preventive maintenance can help to improve the overall safety characteristics of a road, by improving surface characteristics such as skid and drainage.
However, the construction team must constantly be aware of the effect that their presence and their practices have on a safe work site. Safe work zones include a properly designed traffic control plan, including signage and marking. Workers must also wear appropriate safety equipment, such as reflective vests and hard hats, and follow appropriate precautions when handling dangerous materials (such as hot sealants).

7. How do preventive treatments differ from routine/reactive treatments?
Similar treatments…
different TIMING!
Q: How do preventive maintenance treatments differ from maintenance treatments used in a reactive or routine manner?
A: Although some maintenance treatments such as pothole patching are “stop-gap” maintenance activities, they are not ever used in a “preventive” manner. Most of the preventive maintenance treatments are the same maintenance treatments used in a routine/reactive manner, it is just the timing of the treatment that differs.
For example, when a chip seal is applied when the surface condition is poor, it is considered a “reactive” (or maybe a routine) treatment. However, if applied when the pavement condition is relatively good, the treatment is considered a “preventive” application.
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8. Preventive Maintenance Timing
Age of pavement or surface
Condition of pavement
Next scheduled treatment
Timing of treatment applications is more accurately determined by factors such as the age of the pavement, the presence (or absence) of distress, and what is planned in the future for the pavement.
Condition characteristics such as distress (type, severity, and extent), roughness, and friction influence treatment timing.
Other factors such as politics and funding can play a role.

9. Preventive Maintenance Timing
Good
Defer
Action
(Functional or
Pavement Condition
Structural)
Reconstruction
Build slide. Each subsequent click highlights the typical time when different types of activities are undertaken.
This is a conceptual overview that illustrates the appropriate time to do preventive maintenance, as well as other pavement activities.
Use this slide to stress that preventive maintenance is applied when the pavement is in good condition.
As conditions worsen over time, the types of maintenance and rehabilitation activities increase in invasiveness and cost.
Rehabilitation
Poor
Time (Years)
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10. Importance of Treatment Timing
Preventive
Maintenance
Rehabilitation
Pavement Condition
Reactive
Maintenance
Build slide. Use this slide to more specifically demonstrate the consequences of waiting to apply a particular maintenance treatment.
Introduce the chart by showing a standard “do-nothing” performance curve.
Next, show the “old” method of applying “reactive” maintenance later in the pavement’s life as a stop-gap maintenance method. Note the relatively small increase in condition and steep slope of the reactive maintenance performance curve as the application buys some, but generally little, time.
Next, show how conducting rehabilitation later in life instead of reactive maintenance gives you more initial condition improvement and life extension, but it also comes with a much larger price tag.
Finally, show the concept of preventive maintenance where the “same” treatment (as the reactive maintenance) is applied when the pavement is much younger and in much better condition. Applying the same treatments when the condition is good can buy more life, and better condition, for the same money.
Actual preventive maintenance programs must be “local.” That is, agencies have to learn what these curves look like for their own pavements.
Time or Traffic
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11. Expected Benefits Preserve investment High level of service
Improved pavement performance
Long term cost savings/leveling
High level of service
Increased safety
Greater customer satisfaction
This slide is intended to introduce the general benefits expected from preventive maintenance. Stress that the majority of benefits can be organized into those realized by the agency and those realized by the users.
Q: Why is the agency interested in “preserving the investment?”
A: An agency is interested in minimizing maintenance and rehabilitation costs associated with maintaining an acceptable level of service (LOS). In addition, an agency can achieve the “leveling” of costs which is a reduction in the variability of year-to-year money needs.
Q: Why is the agency interested in “maintaining a high level of service for the pavement surface?”
A: It is important to provide a smooth and safe roadway that in turn minimizes the costs incurred by the user (these include vehicle operating costs [VOC], accident costs, and discomfort costs).
Q: Can you think of any other benefits that we may be overlooking?
A: Other possible answers may include better informed decisions and improved strategies and techniques.

12. Preserving the Investment
Keep water out!
Reduce debris infiltration into joints or cracks
Slow aging effects of bituminous pavements
Minimize dynamic loads
Q: How, specifically, does preventive maintenance work to preserve the investment?
A: This build slide shows some of the specific influences of preventive maintenance that benefit pavement performance. Others?
Reducing water infiltration helps protect the underlying layers from being softened or washed away and reduces the effects of freezing and thawing in colder climates.
Keeping incompressibles out of joints and cracks greatly reduces the potential for HMA and PCC crack deterioration, PCC joint spalling, and blow-ups in PCC pavements.
Surface treatments can be used to slow asphalt aging/hardening on HMA pavements.
The rougher the pavement surface, the higher the impact of dynamic vehicle loadings. Explain dynamic loadings if necessary.

13. Maintaining High Level of Service
Maintain good rideability
Maintain good surface friction
Minimize potentially dangerous surface characteristics
Recall that LOS addresses “functional” performance.
Q: Based on all of the types of preventive maintenance techniques that have been presented in this module, what does preventive maintenance specifically do to “maintain an acceptable level of service for the pavement surface?”
A: Use this build slide to show some of the typical answers. Others?
Many of the preventive maintenance activities are applied to “maintain good rideability.” Pavement smoothness is probably the pavement characteristic most noticed by the traveling public.
Other preventive maintenance activities are applied specifically to improve surface friction. Maintaining good surface friction improves roadway safety (mainly by reducing hydroplaning potential, and therefore, wet-weather accidents).
Preventive maintenance treatments are often effective at “correcting” potentially dangerous surface characteristics such as rutting that can lead to hydroplaning, or edge drop off.

14. Impact on Distress Prevent or slow some distresses from occurring
Correct minor surface deterioration
The benefits of preventive maintenance can be assessed by monitoring its immediate impact on distress, as well as the treatment’s performance over time. Specifically, preventive maintenance can:
Prevent or slow many distresses from occurring (e.g., blow-ups on PCC pavements; rutting associated with subgrade softening on HMA pavements).
Correct some minor surface distress when applied (e.g., surface friction restoration, microsurfacing to fill ruts). Make the point that preventive maintenance does not address all types and severities of surface distress.

15. HMA Problems Reduced/Slowed with Preventive Maintenance
Oxidation/raveling
Block cracking
Edge cracking
Crack deterioration
Roughness
Potholes
Q: What HMA distresses can be reduced/or slowed with preventive maintenance?
A: Hitting any key will cause the list of prevented/slowed problems to fly in.
This list of distresses are slowed or prevented because of preventive maintenance treatments’ ability to seal a pavement. Specifically, sealing the pavement protects the surface from oxidizing/hardening and keeps water out of the pavement structure.

16. HMA Problems Corrected with Preventive Maintenance
Minor rutting
Raveling
Bleeding/flushing
Surface friction loss
Roughness
Q: What HMA distresses can be corrected with preventive maintenance?
A: Hitting any key will cause the list of minor distresses effectively corrected with different preventive maintenance problems to appear.
Note that these are all “functional” problems.
Point out that minor rutting is correctable under preventive maintenance only if its development is not due to subgrade softening.

17. PCC Problems Reduced/Slowed with Preventive Maintenance
Loss of fines (pumping)
Corner breaks
Joint faulting
Joint spalling
Crack deterioration
Roughness
Blow-ups
Q: What PCC distresses can be reduced/or slowed with preventive maintenance?
A: Hitting any key will cause the list of prevented/slowed problems to fly in.
These distresses are slowed or prevented because of preventive maintenance treatments’ ability to keep water and incompressibles out of cracks and joints.

18. PCC Problems Corrected with Preventive Maintenance
Joint seal damage
Map cracking and scaling
Surface friction loss
Roughness
Q: What PCC distresses can be corrected with preventive maintenance?”
A: Hitting any key will bring in the list of minor distresses effectively corrected with preventive maintenance.
Again, note that these are not “structural” problems.

19. Evaluating Pavements for Preventive Maintenance
Condition
Friction
Roughness
Ability to carry loads
Although it is not ideal, a pavement evaluation currently provides the most direct information about whether or not preventive maintenance is an appropriate strategy. Information that is useful to process includes:
The types of visible distresses.
The surface friction characteristics.
The roughness (or smoothness) of the pavement.
The structural capacity of the pavement.
Note: Stress that sub-surface distress can be present without visible signs on the surface. Therefore, when you start seeing visible signs of distress, it may sometimes be too late.
There are many different types of condition surveys, including both manual and automated surveys. All begin with a standard way to define the type, severity, and extent of distress. Ask the class participants the following questions to better identify their current practices:
Q: Who does surveys for project selection?
Q: What distresses suggest the need for preventive maintenance?
Q: What distresses suggest it’s too late?
Q: Is a survey performed immediately prior to the project?
What you don’t see may be more important than what you do see!

20. Good Candidate Pavements for Preventive Maintenance
No structural failures
Minimal distress (extent and severity)
Relatively young in age
Minor functional problems
Few historical problems with similar projects
Q: What are the characteristics of pavements that you would consider “good” candidates for preventive maintenance?
A: Pavement characteristics that describe good candidates for preventive maintenance are shown on this slide.
Q: What do we need to know to make this decision? (Ask the audience for some help in determining a list of items. Some examples of pavement characteristics are shown on this slide. Possibly make a list on the white board).
After a list of pavement characteristics has been determined, try and get the audience to interpret these characteristics and really focus on what we need to know to determine if a pavement is a good candidate.
Two types of information are really needed to make an educated decision about whether or not a given project is a good candidate for preventive maintenance:
We need to estimate the current “condition” of the pavement (the next slide discusses what we mean by “condition”).
We need to estimate the expected “future performance” of the pavement.
Therefore, we are trying to determine where the pavement is on its pavement performance curve.

21. When is it too late for preventive maintenance?
HMA Problems
PCC Problems
Potholes
Severely deteriorated cracks
Delamination
Unstable rutting
Blow-ups
Corner breaks
Severely deteriorated cracks
One thing that you can assess from a distress survey is if it is too late to consider “preventive” maintenance. This slide summarizes problems that indicate that the window for preventive maintenance has closed.
See if the class can identify that signs of structural deterioration are indicators that preventive maintenance is not appropriate. Material problems are not broken out here, but if there is a known problem (especially in PCC) it is unlikely to be a candidate. Also, while some of these may begin as low severity environmental problems (e.g., potholes), by the time the distress is severe or widespread, preventive maintenance may not be appropriate.
Q: What types of distresses on an HMA pavement make it an inappropriate candidate for preventive maintenance?
A: Hit any key to have the list of HMA problems appear.
Q: How about on PCC pavements?
A: Hit any key to have the list of PCC problems appear.

22. Review: Learning Outcomes
Explain the concept of preventive maintenance
Discuss importance of treatment timing
List the benefits of a preventive maintenance program
Describe a good candidate pavement for preventive maintenance
This slide is used to reinforce the learning outcomes identified in the beginning of the module. The instructor should call on individual participants for responses to questions and follow up with group discussion.
Outcome 1
Q: What is the basic philosophy behind preventive maintenance?
A: Keeping good roads in good conditions.
Q: How would you complete this statement? “Preventive maintenance may be described as ‘Applying the right treatment…
A: To the right pavement, and the right time.”
Outcome 2
Q: Why is treatment timing so important to preventive maintenance?
A: Because preventive treatments are not structural in nature, it is important that they be applied to pavements that are generally in good condition. They are intended to keep good pavements in good condition rather than restore poor pavements.
Outcome 3
Q: What are the two primary benefits of a preventive maintenance program?
A: Preserving the investment and maintaining a high level of service.
Q: Why does an agency want to preserve the investment.
A: Preserving the investment generally means improved pavement performance and an extension of pavement life. Both of these translate into agency cost savings. It also leads to cost leveling (similar expenditures from year-to-year).
Q: Why is it important to maintain a high level of service?
A: Increased safety and greater customer satisfaction.
Outcome 4
Q: How would you describe a good candidate pavement for preventive maintenance?
A: Good candidate pavements are 1) relatively young in age, 2) are structurally adequate, 3) have little or no distress, 4) show only minor functional problems (typically friction or ride), and 5) have few unexpected problems (no known problems on similar projects).

23. JEOPARDY!
This slide is a segue to a short interactive group workshop modeled after the game show “Jeopardy.”
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24. Preventive Maintenance (PM) Jeopardy
Intro to Preventive Maintenance
$100
$200
$300
$400
$500
For review, we’re going to run through a quick column of Jeopardy! Note: this activity is not intended to be conducted as a competition. The instructor may target one area or group of the audience with a particular question or simply ask the class as a whole.
Rules:
The answer to a question is associated with each displayed dollar amount. The larger the dollar amount, the more difficult the question.
After selecting a dollar amount, the answer to a question will be displayed. The participant’s task is to determine the question that is associated with the displayed answer.
The participant response MUST be in the form of a question. For example, if the following answer was displayed “A book containing definitions of many different words” the participant would answer “What is a dictionary?” If the participant solely answers “dictionary,” the participant is not supposed to get credit for the answer.
Instructions for conducting the game:
To display one of the five questions, click a dollar amount in the column.
After displaying the question, to return to this home page, click on the title (that includes the dollar amount) at the top of the subsequent question page.
Note: to avoid advancing to the next slide with an errant mouse click, you must use the provided links to jump to different pages.
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25. Introduction to PM - $100 Keeping good roads in good condition 1-2.25
Present this slide by stating: “The answer is…<read the answer on the slide>.”
A: What is the overall concept of preventive maintenance?
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26. Introduction to PM - $200 Improved performance
Greater customer satisfaction
Cost savings
Increased safety
Present this slide by stating: “The answer is…<read the answer on the slide>.”
A: What are the benefits to preventive maintenance programs?
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27. Introduction to PM - $300 Potholes Severely deteriorated cracks
Delamination
Unstable rutting
Present this slide by stating: “The answer is…<read the answer on the slide>.”
A: What are HMA pavement distresses that, if observed, make a pavement a poor candidate for preventive maintenance?
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28. Introduction to PM - $400 Age of pavement or surface
Condition of pavement
Next scheduled treatment
Present this slide by stating: “The answer is…<read the answer on the slide>.”
A: What are factors that influence the timing of a selected preventive maintenance treatment?
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29. Introduction to PM - $500 Minor rutting Raveling Bleeding/flushing
Surface friction loss
Roughness
Present this slide by stating: “The answer is…<read the answer on the slide>.”
A: What are HMA distresses that can be corrected with preventive maintenance?
Make sure the participants say corrected rather than prevented.
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