| The performance of a pavement is affected by the type and quality of maintenance it receives, as well as when the maintenance is performed. Timely preventive maintenance can slow the rate of deterioration of pavement. Delays in maintenance and deferred maintenance can increase the quantity severity of defects. Therefore, preventive maintenance is becoming the norm for most local highway agencies. Such maintenance increases the pavements condition and service life and shows promise in reducing the long-term costs of highway pavement management. Pavement preventive maintenance treatments preserve rather than improve the structural capacity of the pavement structure, and keep the pavements in sound structural condition. In addition, in order to be cost effective, preventive maintenance should be applied before a significant amount of environmental distress occurs. This work seeks to evaluate the advantage of thin overlay by performing a comparative analysis of preventive maintenance methods, and by surveying the use of thin overlays used by local communities in Delaware. Ultimately, the result of this study can be used to start the development of a unified pavement maintenance program that can be implemented by local communities. |
