Adaptation of HDM-4 Tool for Strategic Analysis of Urban Roads Network

The Urban roads constitute about 9.0% (4.11 lakh kms) of the total road length in India. The urban roads especially in metropolitan cities carry a huge traffic volume which affects the road condition adversely. The other factors responsible for poor roads in urban areas are the problem of overloading, encroachment on the road land and ribbon development along road side, lack of attention to drainage which may lead to failure of pavement, and various utility services which necessitate frequent digging thereby disturbing homogeneity of pavement. Therefore, there is a need of an efficient Urban Pavement Maintenance Management System (UPMMS) which would be useful to the highway agencies in planning pavement maintenance strategies in a scientific manner for urban cities, to ensure rational utilization of limited maintenance funds. This paper describes the adaptation of the World Bank's highway development and management model HDM-4 at the strategic level. Urban road network of 21 sections, consisting of total 60 km road length of Noida city, near New Delhi, capital of India, were analyzed. The analysis was carried out to maximize the net present value (NPV) and minimize the costs to achieve a desirable target international roughness index (IRI). The analysis results presented the need for the optimal capital and recurrent maintenance required to maintain the urban road network in serviceable condition. The urban roads can be managed and maintained effectively using the strategy application of HDM-4.