RAMS-DO1 as a Decision Analysis Tool

Details

• Creators:
  Fernando, Emmanuel ; Fowler, John ; Scullion, Tom
• Corporate Creators:
  Texas Transportation Institute. Texas A&M University
• Corporate Contributors:
  Texas State Department of Highways and Public Transportation
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Computer Programs Decision Making Driver Rehabilitation High Volume Roads Maintenance Optimization Pavements
• Publication/ Report Number:
  TX-88/930-3
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Texas
• Edition:
  Interim: September 1987 - August 1988
• Corporate Publisher:
  Texas Transportation Institute. Texas A&M University
• Abstract:
  The RAMS series of programs were developed to assist the Texas SDHPT with its PMS activities. This report describes the evaluation of the RAMS-District optimization Program in selecting projects to maximize network benefit. The trial involved using the system to analyze the decisions made by a specific Texas District in 1985 to allocate its maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) funds. The decisions made by the District staff were compared with those recommended by the optimization scheme. The study indicated that the RAMS-DOI program has great potential for assisting the Districts in allocating its resources. However, in this study there was only limited agreement between the projects recommended by RAMS and those selected by the District staff. This was found to be due to the following two reasons. First, the needs of the District were greatly in excess of funds available. An estimate of the overall District need for M&R work was $35 million; however, the District's allocation was only $12.6 million. Therefore, the District had a large mileage of pavements in substandard condition and only 35% of the funds available to address that need. The second reason was that the District concentrated its M&R selections on the higher volume roads, whereas RAMS selected both high and low volume projects. This selection was based on its objective function which calculates benefit caused by improving pavement condition independent of the traffic served. This indicated the need to expand the RAMS objective function, and therefore a traffic factor was introduced in later runs.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b399dc037278cc9c5ce171cbd46be762a885021b5726ccac2f5bbfc2b951828b2725cdb21fe4f95fd0336dffe332b009bec2a108b76154b9d3273a067f7b4534
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/86356/dot_86356_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.41 MB ]