The Application of Expert Choice Approach Based On Analytical Hierarchy Process in Priority Rating Of Pavement Maintenance: A Case Study in Addis Ababa

Abstract

Maintenance of the road transport network of a country is very crucial to the overall infrastructural development especially for developing countries like Ethiopia. Deferred maintenance activities resulting from budget fluctuations can lead to deteriorated pavement conditions and expose road users to a higher level of risk. As a result, there is a need for methods that can help to select the most cost-effective maintenance projects to control and minimize the risk for road users under budget constraints. This research tries to fill a gap that decision makers in maintenance prioritization. These kinds of arbitrary decisions do not usually guarantee the effectiveness of budget allocation. To overcome these difficulties an objective based AHP method is proposed in this study. The main objective was to use the expert choice approach based on Analytical Hierarchy Process for priority rating of pavement maintenance in AACRA. In this study, ten sample roads were selected form roads that are planned for maintenance in the AACRA by using a purposive sampling method. The distress data for the selected road were collected using visual condition assessment survey and the ranking of most dominant distress were done in Decision Analysis Module for Excel. The percentage damage of identified dominant distress occurred at the selected roads was determined. By taking the ranked distress in Decision Analysis Module for Excel and the road class the weights for each criteria and sub criteria were derived using AHP approach in Supper Decision Software. A questionnaire has been prepared for pair wise comparison of criteria and sub criteria and has been distributed among pavement experts and the results have been calculated in super decision software. Finally priory weights and ranking for the sample roads were obtained. As a conclusion the rating of selected sample roads for maintenance were obtained. The percentage damage of distress for the selected road were also obtained from visual condition assessment survey and the ranking were obtained for the most dominant distress that affect a maintenance prioritization. The weightage influence for the criteria and sub criteria using AHP concept were the other result.on the criteria comparision the principal arterial street has 46% influence and sub arterial street, local and collector road has got 32.4%,14.86% and 6.65% influence respectively. Also the sub criteria raveling, rutting, shoving, crocodile crack and pothole has got 49%, 26.68%, 14.53%, 5.99% and 3.69% respectively. Finally in this research it was observed that the developed analytic hierarchy process model works sufficiently and yields adequate results as well as providing accurate decisions. Considering the multi criteria’s to prioritize the pavement sections for maintenance can have great benefit for the decision maker. AHP method is simple and can be easily understood. For the AACRA it is better to apply a systematic way of prioritization which helps to utilize the maintenance budget properly and fairly.