Environment

Selection of maintenance techniques is always a balance between the administering authority costs and social and environmental costs and outcomes. This project provides practical information and a methodology (including a worked example) for considering the balance between these costs. Characteristics of the problem include: - a need to consider a broad range of beneficial outcomes including social, economic and environmental outcome areas in decision making in the context of constrained budgets - a need to consider a broad range of costs including environmental/social costs (delays, noise, air, water, land) and the administering authority costs. This report is intended to assist road managers and maintenance personnel in three ways: - to raise awareness that road maintenance can lead to social and environmental impacts - to emphasise that social and environmental values (in addition to engineering, technical and economic factors) may also drive the development of maintenance programs - to illustrate how the selection of maintenance techniques and operational approaches can both reduce the risk of adverse social and environmental impacts and enhance social and environmental values.