Roadway Maintenance Research Articles

Strategies to Optimize the Deployment of Roadway Maintenance Machines for Overnight Maintenance in Urban Rail Systems

This research investigates the effectiveness of several strategies to deploy roadway maintenance machines (RMMs) in preparation for overnight maintenance in rapid transit systems. Owing to the short windows of time available for maintenance activities in the overnight period (i.e., when revenue service is suspended), efficient deployment of RMMs is an important aspect of ensuring adequate productive time for crews at work locations. Four deployment strategies are investigated: optimizing the long-term yard storage locations of RMMs; optimizing the assignment of RMMs to work zones; optimizing the use of nonrevenue locations within the network to “preposition” RMMs closer to their work zones; and optimizing the routing and scheduling of RMMs through the network to reach the work zones. The strategies have been tested using data from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The results indicated that the proposed strategies reduced the time needed for RMM deployment. In the case of prepositioning, the median prepositioned RMM was deployed 23 min earlier than in the baseline (i.e., routing and scheduling alone) scenario, and the median RMM receiving a new yard storage location was deployed 16 min earlier. This was achieved without widespread negative impacts to RMMs that could not benefit from the proposed strategies for operational reasons. The results also demonstrated the potential of the routing and scheduling model as a tool to evaluate the deployment time impacts of distance-minimizing strategies, considering factors such as conflicts between RMMs and the availability of tracks to avoid disruptions to revenue service.

Comparative analysis of cold in-place recycling for roadway maintenance and rehabilitation from the perspectives of technical-cost-environmental nexus

Cold-in-place recycling (CIR) is a sustainable road pavement maintenance technology for its on-site operation and complete reuse of reclaimed asphalt pavement. However, its sustainable performance has not been thoroughly investigated. This study aims to systematically assess and compare CIR against three alternative maintenance technologies from technical, cost and environmental perspectives, specially taking into account different numbers of repaired layers. The technical improvement in full-depth loading resistance is evaluated using a newly developed multi-sequenced repeated load (MSRL) test. Environmental impacts are assessed through life cycle assessment (LCA), while cost analysis is conducted using life cycle cost analysis (LCCA), with consistent system boundary applied. Additionally, a nexus analysis is performed using a modified Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix to comprehensively examine the sustainable performance of different treatments and further explore the synergies and trade-offs among various assessment aspects. The multi-dimensional sustainable assessment results reveal the influence factors in each perspective. Final BCG matrix shows that CIR can achieve the comparable technical performance to the conventional maintenance treatment, while reducing GHG emissions by 60.8% and cost by 45.8%. The methodology and findings of this study are expected to provide helpful insights for decision-makers in reducing negative impacts and promoting integrated management for sustainability.

Hydro-mechanical analysis of water-induced pothole patch failure in asphalt pavement

Pothole repair is one of most common roadway maintenance to improve driving comfort and reduce safety risk. This study aimed to conduct hydro-mechanical analysis of water-induced pothole patch failure in asphalt pavement. Three-dimensional finite element models are used to analyze the coupled hydraulic and mechanical responses of surface patching under moving traffic loading considering different wheel path locations and asphalt patch sizes. The model results under dry and saturated conditions were validated against field measurements and simulation results from the literature, respectively. Laboratory tests were conducted to measure dynamic modulus and permeability of asphalt patch material. Analysis results show that regardless of patch size and wheel path, the maximum pore water pressure occurs either at the patch body or the interface between the patch and surrounding pavement when traffic loading approaches the pothole. The hydraulic scouring effect was observed with positive and negative pore pressure under moving loads. The maximum interface shear stress at the interface between the patch and surrounding pavement under traffic loading was found close to the bonding strength, especially for big-shallow patch. The comparison of asphalt patch responses at dry and saturated conditions indicates that water intrusion mainly accelerates edge disintegration of pothole patch.

Assessing the effects of geometric layout and signing on drivers’ behavior through work zones

Work zones are commonly deployed within or near the traveled way during roadway maintenance, repair, and construction works. Work zones could translate into hazardous spots requiring higher driver attention and possibly leading to increased crash rates and crash severity. This research addresses the effects of various design elements on drivers' behavior through work zones. Chekka diversion, currently implemented along the main Coastal Highway M-51 in Lebanon, is analyzed as it currently presents numerous non-standard design elements. A proposed standard diversion design is compared to the current non-standard diversion layout. A driving simulator has been used to model the current and the proposed diversions. Four driving scenarios involving the combination of the two diversion designs under different visibility conditions are used to evaluate drivers' behavior and responses through the diversion zones. The simulator study results showed that the proposed work zone geometry significantly improved the drivers' behavior compared to the exiting diversion. The visibility conditions have proven to have a more profound effect on driver behavior through the current non-standard diversion design. The pavement markings used along the proposed diversion reduce the vehicles' lateral fluctuations by 50% compared to the current design. The recorded driving patterns prove useful for work zone design to minimize the Lebanese drivers' risky behavior and enhance road safety.

An equilibrium approach for compensating public–private partnership concessionaires for reduced tolls during roadway maintenance

This study considers the possibility of exploiting excess capacity along concurrent tolled roadway facilities operating in a public–private partnership for the purpose of alleviating traffic congestion during improvement action execution on a public roadway facility. Increased access to the tolled facility is enabled by reducing or suspending tolls during periods of roadway improvement action and appropriately compensating the tolled facility concessionaire for expected losses. The problem of determining an optimal reduced toll pricing strategy and compensation level is referred to as the Maintenance Timing and Price Discovery (MTPD) problem. A multi-level optimization model and iterative solution method are proposed to solve this problem. As toll prices often depend on traffic levels, the model also determines the optimal timing and time-of-day and day-of-week for executing the set of required improvement actions over the planning horizon to ensure a lowest total cost. The multi-level model consists of two bilevel models. Solution of the greater model is attained at a Stackelberg equilibrium between these two bilevel models. An additional Stackelberg equilibrium is sought between upper and lower levels of each of these two bilevel models individually. The MTPD formulation and general solution methodology are applied on an illustrative example from which computational results are obtained. Insights from the results show that this strategy for alleviating traffic congestion during roadway maintenance or other improvement activities can lead to substantial savings in total agency and user costs.

Stability control of overburden and coal pillars in the gob-side entry under dynamic pressure

To improve the recovery ratio of coal resources and stress environment of the roadway, gob-side entries have been widely implemented to numerous coal mines in China. Traditional gob-side entry is generally excavated after the gob of the adjacent longwall face is stabilized. To achieve a balance between the seam mining and roadway excavation, numerous mine coals use the method of driving a roadway along the next gob, which heads adjacent to the advancing coal face, and maintaining a narrow coal pillar. Consequently, the dynamic pressure occurs at the gob-side entry; accordingly, the difficulty of roadway maintenance is increased. However, the traditional gob-side entry stability analysis is not applicable to a gob-side entry under dynamic pressure. In this study, the overburden structural model and coal pillar stress model of a gob-side entry under dynamic pressure were established considering the compression load of the immediate roof and gangue and influence law of the cantilever beam length of main roof. Subsequently, thickness, hardness, and deformation of the immediate roof on the stability of the gob-side entry were studied, and the theoretical criterion for the stability of “voussoir beam” structure and coal pillar of the gob-side entry under dynamic pressure were proposed. Based on the geological conditions in tailgate # 110505 of the Yushuling coal mine, reasonable measures were taken considering the aspects of roof cutting and pressure relief, coal pillar design, and surrounding rock reinforcement. After applying the proposed measures, the width of the coal pillar was reduced from 15 m to 4 m. Meanwhile, the grouting cable beam was used to strengthen the roof, and the narrow coal pillar was reinforced by a bidirectional grouting anchor cable was developed. As a result, after the roadway was stabilized, the roof-to-floor convergence and two-side convergence were 268 mm and 105 mm, respectively. Moreover, the stress concentration factor of the coal pillar was 1.20. The stability characteristics of the overburden and coal pillar of the gob-side entry under dynamic pressure were effectively controlled, and remarkable economic benefits were obtained in this coal mine. The techniques proposed for maintaining the stability of the 4 m wide coal pillar and ensuring the bidirectional grouting reinforcement have been successfully applied in a coal mine for the first time, which have high innovation and application values. This study provides a reference for the design and maintenance of the gob-side entry under dynamic pressure.

Detection and classification of pavement damages using wavelet scattering transform, fractal dimension by box-counting method and machine learning algorithms

Pavement condition assessment is essential for roadway maintenance and rehabilitation processes. Image-based inspection methods provide information regarding the surface of the pavement and allow quantitative analyses of pavement conditions. A methodology for the detection of damages in the pavement, by applying pattern recognition and image analysis and machine learning algorithms, is presented in the paper. This methodology consists of image acquisition, image processing using the wavelet scattering transform (WST), feature extraction employing the fractal dimension by box-counting method, and finally classification. The methodology was applied for the detection of three common types of damages: potholes, longitudinal and alligator cracks. Two different supervised learning algorithms, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), were used for classification and results are compared training Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). The multilayer ANN an overall accuracy of 98.36% and an F-score of 98.33%, while the SVM an accuracy of 97.22% and an F-score of 97.22%.

A novel transformer-based network with attention mechanism for automatic pavement crack detection

Currently, there is an urgent need to utilize automatic approaches to detecting pavement cracks for roadway maintenance. Taking advantage of the development of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), previous studies put more effort into the detection of the pavement crack with local feature extraction using consecutive convolutional operations. However, it results in the loss of detailed information, making CNNs fail to accurately inspect the long and complicated cracks under noisy conditions, which are common on the pavement surface, negatively impacting detection accuracy. In order to cope with this issue, this study proposes a Transformer-based semantic segmentation network that unifies the Swin Transformer as the Encoder and the UperNet with the attention module as the Decoder for robust and accurate pixel-level pavement crack detection. Leveraging the hierarchical architecture of Swin Transformer, the global and long-range semantic features of the pavement crack are learned for improved segmentation accuracy. With the assistance of the attention module, the Decoder can retrieve more details of the crack information, presenting accurate detection results on the fine and tiny pavement cracks. To validate the superiority of the proposed network, we have trained and tested six semantic segmentation models on three public pavement crack datasets. Compared to other models, the proposed model achieves the best performance on visualization and evaluation metrics of mean F1(mF1) and mean Recall (mRecall) with 0-pixel tolerance. It paves the way for future applications of automatic pavement crack detection using Transformed-based networks.

Application of Gob-Side Entry Driving in Fully Mechanized Caving Mining: A Review of Theory and Technology

China has abundant coal resources, and the distribution of coal seams is complex. Thick coal seams account for more than 45% of all coal seams. Fully mechanized top coal caving mining has the advantages of large production, high efficiency, and low cost. In fully mechanized caving mining, especially in fully mechanized caving mining of extra-thick coal seams, the mining space is ample, the mine pressure is severe, and the roadway maintenance is complex. As a result, it is necessary to summarize and discuss the gob-side entry driving of fully mechanized caving in theory and technology, which will help to promote the further development of fully mechanized caving gob-side entry driving technology. First, in recent years, the research hotspots of gob-side entry driving have focused on the deformation mechanism and the control method of the roadway surrounding rock. Secondly, this paper discusses the theoretical models of the “triangle-block” and “beam” for the activity law of the overlying strata in gob-side entry driving, including the lateral breaking “large structure” model, compound key triangle block structure model in the middle and low position, the high and low right angle key block stability mechanics model, elastic foundation beam model, low-level combined cantilever beam + high-level multilayer masonry beam structure model, and the vertical triangular slip zone structure model. It introduces the “internal and external stress field theory” and the “stress limit equilibrium zone model”. Thirdly, it summarizes several numerical simulation analysis methods in different conditions or research focuses and selects appropriate constitutive models and simulation software. Finally, it introduces surrounding rock control technology, including two ribs, the roof, and under challenging conditions. It provides a method reference for support in similar projects.

Assessing transportation infrastructure impacts from supply chain restructuring for increased domestic production of critical resources

Contrary to past sentiment for globalization in manufacturing and production, the United States (U.S.) and other nations have shown a strong desire for increased domestic manufacturing and production, especially of critical products. While the benefits are many and include increased national security, increased local jobs, greater earnings and improved economies, the costs to support expanded local or regional production capacity may be nontrivial and extend beyond capital investments. That is, there are social costs for a region and nation that should also be considered. This paper proposes an analytical framework and related mathematical procedures for assessing the impacts of supply chain restructuring and domestic capacity expansion needed for increased domestic manufacturing and production on the operation and maintenance of a nation’s roadways. The impacts are given in terms of added traffic congestion, roadway maintenance costs, fuel consumption, emissions and traffic incidents as a function of estimated added domestic truck loads and truck miles required for expanding domestic production capacity. The framework exploits concepts from the mathematical formulation of multi-commodity, multi-echelon, fixed-charge facility location problems. It was applied in a case study involving increased N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) domestic production within the U.S. This application predicts notable impacts due to an increase in U.S.-based N95 FFR production, with sizable impacts stemming from local raw materials and middle products transportation needed to support increased domestic production. Thus, the case study shows the importance of considering the impacts of increased domestic manufacturing and production on infrastructure and the need for the proposed framework and methodologies. The analytical framework has broad utility and can also be used to compare facility siting proposals, as well as localization and regionalization strategies.

Gravel Loss Prediction Model Using Beta Regression

Unpaved roads consist of considerable portions of the roadway network in many countries. These roads play crucial roles in the development of infrastructure systems, advancements of socio-economic activities and improvements of the agricultural and production sectors. Thereby, unpaved roads benefit the underdeveloped, rural, and remote neighborhoods, and act as lifelines for these geographically disadvantaged communities. Frequent and regular maintenance activities keep the roadway system operational at a desired level of service. Resurfacing is one of the major maintenance treatments for unpaved roads. A gravel loss prediction model (GLPM) can evaluate the impacts of varying magnitude of resurfacing treatments on the roadway performance. Thus, a GLPM can provide valuable insights for roadway maintenance budget scheduling and decision-making tasks. In this paper, the backgrounds, input requirements, and output results of three popular GLPMs were reviewed. These models were (i) Highway Development and Management Model 4 (HDM-4), (ii) South African Technical Recommendation for Highways Model 20 (TRH-20), and (iii) Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) Model. In addition, the practicality of roadway resurfacing frequency charts which were developed based on these models was also evaluated. This study determined that the existing GLPMs and the corresponding roadway resurfacing frequency charts were often unreliable and impractical. In this study, a beta regression (BR) analysis methodology was utilized to develop and calibrate a GLPM for Iowa. Because of its simplified yet effective nature, the BR model outperformed the popular GLPMs and offered a practical approach to quantify annual roadway gravel loss.

Thick-Anchored Dual-Layer Locking Supporting Technique in Gob-Side Entry Driving with the Narrow Pillar: A Case Study

Roadway maintenance of the gob-side entry driving with narrow pillars is a key issue that needs to be considered in underground mining. In this paper, a thick-anchored dual-layer locking (TADL) supporting technique is proposed, in which, the flexible bolt and the cable are used as the main bodies of the foundation supporting layer and the deep reinforcement layer, respectively. In the instantaneous deformation stage after excavation, TADL is applied to form a thick-anchored bearing structure in time, aiming to achieve the following effects: (1) prevent the delamination of the roadway at the initial stage of excavation, (2) avoid the reduction of the bearing capacity of the surrounding rock structure, and (3) effectively control the plastic zone development and surrounding rock deformation of roof strata. Finally, the mining conditions of gob-side entry driving with narrow pillars are selected for engineering application and verification. The results of numerical simulation and field industrial tests show that the TADL support technique can effectively control the deformation of surrounding rock and drive away tensile stress. Compared with the original support scheme, the roof displacement of the roadway is significantly reduced by more than 16% after TADL support. This study provides a reference for the stability control of roadway roofs under similar conditions.

Machine Learning and Reverse Methods for a Deeper Understanding of Public Roadway Improvement Action Impacts during Execution

The execution of public roadway maintenance, rehabilitation, and restoration activities disturb normal traffic flows, resulting in roadway capacity reduction, inducing travel time delays, and promoting traffic safety concerns. While they improve public roadway performance once complete, the impacts endured in executing these actions is significant. This work seeks a deeper understanding of the effects of improvement actions on traffic by juxtaposing their effects against those arising from traffic incidents that cause similar capacity reductions and related negative externalities. This is accomplished through direct and reverse comparisons with traffic incident impacts. A measure of unit delay that uses observations to determine event location extent, duration, and propagation direction was computed at both facility and corridor-wide levels to establish the degree to which improvement actions and traffic incidents are similar or dissimilar. Alternative hybrid machine-learning methods are proposed to identify and contrast those traffic characteristics that contribute greatest to correct detection of each type of downtime event. These techniques can detect traffic events and accurately distinguish between event types (whether a collision or improvement activity). The techniques were applied on seven months of data obtained from 2019 along three corridors from northern, southern, and western regions of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Those traffic characteristics that contribute greatest to correct event detection of each event type were identified and their similarities and differences were studied. General linear, multivariate regression equations were also developed for more general application.

Road performance of waterborne unsaturated polyester concrete cold patching materials for potholes in bituminous pavement

• A WUPC was developed as cold-patching materials for potholes. • The composition proportion and preparation process of WUPC was investigated based on the Marshall design procedure. • The road performance of WUPC was analyzed through rutting, water damage resistance, UV aging and fatigue resistance test, etc. • The feasibility and advantages for WUPC as cold-patching materials in bituminous pavement maintenance was proved. Cold-patching materials are extensively applied to the repairing of potholes and localized distresses involving roadway maintenance operations. Considering that there has been only few research on the performance amelioration of cold-mixing and cold-patching materials concerning the characteristics of slow strength formation, low bonding and high-temperature performance, this study proposed a waterborne unsaturated polyester concrete (WUPC) cold-patching material for potholes, and determined the composition proportion and preparation process based on the Marshall design procedure as well as the contrastive analysis on the experimental results in relation to Marshall test, cohesion test, rutting test, low temperature bending test, moisture-damage resistance test, ultraviolet radiation aging test and anti-fatigue property test. The results demonstrated that WUPC with the optimal resin-stone ratio possessed the excellent deformation resistance, moisture susceptibility and fatigue resistance. With the purpose of guaranteeing the construction reliability and standard requirement, the allowable reserved time and traffic opening time were determined as 3.5–4 h and 2 h, respectively. The study proved the feasibility and advantages for the investigation utilizing WUPC as cold-patching materials in bituminous pavement maintenance.

Novel SHRP method showed alternative deicers outperform NaCl brine for certain winter roadway maintenance applications

Transportation agencies are responsible for balancing public safety and environmental impacts in their winter roadway maintenance operations. In managing the environmental impact of deicing procedures, a minimum effective dose should be used and less harmful deicing substances should be considered based on rigorous standardized tests. The subject research presents a modified laboratory test procedure and test apparatus for implementation in the evaluation and selection of deicing agents and definition of an appropriate and efficient application rate. The proposed test procedure is less cumbersome, produces more readily controlled experimental conditions, and is expected to provide improved reproducibility compared to current test methods. This modified approach is then used to evaluate the efficacy of several liquid deicing agents which could be used as an alternative to conventional NaCl brine. The comparative testing found that alternative deicing agents performed as well or better than NaCl brine, sometimes even at lower application rates. In particular, the addition of biocomponents or glycerol byproducts was shown to improve performance of chloride deicing agents.

Study on the ideal location of a bottom drainage roadway

The bottom drainage roadway plays a crucial role in preventing coal and gas outbursts by using underground gas drainage methods. Therefore, it is essential to select the ideal position of the bottom drainage roadway. In this paper use a combination of geological data and numerical simulation to study the ideal position of the bottom drainage roadway, we taking the gas drainage of the first workface of No. 3 coal seam in the Yuxi coal mine in China as an example. The geological study showed a limestone marker layer at an average vertical distance of 14 m from the first mining face. Using this marker layer, the bottom drainage roadway could be excavated without the risk of accidentally exposing the coal seam, and less crosscutting borehole drilling from the bottom drainage roadway would be required. Based on the needs of gas control, the layout of the bottom drainage roadway was selected as an external stagger type. Combined with the numerical simulation results, when located 20 m outside of the mining workface 'footprint' on the horizontal projection, the bottom drainage roadway was a sufficient distance from the stress concentration area during mining of workface 1301, which facilitated roadway maintenance. Furthermore, the length of the crosscutting boreholes is also relatively short, which reduces the amount and cost of drilling. The results of this study are expected to provide a reference for the selection of an ideal position of the bottom drainage roadway in field engineering.

Stabilization of Rock Roadway under Obliquely Straddle Working Face

A floor rock roadway under an oblique straddle working face is a typical dynamic pressure roadway. Under the complex disturbance of excavation engineering works, the roadway often undergoes stress concentration and severe deformation and damage. To solve the problem of surrounding rock stability control for this roadway type, this study considered the East Forth main transport roadway in the floor strata of the 1762(3) working face of the Pansan coal mine. In situ ground pressure monitoring and numerical simulation calculation using the FLAC2D software were carried out. The influence laws of the surrounding rock lithology, the vertical and horizontal distance between the roadway and overlying working face, the positional relationship between the roadway and the overlying working face, and the support form and strength of the rock surrounding an oblique straddle roadway were obtained. Within the range of mining influence, the properties of the rock surrounding the roof and floor were very different, and the deformation of the rock surrounding the two sides exhibited regional difference. The influence range of the mining working face on the rock floor of the roadway was approximately 30–40 m, and that of horizontal mining was approximately 50–60 m. The mining influence on the rock surrounding the side roadway of the working face is large, but the mining influence on the roadway below is small. Using FLAC2D, the stress and displacement characteristics of the rock surrounding the obliquely straddle roadway were compared and analyzed when the bolt support, combined bolt and shed support, and bolt–shotcreting–grouting support were adopted, the proposed support scheme of bolting and shotcreting was successfully applied. The deformation of the rock surrounding the roadway was satisfactorily controlled, and the results were useful as a reference for similar roadway maintenance projects.

Stress and deformation analysis of gob-side pre-backfill driving procedure of longwall mining: a case study

At present, non-pillar entry protection in longwall mining is mainly achieved through either the gob-side entry retaining (GER) procedure or the gob-side entry driving (GED) procedure. The GER procedure leads to difficulties in maintaining the roadway in mining both the previous and current panels. A narrow coal pillar about 5–7 m must be left in the GED procedure; therefore, it causes permanent loss of some coal. The gob-side pre-backfill driving (GPD) procedure effectively removes the wasting of coal resources that exists in the GED procedure and finds an alternative way to handle the roadway maintenance problem that exists in the GER procedure. The FLAC3D software was used to numerically investigate the stress and deformation distributions and failure of the rock mass surrounding the previous and current panel roadways during each stage of the GPD procedure which requires "twice excavation and mining". The results show that the stress distribution is slightly asymmetric around the previous panel roadway after the “primary excavation”. The stronger and stiffer backfill compared to the coal turned out to be the main bearing body of the previous panel roadway during the "primary mining". The highest vertical stresses of 32.6 and 23.1 MPa, compared to the in-situ stress of 10.5 MPa, appeared in the backfill wall and coal seam, respectively. After the "primary mining", the peak vertical stress under the coal seam at the floor level was slightly higher (18.1 MPa) than that under the backfill (17.8 MPa). After the "secondary excavation", the peak vertical stress under the coal seam at the floor level was slightly lower (18.7 MPa) than that under the backfill (19.8 MPa); the maximum floor heave and maximum roof sag of the current panel roadway were 252.9 and 322.1 mm, respectively. During the "secondary mining", the stress distribution in the rock mass surrounding the current panel roadway was mainly affected by the superposition of the front abutment pressure from the current panel and the side abutment pressure from the previous panel. The floor heave of the current panel roadway reached a maximum of 321.8 mm at 5 m ahead of the working face; the roof sag increased to 828.4 mm at the working face. The peak abutment pressure appeared alternately in the backfill and the coal seam during the whole procedure of "twice excavation and mining" of the GPD procedure. The backfill provided strong bearing capacity during all stages of the GPD procedure and exhibited reliable support for the roadway. The results provide scientific insight for engineering practice of the GPD procedure.

Performance measurement and resource sharing among business sub-units in the presence of non-discretionary factors

PurposeThis paper aims to apply a new approach for resource sharing and efficiency estimation of subunits in the presence of non-discretionary factors and partial impacts among inputs and outputs in the data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework.Design/methodology/approachFirst, inspired by the Imanirad et al.’s model (2013), the authors consider that each decision-making unit (DMU) may consist of several subunits, that each of which can be affected by non-discretionary inputs. After that, the Banker and Morey’s model (1996) is used for modeling non-discretionary factors. For measuring performance of several subunits, which can be considered as DMUs, the aggregate efficiency is suggested. At last, the overall efficiency is computed and compared with each other.FindingsOne of the important features of proposed model is that each output in this model applies discretionary input according to its need; therefore, the result of this study will make it easier for the managers to make better decisions. Also, it indicates that significant predictions of the development of the overall efficiency of DMUs can be based on observing the development level of subunits because of the influence of non-discretionary input. Therefore, the proposed model provides a more reasonable and encompassing measure of performance in participating non-discretionary and discretionary inputs to better efficiency. An application of the proposed model for gaining efficiency of 17 road patrols is provided.Research limitations/implicationsMore non-discretionary and discretionary inputs can be taken into consideration for a better analysis. This study provides us with a framework for performance measures along with useful managerial insights. Focusing upon the right scope of operations may help out the management in improving their overall efficiency and performance. In the recent highway maintenance management systems, the environmental differences exist among patrols and other geotechnical services under the climate diverse. Further, in some cases, there might exist more than one non-discretionary factor that can have different effects on the subunits’ performance.Practical implicationsThe purpose of this paper was to measure the performance of a set of the roadway maintenance crews and to analyze the impact of non-discretionary inputs on the efficiency of the roadway maintenance. The application of the proposed model, on the one hand, showed that each output in this model uses discretionary input according to its requirement, and on the other hand, the result showed that meaningful predictions of the development of the overall efficiency of DMUs can be based on observing the development level of subunits because of the impact of non-discretionary input.Originality/valueProviding information on resource sharing by taking into account non-discretionary factors for each subunit can help managers to make better decisions to increase the efficiency.

Preface

International Conference on Digital Solutions for Automotive Industry, Roadway Maintenance and Traffic Control (DS ART 2020) International Conference on Digital Solutions for Automotive Industry, Roadway Maintenance and Traffic Control was held virtually on 14–16 December 2020. Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University (MADI), Moscow, Russia organized DS ART 2020, with the promotional sponsorship of International Association for Automotive and Road Engineering Education (IAAREE).Due to the pandemic and travel restrictions, the event was held in the virtual format via Microsoft Teams conferencing tool. The access to the meetings was provided for all speakers and preregistered staff. The plenary session is shown on the picture below.The participants came together to discuss the topical issues of automobile and roadway complex, automotive production, maintenance and repair as well as the acute problem of traffic control. The questions of personnel training in the automotive industry were also raised. The need to move towards creating digital solutions in the industry was emphasized.All the papers submitted to DS ART 2020 were carefully reviewed and proofread by the editors to select the most valuable and significant ones. They cover the range of relevant research on the current state of the automotive industry and innovative ways to solve its problems.We express our gratitude to all the participants and the organizing committee for their contribution to preparing the DS ART 2020 proceedings.List of Images, Scientific Committee, Organizing Committee, are available in this pdf.