 Providing maintenance priorities for low-volume roads is a unique process. The purposes of low-volume road maintenance are to reduce the rate of deterioration and increase the life of roads, to reduce vehicle operating costs by providing good riding surfaces, and to keep roads open and safe all year round. The benefits of maintenance are well established. For example, during a five-year period on a typical paved road, proper maintenance may cost $500 per kilometer per year. After five years, there may be a need to reseal at the cost of $9,000 per kilometer. This results in a five-year cost of $11,500 per kilometer. Deferring maintenance is a mistake. The agency may save itself $500 per kilometer each year. But after five years, instead of resealing at a cost of $9,000 per kilometer, the road very well may need major resurfacing at a cost of $60,000 per kilometer to restore it to the same condition as if proper maintenance had been applied. Thus, for a maintenance expenditure of $11,500 per kilometer, savings of nearly $50,000 per kilometer could result from deferred rehabilitation costs. This has a benefit cost ratio of 4 to 1. And it shows that by carrying out effective maintenance on a regular basis, five times the length of road can be maintained for the same price as by adopting a deferred maintenance policy. Three goals of rural road maintenance are to reduce road deterioration, decrease vehicle operating costs, and keep roads open and safe on a continuous basis. Even with proper maintenance, roads deteriorate with time. The rate of this deterioration will depend on the climate, the type and strength of the pavement, the strength of the underlying soil, the volume and speed of traffic, and characteristics of vehicles using the road, and the axle load of the vehicles. The effect of axle loading, and in particular of overloaded vehicles on road maintenance requirements, is considerable. A 10 ton axle causes approximately two and a half times as much deterioration to a road as an axle load of 8 tons. More significantly, an axle load of 16 tons does 20 times as much damage as an 8 ton axle. It is clearly necessary for road maintenance purposes to know the value of the actual axle loading on a road, because minor underestimates can considerably shorten the expected life of a road and increase the maintenance inputs required. From a road maintenance point of view, there is considerable advantage in having appropriate axle load and seasonal load limitations legislation that is effectively enforced. But axle load enforcement must form part of wider legislation dealing with road transport operations as a whole. There are many problems associated with the enforcement of axle load legislation. But whether axle load limits are enforced or not, the most important thing for the road maintenance organization is to know the magnitude of the axle loads actually being carried by roads in order that maintenance can be planned realistically. Another key economic concern is reducing vehicle operating costs. If smoother and more consistent running surfaces can be provided by regular maintenance, fuel consumption and tire and parts wear can be reduced, which leads to a lower cost of operating vehicles on the road. The third key reason for rural road maintenance is to keep roads open on a continuous basis. Roads serve population centers and industry. And if roads are closed by landslides or culvert washouts or because the surface becomes impassable during the wet season, there are serious social and economic consequences. A belief that a road may become impassable can be almost equally disruptive since operators will not wish to risk getting their vehicles stuck or damaged. A case has been noted where in one country, 40 percent of the vehicles fail to reach their destinations because of the state of the roads during the wet season. This resulted in closure of factories for several months. The method for setting up maintenance priorities on rural roads is simple. The first step is to establish the extent of the total maintenance requirement. This is determined by carrying out inspections to assess road conditions. The rates at which riding surfaces deteriorate are closely related to the traffic and vehicle characteristics. A simple road maintenance classification scheme based on traffic volume is shown here. It is not likely that all the necessary resources will be available to complete all work identified during the road inspections. As a result, priorities must be made. The first step is to estimate the total amount of work to be done. Maintenance work can be grouped under three following headings. Routine means required work performed at least once a year, such as grass cutting and grading. Periodic means required every few years, like regravelling. And emergency means non-programmed work in response to floods or other emergencies. It is necessary to allocate limited resources in the most effective manner. There are sophisticated maintenance management systems available to do this. However, a maintenance engineer managing low volume roads may not have such a system available. Therefore, we recommend the following order of priorities be used. Priority one, urgent work, which must be done when an emergency occurs. Priority two, drainage work, since neglect of drainage has serious consequences. Priority three, routine work on pavements. Priority four, periodic work. And priority five, other miscellaneous work. Combining the basic priorities and the traffic counts results in a work plan like this. This is used to prepare a list of maintenance tasks in order of priority. Two main factors often act as constraints to properly maintaining low volume roads. A shortage of experienced workers. And inability to obtain items like equipment, materials, and parts. Such constraints can often be made worse by limited availability of equipment. In some developing countries, availability often ranges between 10 and 30 percent. This lack of availability results in three consequences. Output is reduced in activities like grading, where the equipment is a primary need. Output is reduced in activities where the equipment has a supporting function, such as transporting workers to a job. And when several pieces of equipment are required to work together, the effect on output is cumulative. In response to this situation, it is desirable to concentrate equipment on the most important tasks for which there are no alternatives. And take steps to improve equipment availability and use. As you can see here, labor-based techniques are often very inefficient. Another simple rule of thumb for managing rural roads has to do with allocating budgets. First, allocate funds to preserve the existing system. Then, try to maximize the return on investment, only after allocating funds for maintenance and upgrading should any remaining part of the budget be allocated for new investment. Priorities should be as follows. Maintenance, upgrading and reconstruction, and new construction. We've covered the basics of setting maintenance priorities for rural roads. The key goals are to reduce road deterioration, limit vehicle operating costs, and keep roads open. Setting maintenance priorities is simple. First, inspect road conditions. Then, do a traffic count to get traffic volume on each road section. A simple road maintenance classification based on traffic can be used. The work can be grouped under the following headings. Routine means required work performed at least once a year, such as grass cutting, patching, and grading. Periodic means required every few years, like regravelling. And emergency means non-programmed in response to floods or other emergencies. And finally, develop a work plan with maintenance tasks in order of priority. For more information on this or other IRF videotapes, write to the International Road Federation or call the numbers on your screen.