Introduction. High quality and durable highway pavements are one of the preconditions for the efficient road traffic in every country.
Problem Statement. The high-level and scientifical design, construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation of pavement structures – pavement management – can be taken as an important task of road owners – and in the case of state-owned roads, it is directly an obligation. An important subsystem of road asset management comprises several technical tools as pavement management systems (PMSs). Pavement performance models are an essential component of a PMS and have a direct impact on future pavement condition. Pavement structural design is always a rather responsible and hard task since it is obvious that the designer must forecast (predict) – using preferably scientifically based methodologies – the performance of pavement structures to be built in the future. The reliability of this forecast, of course, mainly depends on the accuracy of the design inputs applied. The complexity of the is-sue can already be characterized by the fact that, at least, traffic, environmental, raw material, construction, maintenance-rehabilitation, operation-related and financial parameters should be considered in the prediction of pavement performance (expected lifetime) during the design (selection) of optimum pavement structural variant. (The interrelationship of these influencing parameters just makes the situation even more complicated.
Purpose. The main aim of the article is to present various aspects of pavement performance in Hungary and Albania.
Materials and Methods. The paper outlines the role (the significance) of pavement performance models in the road asset management, especially in the scientifically based pavement structural design, pointing out the related challenges. After giving a short worldwide review of the topic, the presentation of the special theoretical and practical experiences on pavement performance models in two European countries (Hungary and Albania) are summarized, as case studies.
Results. At the end of the article, some conclusions are drawn, and several proposals are made on the creation and the utilization of pavement performance models including the high significance of a successful road asset management on national economy level; the importance of a scientifically based PMS in increasing the economy of road transport; the direct impact of pavement performance models on future pavement condition, as a major influencing factor of road traffic efficiency; the supporting role of Performance-based Maintenance and Safety Improvements to high volume roads performed in Albania can significantly support to medium-term road management decisions.
