Optimizing Financial Allocation for Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Munster’s Road Network Using the World Bank’s RONET Model

Abstract

This paper applies the Road Network Evaluation Tools (RONET) model to assess the economic impacts of urban pavement maintenance and rehabilitation in the city of Munster, Germany. The city’s road network includes main roads, main access roads, residential roads, and paved areas for pedestrians, cyclists, and parking spaces. The specific traffic loads applied to Munster’s network demand several different pavement materials, structures, and intervention procedures. This study aims to support stakeholders’ decision-making by assessing current expenditures, network conditions, and country-specific data to determine the appropriate financial allocation for recurrent maintenance, periodic maintenance, rehabilitation, and new pavement construction. Six scenarios comprising distinct pavement structures and maintenance strategies are modeled in RONET to perform the analysis. The outcomes include the future deterioration of pavements under different maintenance scenarios, the current and projected asset value of the network, and the total costs (road agency costs + user costs) of the network to society, considering each scenario being applied over a 20-year evaluation period. The RONET model also provides the annual average cost of each maintenance procedure and the additional costs to society while using a budget scenario other than ‘Optimal.’ The results indicate that Munster’s current investment program is in line with the ‘Optimal’ budget scenario proposed by RONET. In addition, the model suggests that performing recurrent and periodic interventions is more cost-effective than neglecting the conservation of pavements for an extended period and endorsing more extensive interventions in the future, such as rehabilitation or reconstruction.