Tholang Mosianedi, Free State Department of Roads & Transport, South Africa

Currently in South Africa more than 30% of roads are in poor conditions as a result of lack of capacity, lack of maintenance, under funding, increased tyre pressures etc. Currently in the Free State about 40% of road network is in very poor condition which is in the order of 2828 km due to underfunding of road network. The Road Network Evaluation Tools (RONET) is a model which could be used by decision makers to appreciate the current state of the road network, its relative importance to the economy (e.g. asset value as percentage of GDP) and to compute a set of monitoring indicators to assess the performance of the road network. RONET assess the performance over time of the road network under different road maintenance standards. It determines, for example, the minimum cost for sustaining the network in its current condition and estimates the savings or the costs to the economy for maintaining the network at different levels of service. RONET determines the allocation of expenditures among recurrent maintenance, periodic maintenance, and rehabilitation road works. Moreover, it determines the optimal maintenance standard for each road class (highest Net Present Value) and compares it with the current (budget constraint) and other maintenance standards. Finally it determines the “funding gap,” defined as the difference between current maintenance spending and required maintenance spending (to maintain the network at a given level of service), and the effect of under spending on increased transport costs. The new Road User Revenues Module, estimates the level of road user charges required (e.g. fuel levy) to meet road maintenance expenditures under different budget scenarios. This could be used by road fund boards to prepare a business case to negotiate and revise road tariffs on a sound basis.

The application of RONET model will lead to an optimal Maintenance and Rehabilitation (M & R) strategy with a good balance between rehabilitation, periodic and recurrent maintenance. Implementation of the ‘Optimal’ maintenance and rehabilitation strategy would cause major improvement compared to current condition of the network.

• The introduction of RONET will really alleviate the backlog and bad conditions of South African road network as a result of lack and/or shortage of experienced technical staff in government.
• RONET will be used to assess the current characteristics of road networks and their future performance depending on different networks funding levels.
• RONET will also be used to simulate the future performance of the road network under different road maintenance standard and different levels of funding.

Key Message or Learning Objectives

• RONET is used to simulate the future performance of the road network under different road maintenance standard and different levels of funding
• The application of RONET model leads to an optimal Maintenance and Rehabilitation (M & R) strategy with a good balance between rehabilitation, periodic and recurrent maintenance.
• Implementation of the ‘Optimal’ maintenance and rehabilitation strategy would cause major improvement compared to current condition of the network.

About the Speaker

Tholang John Mosianedi is a civil technologist by qualification and is currently employed by the department of Police, Roads and Transport at a laboratory as a materials technologist. His day-to-day responsibilities entail amongst others to ensure that the tests are done according to specification as per TMH1 and COLTO. Tholang is currently studying towards Master’s degree in Pavement Management System using RONET.