PASER
PASER Road Rating System
The Pavement Surface and Evaluation Rating (PASER) system was developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Transportation Information Center to be used as the State of Wisconsin’s standard road rating system. PASER is a “windshield” road rating system that uses a 1 to 10 rating scale, with a value of 10 representing a new road and a value of 1 representing a failed road. Condition ratings are assigned by monitoring the type and amount of visual defects along a road segment while driving the segment. The PASER system interprets these observations into a condition rating. It provides a way to compare roads within a community and suggests the type of maintenance that may be warranted. Most pavements will deteriorate through various phases as shown. The rate at which pavement deteriorates from an excellent (10) to a very poor condition (1) depends largely on its environment, traffic loading conditions, original construction quality, and interim maintenance procedures. Two pavements constructed at the same time may have significantly different lives, or certain portions of a pavement may deteriorate more rapidly than others, due to material or construction problems.
The State of Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council requested that the information gathered in the federal aid road surveys be reported using the following categories:
Roads with PASER ratings of 8 – 10 require Routine Maintenance. Routine maintenance is the day-to-day maintenance activities that are scheduled, such as street sweeping, drainage clearing, shoulder gravel grading, and sealing cracks to prevent standing water and water penetration.
Roads with PASER ratings of 5 – 7 require Capital Preventive Maintenance. Capital preventive maintenance is a planned set of cost effective treatments to an existing roadway system and its appurtenances that preserves, retards future deterioration and maintains or improves the functional condition of the system without significantly increasing structural capacity. The purpose of capital preventive maintenance fixes is to protect the pavement structures, slow the rate of pavement deterioration and/or correct pavement surface deficiencies. Surface treatments are targeted at pavement surface defects primarily caused by the environment and by pavement material deficiencies.
Roads with PASER ratings of 1- 4 require Structural Improvements. This category includes work identified as rehabilitation and reconstruction which address the structural integrity of a road.
Asset Management Council
Public Act 499 of 2002 established a ten member Transportation Asset Management Council. The Council is comprised of members from the Michigan Department of Transportation, the County Road Association of Michigan, the Michigan Municipal League, the Michigan Association of Regions, the Michigan Association of Counties, and the Michigan Townships Association. According to the Act, the mission of the Council is to: “Advise the State Transportation Commission on a statewide asset management strategy and the necessary procedures and analytical tools to implement such a strategy on Michigan’s highway system in a cost-effective, efficient manner.”
The law requires the council to set up a process for determining the condition of Michigan’s highways and bridges(PASER) and to develop a strategy so that those assets are maintained, preserved and improved in an efficient and cost-effective manner. PASER allows the state government to determine the funding needs of all of the federal aide eligible roads in the state of Michigan.
Some information on this page is borrowed from the Asset Management website, click here for more.
Transportation Funding Task Force.
PASER is also used by the Transportation Funding Task Force.
The Transportation Funding Task Force was created in response to Public Act 221 of 2007. The purpose of the Task Force is to “review the adequacy of surface transportation and aeronautics service provision and finance” in Michigan, review strategies for maximizing return on transportation investment, and evaluate the potential of alternative strategies to replace or supplement transportation taxes and fees. A major and consistent focus of the group has been the need to support economic activity and personal mobility. TF2 is a non-partisan group made up of four state legislators and nine business, labor and community leaders from across the state.
Some information on this page is borrowed from the MDOT website, click here for more.