Role of high-level project professionals' perceptions on quality processes in directing the investigation of causes of premature pavement distresses : an exploratory study

Abstract

Following the observation of physical form of distress that leads to premature failure, investigations are usually initiated in order to identify causes or factors of the observed early pavement distress, which is often due to a combination of errors that may have occurred during the project design and/or execution. This paper discusses an exploratory study to examine the extent to which stakeholder perception on the practices adopted during the execution of the project can direct the investigation in identifying and evaluating the root causes of the observed pavement premature distresses. A semi-structured questionnaire based survey was conducted to gauge the perception of high-level stakeholders on two projects where premature pavement distresses was being investigated. While respondents on one project had a positive attitude towards the survey, the attitude of the respondents on the second project was negative. The outcome revealed that this approach, is a potential tool in directing technical assessments with regards to an investigation of causes of observed premature pavement distresses. The execution of such analysis on more projects where premature pavement failure are being investigated is required.