The Road to Prosperity Requires Smart Maintenance Strategies
Proactive road maintenance is more than a technical necessity, it’s a strategic investment in economic growth, safety, and social equity. Well-planned road maintenance keeps traffic running efficiently, cuts long-term costs, and ensures road networks remain safe for all users. In an era of tight budgets and growing infrastructure demands, getting maintenance right can mean the difference between sustained prosperity and costly decline.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been a champion on this subject, most recently through their blog produced alongside the event Beyond Projects: Solutions for Sustainable Roads. Authored by Anshuman Bardhan, Senior Financial Management Officer in ADB’s Public Financial Management Division, and Jack Wenye Diao, Financial Management Specialist with the ADB’s Procurement, Portfolio, and Financial Management Department, lays out clear steps for nations to maximise road value through smarter planning, funding, and delivery.
Poorly maintained roads are more than just an inconvenience, they weigh heavily on economic growth. Cracked surfaces, potholes, and general wear escalate fuel consumption and vehicle maintenance, raising operating costs by approximately 15%. Not only is that a direct blow to the pockets of drivers and businesses, but it also makes infrastructure spend far less efficient.
Worse still, safety takes a hit. Pedestrians and two-wheel vehicle users are particularly vulnerable to hazards that poorly maintained road surfaces present.
Even so, road maintenance is frequently overlooked, especially in developing countries, where funding is often short by as much as 50 %. In monetary terms, those funding chasms range from US$8 million to US$1.9 billion. That leads to a vicious cycle: reactive, short-term patch work that delivers minimal value while long-term costs creep relentlessly upward.
Yet economic thinking argues otherwise. The World Bank confirms that every dollar directed toward maintenance saves roughly US$1.50 in future rehabilitation costs, making maintenance not just necessary, but smart economics.
Four Pillars for Smarter Infrastructure Management
ADB’s approach is grounded in public financial management principles: assess, diversify funding, manage efficiently, and enforce transparency.
1. Assess the True Cost of Maintenance
Governments often don’t fully reckon with what it would take to keep their road networks in good shape. That’s where proactive planning enters the equation.
Start by evaluating the funds needed for the entire road network over several years. Harnessing multi-year forecasts and sound institutional data can help stretch budgets well into the future.
2. Tap into Broader Revenue Streams
Competitors for public funding abound, healthcare, education, defence, social programmes. Roads often lose out. But governments can offset shortfalls by introducing user-based funding tools, tolls, road taxes, registration fees.
Success hinges on public buy-in, the health of the private sector and sound regulatory frameworks. When those elements align, user charges become a reliable funding lifeline.
3. Use Smart Management and Incentive-Driven Contracts
Budgets matter, but how you spend them matters more. Asset management systems flip the script: Rather than paying for fix-it jobs, governments can pay for how well roads perform, smoother, safer, longer-lasting surfaces.
These performance-based contracts pay contractors based on metrics like road smoothness, wear, and safety; exceeding expectations can earn bonuses, while failure leads to penalties. This approach typically shrinks costs by 15–30 percent compared to traditional cost-plus contracts, but it demands strong oversight and institutional capabilities.
4. Build Trust Through Transparency
Public trust isn’t discretionary. Yet many governments fall short in sharing even the basics: What’s the total cost to maintain roads? How big is the funding gap? The Open Budget Survey 2023 marks that down as “often opaque.”
Opening up this data, embedding maintenance costs in annual budget proposals, and encouraging legislative and civic debate can turn that opacity into accountability. Citizens understand long-term challenges—and informed decisions follow.
Tools, Trends, and Global Lessons
Today’s innovators are blending high-tech with public finance to redefine infrastructure management.
- Asset Management Meets Emerging Tech: Picture a dashboard that pulls drone imagery, GIS overlays, real-time condition data, all to map out where cracks are forming, moisture is seeping in, or substructures start to fail. Predictive analytics flag urgent hotspots before craters appear. Countries embracing that tech aren’t just reacting—they’re getting ahead of the problem.
- Case Study Spotlight: Take Chile’s innovative road performance contracts in the early 2000s. By precisely defining ride quality and sealing thresholds, contractors were financially motivated to deliver durability. That mix of rigour and reward produced smoother networks and enhanced safety metrics.
- Private Sector as Cohort, Not Adversary: Private investment, through concession projects, blended finance or Public-private Partnerships (PPPs), can be game-changing. When private firms see maintenance as part of their long-term profit model, they innovate: lower-cost materials, prefabricated repair modules, digital maintenance logs. But governance norms must be crystal-clear to protect public interest.
- Social Equity by Design: Maintenance isn’t just about faster journeys, it’s equity. Better roads connect remote villages to schools, markets and medical centres. That opens fresh economic channels, spurs small business growth, and bridges rural urban disparities.
Strategies for Stakeholders
- Governments: Adopt asset management tools, embed maintenance metrics in budgets, adopt performance contracts, demand full transparency.
- Investors/Donors: Provide technical grants for asset systems, fund pilot performance contracts, promote blended finance structures.
- Contractors: Embrace performance-based models, invest in innovation, aim for long-term quality with cost-efficiency.
- Civil Society/Media: Advocate for data visibility, highlight maintenance gaps, champion the economic case for proactive upkeep.
A Path Toward Lasting Prosperity
It all tracks back to this: strategic, proactive road maintenance is far more than an infrastructure concern. It’s a lever for economic growth, safety, social inclusion, and long-term value.
By pairing the right financial tools, technology, contracting models, and public openness, nations can pave not just roads—but pathways to sustainable progress.
