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Received Feb 23, 2018; Revised Apr 11, 2018; Accepted Apr 12, 2018
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1. Introduction
The development of urban road infrastructure systems is an integral part of modern city expansion processes. Internationally, roads are dominant transport assets and a valuable infrastructure used on a daily basis by millions of commuters, comprising millions of kilometers across the world. According to [1], the average length of public roads in OECD countries is more than 500,000 km and is often the single largest publicly owned national asset. Such infrastructure covers 15–20% of the whole city area and in city centers over 40% of the area [2]. Therefore, the road infrastructure is unarguably seen as significant and valuable public asset which should be carefully managed during its life cycle.
In general, the importance of road maintenance can be seen as the following [1]:
(i)
Roads are key national assets which underpin economic activity.
(ii)
Road transport is a foundation for economic activity.
(iii)
Ageing infrastructure requires increased road maintenance.
(iv)
Traffic volumes continue to grow and drive increased need for maintenance.
(v)
Impacts of road maintenance are diverse and must be understood.
(vi)
Investing in maintenance at the right time saves significant future costs.
(vii)
Maintenance investment must be properly managed.
(viii)
Road infrastructure planning is imperative for road maintenance for future generations.
In urban areas, the quality of road infrastructure directly influences the citizens’ quality of life [3], such as the residents’ health, safety, economic opportunities, and conditions for work and leisure [3, 4]. Therefore, every action needs careful planning as it is highly complex and socially sensitive. In order to deal with such problems, city governments often encounter considerable problems during the planning phase when it is necessary to find a solution that would meet the requirements of all stakeholders and at the same time be a part of the desired development concept. As they are limited by certain annual budgeting for construction, maintenance, and remedial activities, the project’s prioritization emerges as one of the most important and most difficult issues to be resolved in the public decision-making process...