Ranking procedure based on statistical hypothesis testing

A key element in a highway maintenance management system is a means to establish an ordered list of those sections most in need of repair. Developing such a list requires a method of measuring and analyzing existing conditions to judge which system components are in greatest need of treatment. For highway pavement, for example, the challenge is first to survey the system to determine the range of condition, usually according to level of service or other suitable measure, and then to create an ordered ranking of individual segments of the system by need for repair. Toward this end, basic tools of statistical analysis have been used to develop a procedure that produces a logically ordered sequence of highway segments. The procedure can also be used to provide a graphical display of statistical results, which serves as a visual snapshot of the condition of the highway system. The procedure performs the equivalent of multiple hypothesis tests to establish the rankings, but it stops short of providing an optimal sequence of repair strategies based on economic considerations.