1st exchange of experience: ZEB and maintenance management on state roads

On the 16th and 17th of October 2007, administrators and decision-makers of the federal states in Germany met for the first time in order to exchange their experiences concerning the condition survey and assessment (ZEB) on state roads. The HELLER Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH recognized the necessity for such a meeting and invited the representatives to Darmstadt. The aim was to present innovations from various projects of the individual states in order to achieve synergy effects in the implementation of ZEB projects. Renowned experts presented relevant aspects of a ZEB and the participants gained a deeper insight into different approaches to these processes.

For many years now, the condition of state roads has been systematically surveyed and assessed by the federal states. The main objective of a ZEB on state roads is to obtain information for establishing medium-term maintenance programs and to forecast long-term maintenance requirements.

When carrying out the ZEB projects for state roads, the federal states mainly focus on the techniques and methods that have been established for federal highways and motorways. However, since specific requirements apply to state roads and special circumstances have to be taken into account, a large number of different, innovative and valuable process alternatives have been developed in the past. The first exchange of experience was used to present and discuss to what extent these alternatives have proven themselves in practice. The participants showed great interest and agreed that maintenance planning is a complex and continuous process. The various aspects need to be coordinated in such a way that the overall process functions efficiently and in a result-oriented way. An exchange of experience in personal conversations will continue to be a helpful tool in the future.

HELLER would like to thank all speakers and participants and draws a positive picture of the first event. Building on this success, the company will continue to organize exchanges of experience in the future.