THE MODERN VISION OF THE PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF THE ROADS: THE GLOBAL LEVEL OF SERVICE (GLS) AS A TOOL FOR ITS DETERMINATION Pasquale Colonna (corresponding author) Department of Roads and Transportation Polytechnic of Bari 200 Via Re David 70125-Bari, Italy Phone: +39.080.5963.388 Fax: +39.080.5963.329 e-mail: p.colonna@poliba.it Vittorio Ranieri Department of Roads and Transportation Polytechnic of Bari 200 Via Re David 70125-Bari, Italy Phone: +39.080.5963.413 Fax: +39.080.5963.329 e-mail: v.ranieri@poliba.it Simona d’Amoja Department of Roads and Transportation Polytechnic of Bari 200 Via Re David 70125-Bari, Italy Phone: +39.080.5963.392 Fax: +39.080.5963.329 e-mail: s.damoja@poliba.it Paper submitted for presentation and publication at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board Count of words: Abstract: 250 Text 5748 Tables and figures (250 x 6) 1500 Total words 7498 Submission date: August, 1 st 2007 TRB 2008 Annual Meeting CD-ROM Original paper submittal - not revised by author.