Optimal pavement maintenance, under limited resources, requires a scientific and precise prioritization of pavement distress. Traditional approaches have predominantly focused on technical and structural criteria, often overlooking the perspective of road users who interact daily with the quality of urban pavements. This study aims to bridge this analytical gap by introducing a novel approach centered on the road users’ perceptions to prioritize asphalt pavement distresses in the city of Gonabad using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). In this research, five principal streets in Gonabad, each representing a dominant distress type (severe raveling, alligator cracking, potholes, longitudinal cracks, and transverse cracks), were selected. An online questionnaire based on pairwise comparisons was designed, through which respondents evaluated and compared the driving quality and experience along these corridors. The collected qualitative assessments were converted into quantitative values using Saaty’s 1-9 scale. After verifying the consistency ratio, the final pairwise comparison matrix was constructed using the geometric mean of the valid responses. Subsequently, the final weights and maintenance priorities for each distress type were calculated using Expert Choice 11 software. The results revealed that, from the perspective of road users in Gonabad, severe raveling ranked first in maintenance priority with the highest relative weight (approximately 38%), followed by alligator cracking (about 25%) and potholes (about 21%). Longitudinal and transverse cracks received lower relative importance and were placed in subsequent priorities. Emphasizing the integration of users’ perceptions into the managerial decision-making process represents an innovative approach to urban pavement evaluation and provides insights for developing maintenance strategies that enhance both user satisfaction and surface performance.