Development of a Tool to Assess the Quality of Collected Pavement Management Data

Abstract

Over the past 4 years, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) has implemented a pavement management system (PMS) to provide the agency with accurate, current, and relevant pavement condition information for use in prioritizing candidate pavement projects based on economic and engineering analyses. Now that the implementation process has been completed, ODOT routinely uses its PMS to enhance network- and project-level decision making. Currently, ODOT contracts with a vendor to collect network-level sensor, geometric, and distress data using automated data collection techniques. The data are then processed with a combination of automated and semiautomated techniques. The agency recognized that the value of the recommendations made by its PMS is greatly dependent on the quality of the collected information included in the PMS. Therefore, ODOT has emphasized the importance of checking the quality of data before they are used for important management decisions. As one way of assessing the data quality, ODOT developed checks of the data collected and submitted by the vendor. ODOT realized the value of creating an automated procedure for checking the final delivered pavement condition database to provide a rapid, repeatable, and accurate assessment of the data quality. To address this need, ODOT developed a visual basic application tool based on Microsoft Access to provide a user-friendly interface to the systematic procedure of conducting the many required data quality checks. In addition to the control and verification site testing procedures and distress ratings checks, this tool will be used by the agency as part of a comprehensive approach to assessing pavement condition data accuracy and completeness. Details regarding the creation and function of the quality assurance tool are provided in this paper.