Pilot Study to Incorporate Network-Level Structural Condition in Agency Pavement Management Practices

Abstract

The structural condition of roadway pavements is crucial in assessing the overall health of roadway networks and making informed decisions on maintenance and rehabilitation interventions. While current pavement management systems (PMSs) primarily rely on surface distress conditions, incorporating structural condition assessment at the network level can enhance decision-making processes. An approach is presented to incorporate network-level structural condition measurements obtained from the traffic speed deflectometer (TSD) in the Virginia Department of Transportation PMS. This involves determining a structural number, calculated using TSD measurements, selecting an appropriate structural condition measure (remaining structural service life) for use in the PMS, enhancing treatment selection decision trees, and conducting a cost analysis. The TSD-derived effective structural number, obtained following the American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) 1993 empirical design procedure, is utilized with traffic projections and other design information to estimate the remaining structural service life. In the treatment recommendation process, surface distress information is combined with the structural condition assessment, considering budget allocation and pavement useful life. For US Route 29 in Virginia, comparing treatment costs revealed a potential 33.2% cost saving for one maintenance cycle using the augmented decision process, which includes structural assessment, compared with surface distress assessment alone. This approach could provide a comprehensive framework for integrating structural condition assessment in PMSs, enabling more effective and cost-efficient decision-making for roadway networks. To further optimize resource allocation and improve accuracy, combining the augmented treatment selection process with deterioration predictions for a cost analysis over several maintenance cycles is recommended.

Keywords

pavement management systems decision-making: network-level data design and rehabilitation of asphalt pavements pavement condition evaluation traffic speed deflectometer pavement structural testing and evaluation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bryce

J. M.

Flintsch

G. W.

Katicha

S. W.

Diefenderfer

B. K.

Developing a Network-Level Structural Capacity Index for Structural Evaluation of Pavements. Publication VCTIR 13-R9. Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research, Charlottesville, 2013, p. 66.

Flintsch

Katicha

Bryce

Ferne

Nell

Diefenderfer

Assessment of Continuous Pavement Deflection Measuring Technologies. Publication SHRP 2 Report S2-R06F-RW-1. Transportation Research Board; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Washington, D.C., 2013, p. 108.

Rada

G. R.

Nazarian

Visintine

B. A.

Siddharthan

R. V.

Thyagarajan

Pavement Structural Evaluation at the Network Level: Final Report. Publication FHWA-HRT-15-074. Office of Infrastructure Research and Development, Federal Highway Administration, McLean, VA, 2016, p. 286.

Katicha

Flintsch

Shrestha

Thyagarajan

Demonstration of Network Level Pavement Structural Evaluation with Traffic Speed Deflectometer in New York. Publication Contract No. DTFH61-11-D-00009-T-13008. Office of Infrastructure Research and Development, Federal Highway Administration, McLean, VA, 2017, p. 25.

Shrestha

Katicha

S. W.

Flintsch

G. W.

Diefenderfer

B. K.

Implementing Traffic Speed Deflection Measurements for Network Level Pavement Management in Virginia. Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements, Vol. 148, No. 2, 2022, p. 04022021. https://doi.org/10.1061/JPEODX.0000371.

Diefenderfer

B. K.

Network-Level Pavement Evaluation of Virginia’s Interstate System Using the Falling Weight Deflectometer. Publication VTRC 08-R18. Virginia Transportation Research Council, Charlottesville, 2008, p. 123.

Shrestha

Katicha

S. W.

Flintsch

G. W.

Thyagarajan

Application of Traffic Speed Deflectometer for Network-Level Pavement Management. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2018. 2672: 348–359.

Maser

Schmalzer

Shaw

Carmichael

Integration of Traffic Speed Deflectometer and Ground-Penetrating Radar for Network-Level Roadway Structure Evaluation. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2017. 2639: 55–63.

Katicha

S. W.

Shrestha

Flintsch

G. W.

Diefenderfer

B. K.

Network Level Pavement Structural Testing with the Traffic Speed Deflectometer. Publication VTRC 21-R4. Virginia Transportation Research Council, Charlottesville, 2020.

10.

AASHTO. Guide for Design of Pavement Structures. American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials, Washington, D.C., 1993.

11.

Rohde

G. T.

Determining Pavement Structural Number from FWD Testing. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1994. 1448: 61–68.

12.

Katicha

Flintsch

Diefenderfer

Ten Years of Traffic Speed Deflectometer Research in the United States: A Review. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2022. 2676: 152–165.

13.

Nasimifar

Kamalizadeh

Heidary

The Available Approaches for Using Traffic Speed Deflectometer Data at Network Level Pavement Management System. Measurement, Vol. 202, 2022, p. 111901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2022.111901.

14.

Virginia Department of Transportation. Supporting Document for the Development and Enhancement of the Pavement Maintenance Decision Matrices Used in the Needs Based Analysis. Virginia Department of Transportation, Richmond, 2023.

15.

VDOT. State of the Pavement – 2006: Interstate and Primary Flexible Pavements. Asset Management Division, Virginia Department of Transportation, Richmond, 2006.

16.

Nasimifar

Thyagarajan

Sivaneswaran

Pavement Structural Evaluation at Network Level Pavement Management—A Case Study. Proc. International Airfield and Highway Pavements Conference, American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, 2019, pp. 343–353. https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784482452.034.

17.

Huynh

Gassman

Mullen

Pierce

Chen

Ahmed

Utilization of Traffic Speed Deflectometer for Pavement Management. Publication FHWA-SC-21-04. South Carolina Department of Transportation, Columbia, 2021, p. 182.

18.

Katicha

S. W.

Flintsch

Bryce

Ferne

Wavelet Denoising of TSD Deflection Slope Measurements for Improved Pavement Structural Evaluation. Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, Vol. 29, No. 6, 2014, pp. 399–415. https://doi.org/10.1111/mice.12052.

19.

Nasimifar

Thyagarajan

Chaudhari

Sivaneswaran

Pavement Structural Capacity from Traffic Speed Deflectometer for Network Level Pavement Management System Application. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Vol. 2673, No. 2, 2019, pp. 456–465. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118825122.

20.

Schmalzer

Weitzel

Methods for Calculating Deflections from Traffic Speed Deflectometer Data and Impacts on Pavement Design. In Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways and Airfields ( Loizos

Al-Qadi

Scarpas

, eds.), CRC Press, London, pp. 595–602.

21.

Smith

B. C.

Diefenderfer

B. K.

Development of Truck Equivalent Single-Axle Load (ESAL) Factors Based on Weigh-in-Motion Data for Pavement Design in Virginia. Publication VTRC 09-R18. Virginia Transportation Research Council, Charlottesville, 2009, p. 46.

22.

VDOT. Manual of Instructions, Volume VI, Section 604: Pavement Design and Evaluation. Materials Division, Virginia Department of Transportation, Richmond, 2018.

23.

Manoharan

Chai

Chowdhury

Structural Capacity Assessment of Queensland Roads Using Traffic Speed Deflectometer Data. Australian Journal of Civil Engineering, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2020, pp. 219–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/14488353.2020.1766301.

24.

Canestrari

Ingrassia

L. P.

Spinelli

Graziani

A New Methodology to Assess the Remaining Service Life of Motorway Pavements at the Network Level from Traffic Speed Deflectometer Measurements. International Journal of Pavement Engineering, Vol. 24, No. 2, 2023, pp. 2128349. https://doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2022.2128349.

25.

Katicha

S. W.

Pavement Data Segmentation. Transportation Pooled Fund, TPF-5(385) – Webinar Series. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, October 20, 2020. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vskFLRsaBhkrIZ2iac36BhE_kNB0AY84

26.

Thyagarajan

Sivaneswaran

Petros

Rada

Elkins

Optimized Treatment Selection Using Structural Data for Pavement Management Applications. In Pavement and Asset Management, ed. Crispino

, CRC Press, London, 2019, pp. 259–268.

27.

Huang

Zhang

Gong

Polaczyk

P. A.

Evaluation of Traffic Speed Deflectometer for Collecting Network-Level Pavement Structural Data in Tennessee. Publication RES2020-08. Tennessee Department of Transportation, Nashville, 2022, p. 71.

28.

Kiihnl

Braham

Exploring the Influence of Pavement Preservation, Maintenance, and Rehabilitation on Arkansas’ Highway Network: An Education Case Study. International Journal of Pavement Engineering, Vol. 22, No. 5, 2021, pp. 570–581. https://doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2019.1628960.

29.

Shrestha

Network Level Decision-Making Using Pavement Structural Condition Information from the Traffic Speed Deflectometer. Ph.D. dissertation. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, 2021.