Abstract
With the increase in material and labor costs and the decrease in purchasing power, the Texas Department of Transportation (DOT) is striving to maintain its roadways at the current level of conditions within a severely constrained budget. In particular, maintaining adequate pavement skid resistance has become a challenge for decision makers at various levels. The goal of this study was to develop a methodological procedure that could be used to establish the appropriate threshold values for skid resistance so that safety would not be compromised on Texas highways when there is a budget shortfall. The two primary issues were to be addressed: (a) identification of the quantitative relationship between pavement skid resistance and crash rates and (b) determination of threshold values for skid resistance and corresponding recommendations for maintenance decisions. A detailed methodological framework was proposed. Highway segments were categorized into homogenous groups of safety-related characteristics, except skid resistance. The quantitative relationship between crash risks and skid resistance was then established with the concept of the crash rate ratio. Three threshold values were determined to establish four decision categories of skid resistance values, with crash and skid resistance data collected from 2008 to 2011 on the highway system maintained by the Texas DOT. Corresponding recommendations on maintenance decisions were provided. The results show that the proposed methodological procedure can effectively capture the safety impacts of skid resistance at the network level and provide a useful tool for the Texas DOT to take safety into its maintenance decision-making processes.
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