Effects of Routine Maintenance on Flexible Pavement Condition

Abstract

In recent years, the major efforts of highway agencies have shifted from constructing new facilities to preserving and maintaining existing systems. Maintenance responsibility lies with state and local agencies, and there is no federal fund for maintenance. Thus, it is extremely important that the use of available maintenance funds is optimized. A study of the effect of various maintenance treatments of flexible pavement condition is presented in this paper. Pavement roughness was used as direct quantitative measures of pavement condition. A database, extracted from Indiana Department of Transportation records, was used in the analysis. Possible factors that may affect pavement condition were investigated. Maintenance‐effect models were developed to examine the effect of various maintenance treatments on pavement roughness. In addition, a maintenance‐effectiveness measure was introduced to compare various treatments. Analyses were conducted for two highway classes and for two climatic regions.