Applicability of the International Roughness Index as a Predictor of Asphalt Pavement Condition1

Abstract

This note establishes the relationship between the surface distress of an asphalt pavement and its roughness, as conveyed respectively by the pavement condition index (PCI) and the international roughness index (IRI). The DataPave software provides the roughness of varied roadway pavement sections from the North Atlantic region that were investigated under the long term pavement performance (LTPP) study. The MicroPAVER1 software system computes the condition of the same sections using cross-referenced distress data from DataPave. A transformed linear regression model predicts pavement condition given roughness. It confirms the acceptability of the IRI as a, albeit not the sole, predictor variable of the PCI whereby the former accounts for the majority, close to 59%, of the variations in the latter. Further, an analysis of variance confirms the existence of a strong relationship between both variables.