Pavement Management Systems: A Powerful Tool for Performance Monitoring
How are Superpave pavements performing in your State?
Your pavement management system (PMS) can help you find out. A recent
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) study examined how existing pavement
management data, combined with materials and construction-related data,
could be used to evaluate new design or materials concepts such as Superpave
in Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, and Washington State. "With
data from a PMS, along with data from other systems such as materials
and construction, you should be able to paint a pretty good picture
of how a pavement is performing," says Project Coordinator Pim
Visser of TRDI, Inc. The study's other primary objectives were to determine
what data States collect in common, what data could be combined and
used for a multi-State data analysis, and what can be done to make data
from different States more compatible.
Most highway agencies primarily use their PMS data at
the network level for programming, planning, and budgeting. PMS databases
generally contain at least the following information:
- Location of the pavement section
- Type of pavement
- Age
- Traffic information
- Performance indicators for ride, cracking, rutting, and friction
- Year of testing.
The PMS's in the five States visited contained performance
data on such criteria as rutting and cracking for 1 to 4 years for Superpave
pavements. However, they often had no link between the performance data
and details on materials characteristics, as-constructed thickness,
construction data, or quality control (QC)/quality assurance (QA) data,
which are usually not readily available in electronic format. To assess
the performance characteristics of pavements, a combination of data,
including material properties, traffic, and weather, is needed. Most
States have this data but are not currently combining it for analysis.
One highway agency that has made a major effort to put
many of its essential data on pavement materials and construction in
electronic format is the Washington State Department of Transportation
(WSDOT). These data have been integrated and linked with performance
data for Superpave and SMA pavements on a Web-based database known as
HMA View developed by the University of Washington. Started in early
2001, the Web site allows WSDOT to track the performance of pavements
by looking at such characteristics as whether they are rutting or cracking.
"It's a wonderful tool that allows you to look at the field data
during production via automated control charts, which are all on one
page for easy viewing and analysis," says Kim Willoughby of WSDOT.
"Also, the pavements' performance over time can be monitored and
linked to actual field text results."
The FHWA study used HMA View for the second part of its
research. Known as the Pathfinder Study, this initiative was designed
to serve as an example of how a highway agency can identify and collect
the data needed to assess the performance of Superpave pavements or
other new design or materials concepts, as well as to determine how
much effort is required to enter the data into one or more electronic
databases. Data fields from the Maryland State Highway Administration's
(SHA) QC/QA, pavement design, mix design, and PMS files were selected
and data was collected from seven Superpave projects constructed since
1999. Data collection took 2 months of effort as not all of the data
was in electronic format. The data was then loaded into HMA View, resulting
in a substantial database. Some gaps, however, still remained. This
meant that no analysis could be done for such indicators as cracking,
the effects of mix temperature, the influence of day or night paving,
or the effects of actual versus designed layer thickness. Another limitation
was that there was only 1 or 2 years of performance data, so it was
difficult to create meaningful plots of performance over time.
Despite the limitations encountered, the project successfully
demonstrated how a State highway agency could assemble a detailed database
that could be used to evaluate the performance of Superpave and other
design and new material concepts. "It has become clear that there
is much more data present in PMS, pavement design, materials, and construction
files than is currently used or accessible for performance monitoring
and that some of the missing data could easily be collated in the future,"
noted the report produced by the project team. The project also demonstrated
the advantages in collecting data in electronic format, making it easily
accessible for other applications. "Putting things in electronic
format requires a change in attitude and the realization that this data
can be useful in many applications and for many departments," says
Visser of TRDI, Inc.
 |
| Pavement management system data can be a valuable
tool in analyzing the performance of pavements. |
Since the Pathfinder study, Maryland SHA has continued
working with the University of Washington on a pilot performance monitoring
project. "Using HMA View, we have merged seven databases that monitor
materials, construction, and performance into one program," says
Gloria Burke of Maryland SHA. This pilot project is for an 8-km (5-mi)
section of roadway resurfacing located on I-68 in western Maryland.
The seven databases track pavement design, project performance, ride
quality, binders, construction details, mix design, and QC/QA. The combined
data is being uploaded into a version of HMA View customized for Maryland,
which includes maps, control charts, and thermal and digital images.
"The project is working very well," says Burke. "We are
planning to use HMA View even more in the future."
Recommendations made by the FHWA study included undertaking
a more detailed multi-State study in the future to analyze the performance
of the Superpave system. This would allow States to combine their efforts
and could produce a large analysis database of lasting value. The study
also noted that "it is important that data used for performance
evaluation be accurately and uniformly collected." Data collection
protocols currently being reviewed by the American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials will help in setting a common data
collection standard once they are finalized.
While the study demonstrated the value of PMS databases
in analyzing the performance of Superpave pavements, PMS data can be
used in many other applications, such as analyzing the performance of
recycled materials, high-performance materials, and pavements constructed
using performance-related specifications. And with the forthcoming release
of the 2002 AASHTO Design Guide, PMS data can also be employed
in analyzing the performance of pavements constructed using mechanistic
design principles.
For more information on the PMS Performance Monitoring
study, contact Sonya Hill at FHWA, 202-366-1337 (fax: 202-366-9981;
email: sonya.hill@fhwa.dot.gov).
The study report can be found on the Web at www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/asstmgmt/pms.htm.
For more information on HMA View, contact George White at the University
of Washington, 206-685-7198 (email: gcw@u.washington.edu)
or Kim Willoughby at WSDOT, 360-709-5474 (email: willouk@wsdot.wa.gov).
You can also visit the HMA View Web site at hotmix.ce.washington.edu/hma.
For more information on Maryland's use of HMA View, contact Gloria Burke
at 800-477-7435 (email: gburke@sha.state.md.us).
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Articles in this issue:
Pavement Management Systems: A Powerful Tool for Performance Monitoring
A New Weapon in Fighting ASR in Concrete
FHWA Workshop Introduces New Life-cycle Cost Analysis
Software
TIG Announces Accelerated Deployment of New Technologies
What is a Continuing Resolution?
The ADA and Transportation: Improving Safety and Access
on Public Rights-of-Way
The LTPP Database and You
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