Performance Distribution Characteristics and Preventive Maintenance Effects of Expressway Pavement in Beijing

The performance of asphalt pavement shows different forms of decay with increased service life of expressways in China, which affect driving safety and comfort. Actively taking preventive maintenance treatments can further improve the pavement performance. However, there are relatively few studies on the improvement effectiveness of various preventive maintenance treatments in China. The data foundation of this paper is the pavement performance, maintenance history, and other multivariate data of expressways in Beijing. This paper analyzes the performance distribution characteristics of Beijing expressway pavement from a macro perspective and uses mathematical evaluation method to evaluate the effectiveness of three preventive maintenance treatments (thin overlay, micro surface, and fog seal) on the PCI performance index. The results show that the improvement effectiveness of treatment is the best, followed by micro surface. However, the fog seal treatment is poor; it can only delay the decay rate of PCI. We recommend using the thin overlay treatment when PCI is at a good level or below (PCI < 92). When PCI is at an excellent level (PCI ≥ 92), we recommend the micro-surface treatment. This study will be important for pavement maintenance management and provides a reference for decision-making and implementation of preventive maintenance treatments.