Costs and Effectiveness of Flexible Pavement Treatments: Experience and Evidence
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 26, Issue 4
Abstract
The authors investigated the effectiveness and costs of preventive treatment techniques for flexible pavements. Based on survey results from 29 state departments of transportation (DOTs), it was found that the expected pavement life extension caused by these treatments follows the order of thin hot-mix asphalt (HMA) overlay, microsurfacing tied with chip sealing, slurry sealing, and crack filling/sealing. The reported costs follow the order of thin overlay, microsurfacing, and chip sealing tied with slurry sealing, whereas costs of crack sealing/filling cannot be directly compared. The authors also analyzed data from 81 Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) program specific pavement studies (SPS) experiments, which were specifically designed and constructed to study the effectiveness of pavement treatments. Based on paired t-tests, it was found that all the treatments reduced international roughness index (IRI) with statistical significance. The authors then pooled the data from all the control sections and created a pseudo control section and subsequently developed a linear regression model for it. By comparing the effects of treatments with this pseudo control section, the authors found that the approximate life extension of the pavement sections benefited from these treatments is as follows: thin overlay for 5.4 years, chip sealing for 1.9 years, crack sealing for 1.7 years, and slurry sealing for 1.1 years.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Caltrans Division of Maintenance. (2003). “Maintenance technical advisory guide (MTAG).” California Dept. of Transportation, Sacramento, CA, 〈http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/maint/MTA_Guide.htm〉, (May 13, 2011).
Chen, D. H., Lin, D. F., and Luo, H. L. (2003). “Effectiveness of preventative maintenance treatments using fourteen SPS-3 sites in Texas.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil.JPCFEV, 17(3), 136–143.
Cooper, B. C., and Mohammad, L. N. (2004). Novachip™ surface treatment: Six year evaluation, Louisiana Transportation Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA.
Eltahan, A. A., Daleiden, J. F., and Simpson, A. L. (1999). “Effectiveness of maintenance treatments of flexible pavements.” Transp. Res. Rec.TRREDM, 1680, 18–25.
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). (2005). “Memorandum on pavement preservation definitions.” 〈http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/preservation/091205.cfm〉 (Oct. 26, 2010).
Gransberg, D., and James, D. M. B. (2005). Chip seal best practices: A synthesis of highway practice, NCHRP Synthesis 342, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Hall, K. T., Correa, C. E., and Simpson, A. L. (2002). “LTPP data analysis: Effectiveness of maintenance and rehabilitation options.” NCHRP Web Document 47 (Project 20-50[3/4]): Contractor’s Final Report, National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Washington, DC.
Hicks, R. G., Seeds, S. B., and Peshkin, D. G. (2000). Selecting a preventive maintenance treatment for flexible pavements, Foundation for Pavement Preservation, Washington, DC.
Johnson, A. M. (2000). “Best practices handbook on asphalt pavement maintenance.” MN/RC-2000-04, Minnesota Technology Transfer Center, Minneapolis, MN.
Michigan Dept. of Transportation (MDOT). (1999). Sealing and filling of cracks for bituminous concrete pavements: Selection and installation procedures, MDOT, East Lansing, MI.
Morian, D. A., Gibson, S. D., and Epps, J. A. (1998). “Maintaining flexible pavements—The long term pavement performance experiment SPS-3–5-year data analysis.” FHWA-RD-97-102, Office of Engineering Research and Development, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Washington, DC.
Ohio Dept. of Transportation (ODOT). (2001). Pavement preventive maintenance program guidelines, ODOT, Columbus, OH.
Peshkin, D. G., Hoerner, T. E., and Zimmerman, K. A. (2004). “Optimal timing of pavement preventive maintenance treatment applications.” NCHRP Report 523, National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), Washington, DC.
Ponniah, J. E., and Kennepohl, G. J. (1996). “Crack sealing in flexible pavements: A life-cycle cost analysis.” Transp. Res. Rec.TRREDM, 1529(1), 86–94.
Smith, K. L., and Romine, A. R. (1999). “LTPP pavement maintenance materials: SHRP crack treatment experiment.” FHWA-RD-99-143, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Washington, DC.
Solaimanian, M., and Kennedy, T. W. (1998). “Evaluation of the cape seal process as a pavement rehabilitation alternative.” FHWA/TX-99/1788-S, Center for Transportation Research, The Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
Wu, Z., Groeger, J. L., Simpson, A. L., and Hicks, R. G. (2010). “Performance evaluation of various rehabilitation and preservation treatments.” Asset Management, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Washington, DC.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 26 • Issue 4 • August 2012
Pages: 516 - 525
Copyright
© 2012. American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 11, 2011
Accepted: Jun 14, 2011
Published online: Jun 16, 2011
Published in print: Aug 1, 2012
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.