Chapter 11 – Pavement ManagementPublication 242
2015 Edition
Section 119(e) of Title 23 USC requires a State to develop a risk-based asset management plan for the National Highway System (NHS) to improve or preserve the condition of the assets and the performance of the system.
The success of Pavement Management hinges on the tools, data, and performance measures that drive decision making. This Chapter consolidates various programs and initiatives currently in place or underway in order to provide background and direction for the foundation of PennDOT's Pavement Management efforts.
11.2PAVEMENT TREATMENT CYCLES
The plan and strategy for PennDOT's Pavement Management was defined through the Maintenance Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness (MECE) initiative. The MECE Pavement Management Subgroup defined pavement cycle charts, shown in Tables 11.1 through 11.3, and Table 11.5, to be the basis for selecting appropriate treatments, based on several references, including the PennDOT 1988-92 Cycle Task Force recommendations, this Manual, and Publication No. FHWA-SA-96-027, Pavement Maintenance Effectiveness Preventive Maintenance Treatments.
Treatment Type Networks are defined and displayed on the RMS Network Identification Screen based on the pavement surface type and Functional Class Code, as follows:
C.Concrete – Surface Type Code of 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76
U.Unpaved – Surface Type Code <50
H.High Level Bituminous – Surface Type Code of 51, 52, 61, 62 and Functional Class Code of 01, 02, 06, 07, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 99
L.Low Level Bituminous–Surface Type Code of 51, 52, 61, 62 and Functional Class Code of 08, 09
These codes are calculated from RMS data. The Districts may manually edit the treatment network indicators from "L" to "H" or vice versa, based on facility usage or other factors that affect how routes are maintained. Indicators cannot be manually changed to or from "C" or "U". For treatment networks, if the RMS surface type changes from concrete, unpaved, or bituminous, or if the FCC changes, then the indicator is updated at that time.
The cycles for the Recycling Network are shown in Table 11.4, based on Department experience and recommendations. This network is a subset of the Low Level Bituminous Network, and is typically comprised of routes with an ADT < 1000 and a Truck Percentage < 10%. At present, this network is not defined in the RMS.
TABLE 11.1
HIGH-LEVEL BITUMINOUS ROADWAYS (RESURFACING NETWORK)
Activity / Frequency / NotesCrack sealing / 3 to 5 years / Following last crack sealing, seal coat, micro-surfacing or resurfacing. (This activity shall be completed in the calendar year prior to seal coat, micro-surfacing or resurfacing.)
Shoulder Cutting / 3 to 5 years / This activity shall be repeated as needed at this frequency.
Micro-surfacing or Seal Coat (optional) / 5 to 10 years / Following last resurfacing.
Pavements routinely receiving seal coats should be placed on the Low-Level Network.
Resurfacing / 8 to 12 years / Following last resurfacing (with no interim surface seal).
13 to 17 years / Following last resurfacing (with an interim surface seal).
Seal coat paved shoulders (optional) / 5 to 7 years / Following last resurfacing.
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Chapter 11 – Pavement ManagementPublication 242
2015 Edition
TABLE 11.2
LOW-LEVEL BITUMINOUS ROADWAYS (RESURFACE/SEAL COAT NETWORK)
Activity / Frequency / NotesCrack sealing / 3 to 5 years / Following last crack sealing, seal coat, micro-surfacing, leveling or resurfacing. (This activity shall be completed in the calendar year prior to micro-surfacing or resurfacing.)
Shoulder Cutting / 3 to 5 years / This activity shall be repeated as needed at this frequency.
Seal Coat or Micro-surfacing / 4 to 7 years / Following last resurfacing, leveling, seal coat or micro-surface
Resurfacing or Leveling / 15 to 20 years / Following last resurfacing or leveling
TABLE 11.3
LOW-LEVEL BITUMINOUS ROADWAYS (RECYCLING/SEAL COAT NETWORK)
Activity / Frequency / NotesCrack sealing / 3 to 5 years / Following last crack sealing, seal coat, micro-surfacing, leveling or resurfacing. (This activity shall be completed in the calendar year prior to micro-surfacing or resurfacing.)
Shoulder Cutting / 3 to 5 years / This activity shall be repeated as needed at this frequency.
Seal Coat or Micro-surfacing / 4 to 7 years / Following last resurfacing, leveling, seal coat or micro-surface
Cold In Place Recycling / 12 to 15 years / Following last resurfacing or leveling
TABLE 11.4
CONCRETE PAVEMENTS
Activity / Frequency / NotesShoulder Cutting / 3 to 5 years / This activity shall be repeated as needed at this frequency.
Joint sealing / 5 years / This activity shall be repeated as needed at this frequency.
Concrete patching / Years 15, 20 and 25 / Following concrete pavement construction.
Diamond Grinding / 15 to 20 years / Following concrete pavement construction.
Overlay / 20 to 30 years / Following concrete pavement construction.
Seal coat shoulders (if bituminous) / 5 to 7 years / This activity shall be repeated as needed at this frequency.
TABLE 11.5
UNPAVED ROADS
Activity / Frequency / NotesShaping / Yearly / This activity shall be repeated as needed at this frequency.
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Chapter 11 – Pavement ManagementPublication 242
2015 Edition
In addition to the normal annual testing program, the plan that has been implemented calls for Pavement Testing and Asset Management staff to collect new IRI data on all pavements that have been resurfaced, reconstructed, etc. Pavement History data, stored in the Roadway Management System (RMS), will be the source of information from which testing schedules are set. The Districts are responsible for the prompt entry of Pavement History data for all maintenance and construction projects. Data for Department force projects should be entered within 4 weeks of the project's reopening to traffic, and data for contractor projects should be entered within 6 weeks. Pavement Testing and Asset Management runs weekly programs that search Pavement History data for new entries, and is committed to perform IRI testing on the "new" pavements within 3 months of data entry. If the Videologging contractor is scheduled to test the new pavement surface within this same period, that data will be used.
Timely and complete Pavement History data makes IRI data more valuable and more usable, particularly from an asset management and pavement preservation perspective. Attempting to analyze new pavement IRI values, trends, anomalies, or deterioration rates is very difficult without knowing how or when a pavement was constructed, reconstructed, resurfaced, etc. Likewise, determining the effectiveness of construction, or predicting pavement life cannot be done without measuring and reporting initial condition data, such as rideability. Hence, the proposed tie between Pavement History data entry and new pavement IRI testing.
With PennDOT's focus on ride quality improvements, there has been an increased emphasis on IRI in recent years. The Districts, in particular, want to see current IRI values that reflect the improvements they are making. There has been concern that, at the end of any given year, construction and/or maintenance projects completed by the Districts may not be reflected in the IRI data for that year. In the past, this may have occurred several ways: no data may have been collected due to traffic control setups during construction, the data may have been collected before the project began, or the construction may have taken place on non-NHS routes that were not scheduled to be tested during that year. Any of these instances resulted in data that did not represent the current pavement smoothness. The new pavement testing program eliminates all of these instances, because new pavements are tested after they are reopened to traffic.
11.5VERIFICATION PROCESSFORRIDE QUALITYOFNEWLYCONSTRUCTED PAVEMENTS
As theresult ofan FHWA review, PennDOT implementedaverification process for acceptanceofpavement rideabilityas measured using theInternational RoughnessIndex(IRI). 23 CodeofFederal Regulations (CFR) requires a verification ofat least 10% when usingdataobtained bythe contractorin an acceptancedecision. The Department uses thecontractor’sIRIdatato evaluate ridequalityand payan appropriateincentive. Theverification process will beperformed on oneproject perDistrict per construction season.
Each District will identifyall projects that includethe standard specification ora District Special Provision for ridequalitythat will be completed in the givenyear. The District shall provide by May 31st of each year all identified projects via email to the Quality Assurance Section Chief, Bureau of Project Delivery.
From theseprojects, arandom selection of one project per District will bemade and provided to the Districts and theBureauofMaintenance and Operation’s Roadway Inventoryand TestingUnit (RITU) by June 30th of each year.
Once all pavingitems arecompleted on theselected projects and theridequalityis evaluated bythecontractor, the District will email the contractor’sdata includingthe finalresults and a completedIRIverification form to the Roadway Inventoryand TestingUnit Manager orsubmit in electronic format on aCDor datastick to:
PennsylvaniaDepartment of Transportation
Bureau ofMaintenanceand Operations
Roadway Inventoryand TestingUnit
907 ElmertonAvenue
Harrisburg, PA17110
The IRI Verification Form is available in the ECMS File Cabinet. All datamust besubmitted to RITU byDecember15theachyear.RITU will provide the results of the IRI verification to the Quality Assurance Section Chief by February 1st of the following year, who will then notify the Districts of the results and any follow-up action that must be taken.
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