IMPROVED PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR LOW-VOLUME ROADS

The economic consequences of pavement design and maintenance for low-volume roads need to be evaluated. Because many low-volume road networks have large mileages compared with high-volume road networks, the capital investment in a low-volume network can be high. Low-volume roads are more economically sensitive, on a percentage basis, to pavement design changes; therefore, the use of a pavement management system in the planning, design, construction, maintenance, and management of low-volume road pavement structures is important. An improved version of the computer program, Pavement Design and Management System (PDMS), was developed that greatly increases the capabilities of the system and also improves the rational basis for predicting pavement performance. A structural analysis of American Association of State Highway Officials road test pavement sections was conducted by using a nonlinear elastic layer procedure to characterize the pavement materials for four seasonal periods. A regression analysis was performed to develop a performance-prediction equation. The dependent variable used was the change in present serviceability index (PSI) divided by the change in vehicle applications for each seasonal period. The performance variable is used to predict the PSI-traffic curve for the pavement structure, thereby allowing the evaluation of the performance area under this curve. Because each vehicle type is considered separately, there is no need to consider axle equivalency factors. This is an important advantage because American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials equivalency factors are found to have serious limitations. (Author)