Center for Environmental Research and Technology

Every agency responsible for the maintenance of roadway systems faces the problem of insufficient funding to perform all of the necessary repairs on pavement sections. Therefore, highway agencies must adopt a pavement management system (PMS) to help set priorities. The PMS includes a method for evaluating pavement performance on a routine basis and identifying sections with a need for rehabilitation or maintenance. Some states in the U.S. use a pavement rating system that is based solely on visible surface distresses, while others use an index based on ride quality alone to perform the regular evaluation of pavements and to select projects. Increasingly, many states are using a combination of distress and ride quality. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) utilizes the Pavement Condition Rating (PCR), based on surface distress, for project selection. This paper outlines the development of a new performance index for pavements that incorporates aspects of ride quality together with surface distress for possible adoption by ODOT. The proposed index is called the Pavement Quality Index (PQI). The PQI does not require any new measurements or methods; rather, it simply utilizes procedures that are already in place and well established in Ohio. The PQI is an amalgam of the PCR and the International Roughness Index (IRI). The development of the new index is the natural extension of the growing trend that transportation agencies are placing increased emphasis on customer satisfaction, and also introducing performance-based specifications.