Practical Automated Pavement Condition Surveys: Case Study for Alabama Hot-Mix Asphalt County Roads (05-1433)
Priyabrata (Thomas) Das, Auburn University
Mary Stroup-Gardiner, Gardiner Technical Services, LLC
Alan Carter, Universite du Quebec, Canada

Over 650 miles of Alabama county roads were surveyed with a Roadware ARAN pavement condition survey vehicle (no imaging technology). Manual pavement condition surveys were conducted on about 10% of the roads surveyed automatically. Results from this research indicate that crack counts, as reported in the standard ARAN output, can be used as the initial criterion for separating county roads into two categories: roadways in good shape, and those needing either preservation or maintenance activities. Roadways with 5 or fewer cracks per 0.1 mile (i.e., a crack spacing of over 90 feet) also tend to have IRI values of around 100 in/mi, less than 18% of the mileage with rut depths of less than 0.50 inches, and macrotextures of less than 0.75 mm. Roadways with more than 5 cracks per 0.1 mile can be expected to have an IRI value that is at least 50% higher, slightly more rutting, and about double the macrotexture. Automated collection of macrotexture is correlated to the percent of alligator cracking from the manual pavement distress survey.