Performance Evaluation of Asphalt Pavement Preservation Activities

A 2-year research project was sponsored by the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) and conducted by University of Nevada at Reno researchers to evaluate the long-term performance of asphalt pavement preservation activities that NDOT has implemented for the past 15 years. During this research project, 11 preservation activities were identified after several meetings with NDOT maintenance personnel. This study evaluated 847 field sections. The performance of the selected field sections was assessed on the basis of the pavement condition before and after treatment application. The analysis evaluated the likelihood of enhancing the pavement performance as well as the anticipated performance period for the various treatments. Benefit–cost ratios for the various treatments were also evaluated, given the pretreatment pavement condition, traffic level, and environmental conditions. A set of guidelines is provided to help select the most cost-effective preservation activities on the basis of the most favorable conditions with regard to environment, traffic, and conditions of the existing pavement (e.g., present serviceability index, international roughness index, rut depth, fatigue cracking, transverse cracking, and block cracking).