Growth of truck traffic volume for mechanistic-empirical pavement design

Abstract

Pavement design is moving towards the mechanistic-empirical approach, which requires very detailed truck traffic information, including truck traffic volume. This paper focuses on analysis of truck traffic volume growth, specifically in three areas: characteristics of the growth pattern, sensitivity of pavement responses to the growth rate, and prediction of the growth rate based on road way characteristics and socio-economic data. The truck traffic data collected by weigh-in-motion (WIM) stations on California highways were used in the analysis. Results showed that both linear and compound growth models well fit the truck traffic growth trends. Growth rates estimated from less than six years data may have large variation, which can lead to significant errors in pavement response prediction. Various truck classes have distinct growth patterns and are affected differently by roadway and socio-economic characteristics.