Part 1: Pavement Management: Analysis of Long-Term Effectiveness of Thin Hot-Mix Asphaltic Concrete Overlay Treatments

Abstract

Thin hot-mix asphalt (HMA) concrete overlays are preventive maintenance treatments used to address minor distresses, increase ride quality, and extend pavement life. This paper determines the long-term effectiveness of such treatments by using three measures of effectiveness: treatment service life, increase in average pavement condition, and area bounded by the performance curve. For each measure of effectiveness, the pavement performance indicators used are the international roughness index (IRI), rutting, and pavement condition rating (PCR). For each measure of effectiveness and performance indicator, treatment benefits were found to lie within a wide range because of the effect of varying levels of weather severity, traffic, and route type. The service life of the treatment ranges from 3 to 13 years (IRI performance indicator), 3 to 14 years (rutting), and 3 to 24 years (PCR). When the increase in average pavement condition is used as the measure of effectiveness, the results show that such treatments...