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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations

Report
This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information
Publication Number: FHWA-RD-06-067
Date: March 2006

Guidelines for The Collection of Long-Term Pavement Performance Data

Chapter 5. Maintenance Data

5.1 Introduction to Maintenance Data

Determining the data elements to be collected to reflect maintenance activities on LTPP test sections included in the GPS experiments was one of the more difficult tasks in planning the LTPP program and in developing the DCG. The complications include the wide variations in maintenance policy and data collection procedures among various SHAs, and the need to coordinate maintenance activities within the test sections themselves. Maintenance includes construction activities on LTPP test sections that do not alter the pavement structure significantly. Examples include seal coats, crack sealing, patching, joint sealing, grinding, milling less than 25 millimeters (mm) (1 inch) deep, and grooving. The collected maintenance data provides such information as when the activity was performed and the materials and construction practices used.

A maintenance control zone has been established around each test section. This zone was established to closely coordinate routine and preventive maintenance activities, and reduce the influence of other activities on the performance of the test section.

The SHAs may decide to provide more extensive maintenance for the project in which the test section is located, and are free to do whatever they wish for pavements outside the maintenance control zone. However, they are asked to comply with a maintenance policy that requires coordination with the RSC office responsible for data collection at that location. Without this coordination, the value of the data obtained from a test section after it has been monitored for a number of years is reduced greatly, and the possibility of a final set of measurements at that level of deterioration before covering the manifestations of distress may be lost. In general, more extensive maintenance activities than those allowed before the decision point should be deferred as long as possible to allow the collection of critical data as deterioration accelerates. The Joint Pavement Performance/Maintenance Subcommittee expected that these decisions and agreements could be worked out as long as SHA and LTPP personnel approach the issues involved with respect for the needs of the other agency and a cooperative spirit.

5.2 References Used in Collecting Maintenance Data

Procedures for the collection of maintenance data were governed by chapter 6 of the DCG as referenced below. As with the inventory data guidelines, the date at the end of each reference provides the starting point at which each new revision was relevant. Data collected before that time were subject to the procedures set forth in the previous version.

As with the inventory data, chapters 6 and 7 from the DCG, covering collection of rehabilitation data, have been combined to create a separate guide for maintenance and rehabilitation data collection. Further information regarding collection of rehabilitation data is provided in chapter 7 of this document.


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