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Pavements

Performance Evaluation of Various Rehabilitation and Preservation Treatments

Chapter 3. Treatment Performance

OVERVIEW

The primary objective of this study was to conduct a synthesis to highlight the degree to which preventative maintenance treatments and rehabilitation practices extend the service life of pavements. The findings of this project will be used to provide support for the FHWA policy guidance related to pavement rehabilitation and preventive maintenance.

Based on the data received from the States, the following summary is provided:

  1. Appendix B. Provides a brief description of how each selected State determines its Pavement Condition Rating (PCR) as used in this project.
  2. Appendix C. Tables organized by treatment type (20 tables) displaying the collected data.
  3. Appendix D. Tables organized by climatic zone displaying each treatment that was evaluated within that climatic zone.

Based on the information contained in the above, the project team summarized the findings and has identified, if appropriate, the most common values for the following data items:

f. Timing of application - the stage of life (in years) the preventive and/or rehabilitative action was taken.

g. Annual average daily traffic and % truck on the pavement section associated with each treatment.

h. Distress types and values used to trigger each treatment.

i. Extended pavement service life or structural life associated with each treatment.

j. Cost/lane mile associated with each treatment.

This summary is contained in Table 6 thru Table 25 of this section. A listing of the tables contained herein is as follows:

Table 6. HMA - thin overlay summary

Table 7. HMA - chip seal summary

Table 8. HMA - microsurfacing summary

Table 9. HMA - crack sealing summary

Table 10. HMA - mill and resurfacing

Table 11. HMA - hot in-place recycling

Table 12. HMA - slurry seal summary

Table 13. HMA - fog seal summary

Table 14. HMA - cold in-place recycling summary

Table 15. HMA - full depth reclamation summary

Table 16. HMA - structural overlay (mill and fill) summary Table 17. HMA - whitetopping summary

Table 18. PCC - diamond grinding summary

Table 19. PCC - dowel bar retrofit summary

Table 20. PCC - full depth repair summary

Table 21. PCC - joint sealing summary

Table 22. PCC - partial depth repair summary

Table 23. PCC - HMA overlay without slab fracturing summary

Table 24. PCC - Crack-and-seat or rubblize and overlay (with HMA) summary

Table 25. PCC - unbonded overlay summary

OBSERVATIONS

During conduct of this study, several observations were made. A discussion of each follows:

  • Traffic volumes (AADT) and percent trucks are usually very easy for the States to obtain.
  • All of the States that participated in the study had a network level condition rating system. It should be noted that none of the States use the same condition rating system. Comparing one State to the other (in terms of pavement performance) is thus not practical without substantial effort.
  • Dissemination of data for this type of study is very difficult for the states. For example, none of the States uses a formal method to determine the extended service life for their treatments (it is theorized that this statement may be true that even if the scope was expanded to all 50 States). One State, while providing most of the requested project information, could not provide extended service life information.
  • Although periodic condition surveys are conducted, many of the target States still have no formal methods in place, especially at the project level, to measure or evaluate life extension of the treatments as a function of pavement condition other than through visual observation, experience and/or engineering judgment.
  • For construction history and cost data, State DOTs generally either (1) do not have the requisite data or (2) the data is stored in other systems which they cannot access, do not understand, or do not have the time to manipulate the data. For example, the last treatment year (construction history) is missing for many projects thus making it difficult to determine the time of life when the pavement treatment was applied. As another example, while it is possible to separate pavement and non-pavement related cost, the target States generally hesitate to do so mainly because of the large amount of time and effort this would consume.
  • Pavements are rehabilitated for a number of reasons other than condition. Political, budgetary (stimulus for example), aesthetics, condition, etc. all come into play when deciding to rehabilitate a roadway. Therefore, determination of life extension is not solely based upon the condition, or engineering based needs, of a pavement.
  • For some of the original 256 projects provided by the States, it was clear that pavements were receiving preservation treatments on sections exhibiting structural distress or in very
  • poor condition. Conversely some pavements were receiving preservation treatments when no distress was evident.
  • For some projects included in the appendices, the trigger values and condition indicator reported do not align. An example can be seen in the chip seal project list wherein cracking is the trigger and IRI is the reported condition indicator. In these cases, the extended service life is still considered to be useful information, thus the project is included in this study. In these cases, the values for before and after the treatment should be used with caution as, in the example above, the IRI increases after treatment while there is no information on how cracking responded. This is a significant limitation of this study and is a function of State condition reporting.
Table 6. HMA - HMA thin overlay summary.
Description A HMA overlay with one lift of surface course generally with a thickness of 38 mm (1.5 in) or less (FP2, 2001).
Target States KS MI MN WA
Number of Projects Identified 3 3 3 4
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 8 projects, timing of application ranges from 4 to 24 years.
Traffic Information Based on 13 projects, AADT ranges from 166 to 31,300; truck percent ranges from 1% to 30%; number of daily trucks ranges from 9 to 1987.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 13 projects, the main triggering distresses are cracking (transverse, longitudinal, alligator and block); rutting; ride; and raveling.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 13 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 3 to 23 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 13 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $29,409 to $249,699.
Table 7. HMA - chip seal summary.
Description A surface treatment in which the pavement is sprayed with asphalt (generally emulsified) and then immediately covered with aggregate and rolled. Chip seals are used primarily to seal the surface of a pavement with non load-associated cracks and to improve surface friction, although they also are commonly used as a wearing course on low volume roads (FP2, 2001).
Target States KS MI MN TX WA
Number of Projects Identified 3 3 2 3 4
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 11 projects, timing of application ranges from 2 to 13 years.
Traffic Information Based on 15 projects, AADT ranges from 347 to 15,400; truck percent ranges from 4.5% to 45%; number of daily trucks ranges from 36 to 780.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 14 projects, the main triggering distresses are cracking (transverse, longitudinal, alligator and block) and raveling.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 13 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 3 to 8 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 15 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $6,732 to $145,976.
Table 8. HMA - microsurfacing summary.
Description A mixture of polymer modified asphalt emulsion, mineral aggregate, mineral filler, water, and other additives, properly proportioned, mixed, and spread on a paved surface. Microsurfacing differs from slurry seal in that it can be used on high volume roadways to correct wheel path rutting and provide a skid resistant pavement surface (FP2, 2001).
Target States MI MN TX
Number of Projects Identified 3 3 3
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 7 projects, timing of application ranges from 1 to 11 years.
Traffic Information Based on 9 projects, AADT ranges from 513 to 28,290; truck percent ranges from 4.0% to 30%; number of daily trucks ranges from 48 to 3,112.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 9 projects, main triggering distresses are cracking (transverse, longitudinal, alligator and block); and shallow rutting.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 9 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 3 to 8 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 9 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $19,436 to $32,698.
Table 9. HMA - crack sealing summary.
Description A maintenance procedure that involves placement of specialized materials into working cracks (Crack in a pavement that undergo significant deflection and thermal opening and closing movements greater than 2 mm (1/16 in), typically oriented transverse to the pavement centerline) using unique configurations to reduce the intrusion of incompressibles into the crack and to prevent infiltration of water into the underlying pavement layers (FP2, 2001).
Target States KS MI MN TX
Number of Projects Identified 2 3 3 3
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 10 projects, timing of application ranges from 1 to 38 years.
Traffic Information Based on 11 projects, AADT ranges from 65 to 100,000; truck percent ranges from 3.4% to 22.0%; number of daily trucks ranges from 3 to 5,200.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 11 projects, main triggering distresses are cracking (transverse, longitudinal, alligator and block).
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 11 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 0 to 4 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 11 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $883 to $9,792.
Table 10. HMA - mill and resurfacing summary.
Description The old oxidized surface of HMA is removed and replaced with new material. Generally, the old surface has become brittle and cracked and the replacement surface provides improved protection to the underlying layers (Von Quintus, Simpson, & Eltahan, July 2006).
Target States MI MN TX WA
Number of Projects Identified 3 3 3 4
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 12 projects, timing of application ranges from 2 to 19 years.
Traffic Information Based on 13 projects, AADT ranges from 3,400 to 119,500; truck percent ranges from 3.4% to 25%; number of daily trucks ranges from 408 to 10,429.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 13 projects, main triggering distresses are cracking (transverse and longitudinal), ride quality and rutting.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 13 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 4 to 20 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 13 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $63,612 to $679,684.
Table 11. HMA - hot in-place recycling summary.
Description A process which consists of softening the existing asphalt surface with heat, mechanically removing the surface material, mixing the material with a recycling agent, adding virgin asphalt and aggregate to the material (if required), and then replacing the material on the pavement (FP2, 2001).
Target States KS MI TX WA
Number of Projects Identified 3 2 1 2
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 6 projects, timing of application ranges from 6 to 32 years.
Traffic Information Based on 8 projects, AADT ranges from 348 to 12,985; truck percent ranges from 4% to 39%; number of daily trucks ranges from 38 to 2,340.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 8 projects, main triggering distresses are cracking (transverse, longitudinal and alligator); rutting.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 3 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 3 to 8 (performance to-date) years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 8 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $31,136 to $130,383.
Table 12. HMA - slurry seal summary.
Description A mixture of slow setting emulsified asphalt, well graded fine aggregate, mineral filler, and water. It is used to fill cracks and seal areas of old pavements, to restore a uniform surface texture, to seal the surface to prevent moisture and air intrusion into the pavement, and to improve skid resistance (FP2, 2001).
Target States KS
Number of Projects Identified 3
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 3 projects, timing of application ranges from 7 to 13 years.
Traffic Information Based on 3 projects, AADT ranges from 1,498 to 17,072; truck percent ranges from 14% to 23%; number of daily trucks ranges from 277 to 2,390.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 3 projects, main triggering distresses are ride quality and cracking.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 3 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 4 to 7 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 3 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $26,505 to $32,542.
Table 13. HMA - fog seal summary.
Description A light application of slow setting asphalt emulsion diluted with water and without the addition of any aggregate applied to the surface of a bituminous pavement. Fog seals are used to renew aged asphalt surfaces, seal small cracks and surface voids, or adjust the quality of binder in newly applied chip seals (FP2, 2001).
Target States TX WA
Number of Projects Identified 3 3
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 4 projects, timing of application ranges from 1 to 10 years.
Traffic Information Based on 6 projects, AADT ranges from 1,709 to 34,000; truck percent ranges from 15% to 35%; number of daily trucks ranges from 306 to 11,900.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 4 projects, main triggering distresses are cracking (longitudinal and block) and patching.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 6 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 4 to 5 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 6 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $1,029 to $211,579.
Table 14. HMA - cold in-place recycling summary.
Description A process in which a portion of an existing bituminous pavement is pulverized or milled, and then the reclaimed material is mixed with new binder and, when needed, virgin aggregates. The binder used most often is emulsified asphalt with or without a softening agent. The resultant blend is placed as a base for a subsequent overlay or surface treatment (FP2, 2001).
Target States KS MI MN WA
Number of Projects Identified 3 3 3 4
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 11 projects, timing of application ranges from 4 to 27 years.
Traffic Information Based on 13 projects, AADT ranges from 368 to 19,051; truck percent ranges from 4% to 46.9%; number of daily trucks ranges from 36 to 1276.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 9 projects, main triggering distresses are cracking (transverse, longitudinal and block) and ride quality.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 10 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 4 to 17 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 13 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $44,176 to $337,525.
Table 15. HMA - full depth reclamation summary.
Description It involves pulverizing the existing asphalt surface and mixing the pulverized material with the underlying base and sometimes subgrade soils along with a stabilizing agent such as lime. The mixed material is then used as the base for the pavement system (Smith, Lewis, Turner, & Jared, January 2008).
Target States MI MN TX
Number of Projects Identified 3 3 6
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 4 projects, timing of application ranges from 12 to 24 years.
Traffic Information Based on 12 projects, AADT ranges from 418 to 42,000; truck percent ranges from 5% to 35%; number of daily trucks ranges from 35 to 12,600.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 9 projects, main triggering distresses are cracking (transverse, longitudinal, multiple), severe rutting, ride quality.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 12 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 10 to 20 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 12 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $55,109 to $352,641.
Table 16. HMA - structural overlay (mill & fill) summary.
Description An increase in the pavement load carrying capacity by adding additional pavement layers (FP2, 2001).
Target State MI MN WA
Number of Projects Identified 3 3 3
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 8 projects, timing of application ranges from 9 to 22 years.
Traffic Information Based on 9 projects, AADT ranges from 1,927 to 15,254; truck percent ranges from 4% to 19.9%; number of daily trucks ranges from 143 to 1,053.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 6 projects, main triggering distresses are cracking (transverse, longitudinal, alligator), and ride quality.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 9 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 6 to 17 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 9 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $107,000 to $242,497.
Table 17. HMA - whitetopping summary.
Description The construction of a portland cement concrete layer on top of an existing asphalt concrete pavement (Trevino & McCullough, January 2005).
Target States KS MI MN
Number of Projects Identified 3 1 1
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 5 projects, timing of application ranges from 20 to 31 years.
Traffic Information Based on 5 projects, AADT ranges from 584 to 3,475; truck percent ranges from 5% to 18%; number of daily trucks ranges from 105 to 320.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 4 projects, main triggering distresses are cracking (transverse), and ride quality.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 4 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 3 to 17 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 5 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $105,814 to $663,344.
Table 18. PCC - Diamond grinding summary.
Description A process that uses a series of diamond-tipped saw blades mounted on a shaft or arbor to shave the upper surface of a pavement to remove bumps, restore pavement rideability, and improve surface friction (FP2, 2001).
Target States KS MN WA
Number of Projects Identified 3 3 2
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 6 projects, timing of application ranges from 13 to 42 years.
Traffic Information Based on 8 projects, AADT ranges from 723 to 196,295; truck percent ranges from 5.4% to 25%; number of daily trucks ranges from 87 to 17,235.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 8 projects, main triggering distresses are joint faulting and ride quality.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 8 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 4 to 17 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 8 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $20,682 to $218,210.
Table 19. PCC - Dowel bar retrofit summary.
Description A rehabilitation technique that is used to increase the load transfer capability of existing jointed PCC pavements by placement of dowel bars across joints and/or cracks that exhibit poor load transfer (FP2, 2001).
Target States KS MI MN TX WA
Number of Projects Identified 3 3 3 1 4
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 14 projects, timing of application ranges from 1 to 41 years.
Traffic Information Based on 14 projects, AADT ranges from 1,483 to 140,638; truck percent ranges from 2% to 24.2%; number of daily trucks ranges from 163 to 13,164.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 14 projects, main triggering distresses are cracked panels with some faulting and transverse joint spall, and ride quality.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 13 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 2 to 16 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 11 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $19,945 to $488,757.
Table 20. PCC - Full depth repair summary.
Description Removal and replacement of a segment of pavement to the level of the subgrade in order to restore areas of deterioration (Schutzbach & Lyons, September 1993).
Target States KS MI MN
Number of Projects Identified 3 3 3
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 9 projects, timing of application ranges from 4 to 25 years.
Traffic Information Based on 9 projects, AADT ranges from 4,011 to 27,600; truck percent ranges from 7.1% to 38%; number of daily trucks ranges from 622 to 5,497.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 9 projects, main triggering distresses are cracked panels and ride quality.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 9 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 3 to 14 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 6 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $19,238 to $102,162.
Table 21. PCC - Joint sealing summary.
Description Used on jointed concrete pavements to prevent moisture from entering the underlying layers below the concrete slabs and to prevent incompressible materials from entering the joint which would increase stresses within the concrete slab as the slab expands during the heat of the day (Smith, Freeman, & Pendleton, 1993).
Target States MI
Number of Projects Identified 3
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 3 projects, timing of application ranges from 6 to 12 years.
Traffic Information Based on 3 projects, AADT ranges from 5,492 to 65,500; truck percent ranges from 7% to 27%; number of daily trucks ranges from 1,483 to 4,585.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 3 projects, main triggering distresses are open joints and ride quality.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 3 projects, extended pavement service life is 4 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 3 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $2,856 to $15,402.
Table 22. PCC - Partial depth repair summary.
Description Repairs of localized areas of surface deterioration of concrete pavements, usually for compression spalling problems, severe scaling, or other surface problems that are within the upper one-third of the slab depth (Wilson, Smith, & Romine, October 1999).
Target States KS MN
Number of Projects Identified 3 1
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 4 projects, timing of application ranges from 5 to 9 years.
Traffic Information Based on 4 projects, AADT ranges from 215 to 14,300; truck percent ranges from 16% to 18%; number of daily trucks ranges from 39 to 2,574.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 4 projects, main triggering distresses are cracked panels and joint spalling.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 4 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 1 to 7 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 4 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $773 to $95,853.
Table 23. PCC - HMA overlay without slab fracturing summary.
Description It involves the placement of an asphalt concrete overlay on an existing concrete pavement to improve ride quality, surface texture, and / or noise (Khurshid, Irfan, Labi, & Sinha, January 2008).
Target States KS MI MN WA
Number of Projects Identified 3 3 3 3
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 12 projects, timing of application ranges from 10 to 36 years.
Traffic Information Based on 12 projects, AADT ranges from 2,196 to 77,596; truck percent ranges from 5% to 31%; number of daily trucks ranges from 154 to 13,114.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 6 projects, main triggering distresses are faulting, cracked panels and ride quality.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 12 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 1 to 20 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 7 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $48,725 to $1,655,590.
Table 24. PCC - Crack-and-seat or rubblize and overlay (with HMA) summary.
Description An operation on concrete pavement that involves fracturing the concrete. With a crack-andseat operation, the particle sizes are generally two to three feet blocks. A rubblized pavement is fractured to particle sizes less than one foot. The fractured material is overlaid with asphalt concrete (Ksaibati, Miley, & Armaghani, August 1998; Choubane & Nazef, April 2005).
Target States MI MN TX
Number of Projects Identified 4 3 3
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 7 projects, timing of application ranges from 2 to 41 years.
Traffic Information Based on 10 projects, AADT ranges from 610 to 25,450; truck percent ranges from 5% to 45%; number of daily trucks ranges from 31 to 5,854.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 6 projects, main triggering distresses are cracked and broken panels, spalled joints, and ride.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 7 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 10 to 15 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 10 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $146,667 to $714,323.
Table 25. PCC - Unbonded overlay summary.
Description Increase in the pavement structure of an existing concrete or composite pavement by addition of jointed plain, jointed reinforced, or continuously reinforced concrete pavement placed on a separator layer (usually an asphalt layer) designed to prevent bonding to the existing pavement (FP2, 2001).
Target States MI MN WA
Number of Projects Identified 4 3 1
Performance Related Items Typical Ranges/Common Values
Timing of Application Based on 7 projects, timing of application ranges from 8 to 38 years.
Traffic Information Based on 8 projects, AADT ranges from 3,700 to 25,826; truck percent ranges from 7.3% to 29%; number of daily trucks ranges from 741 to 6,380.
Distress Types and/or Values Based on 4 projects, main triggering distresses are cracked and broken panels, transverse joints, and ride.
Extended Pavement Service Life Based on 8 projects, extended pavement service life ranges from 15 to 31 years.
Cost/lane Mile (2009 dollars) Based on 7 projects, cost/lane mile ranges from $356,774 to $797,438.
Updated: 06/27/2017
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