PAVEMENT ROUGHNESS AND RIDEABILITY

This report describes the development of a new method for assessing pavement roughness. The method is based on a statistical transform between the physical measure of a pavement profile and the subjective rating of the pavement rideability. It is expressed as the pavement sections rideability number (RN). The rpoet also contains a model for determining a pavement section's need for repair based on the RN computed from the pavement profile. The findings of this study will be of particular interest of highway personnel responsible for pavement rehabilitation and management programs, for collection and analysis of data on pavement surface characteristics, and for testing and research activities.