Effectiveness of Rehabilitation Options on Roughness Using LTPP Section Data for New Mexico

Engineers always need effective and specific methods to preserve highway infrastructures. Using data from the InfoPave online documentary of the long-term pavement performance (LTPP) data for New-Mexico state’s rehabilitation work on different sections, this study evaluated the performance of thirteen flexible pavement rehabilitation work done from year 1990-2000. Effectiveness was measured in the short term (roughness reduction, IRIdrop) and long term (estimated treatment service life and area under the performance curve (AOC)). The results showed that compared to shallow depth overlays, the deeper ones were on average more effective in terms of the estimated service life and AOC subjected to the level of surface preparation (minimal or intensive), material type (virgin or recycled), and initial pavement condition (IRIinitial). Also, relative to the minimal surface preparation, intensive surface preparation generally yielded greater effectiveness depending on added thickness, material type, and initial pavement condition. Compared to recycled mix treatments, the virgin mix was somewhat more effective. Finally, compared to pavements treated in poor condition, those treated in good condition were notably more effective. Treatment effectiveness models were also developed for predicting the expected effectiveness of future treatments on the basis of all the evaluated conditions in this study.