Evaluation of Automated Distress Collection Techniques: An Ontario Case Study

Pavement management systems (PMS) rely on consistent and repeatable distress data collection. Traditionally, such data has been collected through manual surveys, which are subjective, tedious and time consuming. Ideally, the data would be collected at travel or high speed, using state-of-the-art image capture equipment. The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) has initiated a study with the University of Waterloo to determine which of these units or systems, if any, are applicable to Ontario needs and if so whether they can replace the existing manual approach. The work plan has involved a literature review, progressing to an identification of the most promising technologies and then the design and execution of a field experiment to compare and assess the automation technologies vis a vis the manual method. Overall, the results from this study indicate that there are no significant differences among contractors' measurements using sensor-based equipment; however, there are significant differences among measurements taken using digital image-based technology. The implications of such outcomes are discussed in detail, including the specifics regarding methodology implementation in order to encourage practitioners to benefit from the preliminary investigation. In a broader perspective, this paper provides an opportunity for road agencies to revisit selection decisions concerning the acceptance or rejection of pavement data collected by a wide range of contractors.