The Development of a Pavement Quality Index for the Ohio Department of Transportation

As part of their pavement management system (PMS), highway agencies must evaluate pavement performance on a routine basis and identify sections with a need for maintenance or rehabilitation. In the United States, some agencies evaluate their pavements based solely on visible surface distresses while a few others do so based on ride quality alone. Increasingly, many agencies are using pavement performance indices that consider both surface distress and ride quality. The aim of this research was to develop such a combined index, called the Pavement Quality Index (PQI), for the Ohio Department of Transportation. It combines the effect of pavement surface distresses and pavement roughness as described by the International Roughness Index. Results indicate that using the PQI will roughly triple the number of pavement sections requiring rehabilitation. This should ensure increased road users' satisfaction. Additionally, it is shown that the PQI can be useful at a national level in comparing condition of pavements across multiple jurisdictions.