A methodology is presented for developing preliminary treatment recommendations for candidate pavement projects. Emphasis is placed on the efficient use of available pavement management data. The condition-based evaluation procedure is structured into two subproblems, depending on the complexity of pavement condition. Projects exhibiting simple surface distress undergo only initial screening. Projects with complex condition are identified by the initial screening process and then further evaluated in a detailed analysis. The initial screening uses a matching between distresses, treatments, and treatment classes to analyze projects. The detailed analysis explores both surface distress and nondistress characteristics such as traffic loadings and deterioration rate to generate recommendations about a scope of work. The methodology has been implemented on the New York State Thruway pavement system. The generated results and their validation are presented and discussed. It is concluded that the treatment recommendation methodology is a viable technique that will be further developed for use in project-level pavement management. Results of the analysis support future work in the areas of life-cycle cost analysis, multiyear planning, and program optimization. (A)
Abstract