At the Gothenburg Conference in 1989 the possibility of longterm pavement performance studies (LTPP) in Europe was discussed. It was agreed that European LTPP pilot-trials would be carried out to identify any problems of complying with the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) requirements for constructing and monitoring test sections and for transferring data. Test sections of bituminous overlays on heavily trafficed jointed concrete roads have been constructed in the UK to assess the feasibility of involvement in the SHRP LTPP programme. The UK test sections comply with the requirements of the SHRP General Pavement Studies 7B (GPS 7B) and Special Pavement Studies 6 (SPS 6). There are two trial sites already constructed, on the London bound carriageway of the M2 from Dover to London and on the A45 bypass at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Two further sites are planned. The objective of the UK project is to develop a design procedure for overlays on jointed concrete roads. The condition of the test sections is being assessed from detailed visual condition surveys and from measurements made with the falling weight reflectometer and range of high speed survey vehicles. The inventory and condition data are being stored on a copy of the SHRP Database in preparation for transfer to the main SHRP Database in Washington. In parallel with this work, statistical techniques are being developed to analyse and interpret the road condition information from the General Pavement Studies (GPS) and Special Pavement Studies (SPS) in the USA for application in the UK. The pavement condition data being entered into the UK database is as yet insufficient to test the statistical analysis procedures being developed. Consequently the procedures are being evaluated using simulated pavement condition data. In the paper details of the UK trials are discussed and a preliminary evaluation of the statistical analysis procedures are presented. (A)
Abstract