The pavement distress data collection of the long-term pavement performance (ltpp) study is a part of the strategic highway research program. Pavement distress data are an important component of the international data base that will be developed during the ltpp. The pavement distress information is to be collected on 500-ft (152-m) monitoring sections on a periodic basis to provide an historical data base to show relationships between distress, performance, traffic, axle loads, age, and significant pavement structural variables. Pavement distress measurements will, in most cases, be made every year on about 1, 000 pavement sections. Various categories of distress data will be collected for both rigid and flexible ltpp test sections, using manual and automatic survey procedures. Detailedinformation is given in the contents of survey manuals to be used during this study. The distress identification and field survey manuals have as a primary objective the provision of a uniform basis for collection of distress data. It is expected that the distress identification, definitions, and measurement procedures described in these manuals will be adopted by highway and roadway agencies in this country and abroad, so that the resulting data base may offer broad opportunities for evaluating and understanding pavement performance under different circumstances. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1260, Measurement of pavement surface condition 1990.
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