The main objective of the visual assessment of highways in Spain is to establish an index that reflects the state of conservation of the road surface and of the road equipment, to determine not only the situation at the time of the assessment, but also continuous follow-up over the years. Possible correlations of this factor with the experimental variations by the budgets earmarked for upgrading and maintenance of road surfaces are also considered. This method is characterized by: a)simple data collection that can be applied homogeneously by those in charge of carrying it out b)a presentation of results that can be interpreted at various levels c)reliable, representative and objective results. To sum up, this long-standing activity provides a databank of the main information referring to the state of the road in different years as well as an analysis of the road with regard to its condition, by comparing information collected during each campaign. (A)
Abstract