The Long Term Pavement Performance studies of SHRP (Strategic Highway Research Program), GPS (General Pavement Studies and SPS (Specific Pavement Studies), have become more clearly focused during the past year. For GPS, it is now possible to draw firm conclusions about what data will be in the data base and, more importantly, what data will not be included. For SPS, it is possible to predict what is likely to be included. Texas or any other governmental agency can now make long range plans for gathering additional data without fear of duplicating the SHRP effort. For Texas, an assessment of pavement performance data needs is compared with available data in order to make strategic plans for future field studies of pavements. Additionally, the assessment attempts to identify the appropriate technique for collecting data, i.e., long term field studies, accelerated full scale tests, laboratory data, or other methods such as expert projections. The available data sources include results from road tests (AASHO, WASHO, and others), the General Pavement Studies and Specific Pavement Studies of SHRP, the Texas DHT Research Data Bases for both rigid and flexible pavements, and the Pavement Evaluation System of the Texas DHT. Gaps in needed data are noted, their importance rated, and a long range research plan to obtain the needed additional data is presented. The approach used in this report can serve as a model for any country to use in assessing its future pavement performance data needs.
Samenvatting