CRCP Performance Patterns Gleaned from Texas Pavement Management Data

Abstract

Performance management is increasingly emphasized at the state and national levels. This is evident in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and performance targets set by individual state Departments of Transportation (DOTs). This management approach requires the establishment of performance goals, measures, and metrics for pavement networks, and systematic measurement of progress towards achieving the goals. This paper evaluates the performance of continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) in the Houston, Texas area based on the performance management criteria outlined in MAP-21 and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) statewide pavement performance goal. The performance metrics used in this analysis are the International Roughness Index (IRI), punchouts per mile, and TxDOT’s Condition Score (CS). The data for conducting this analysis was obtained from TxDOT’s Pavement Management Information System (PMIS) database. Despite approaching or exceeding the end of its design life, the performance of CRCP in the Houston District has been consistently successful over the past nine years based on the performance management criteria outlined in MAP-21 and TxDOT’s statewide pavement performance target.