Pavement Preservation and the Role of Bituminous Surface Treatments—A Washington State View

1. Pavement Preservation and the Role of Bituminous Surface Treatments—A Washington State View Rocky Mountain Asphalt Conference February 20, 2009

2. The Situation • WSDOT policy, in essence, mandated use of BSTs for routes with an ADT < 2,000. • Pavement preservation funding level (real dollars) is down. • Pavement preservation funding is a WSDOT account used to pay for contract HMA and BST projects. • Questions • What is a reasonable ADT upper limit for application of BSTs? • What kinds of pavement performance can we expect if more BSTs are done and fewer HMA overlays?

3. WSDOT Pavements by Surface Type

4. Preservation Policies and Practices

5. WSDOT Lane-Miles by ADT 42%

6. FHWA IRI Thresholds for Interstate Highways

7. Existing IRI Sorted by ADT

8. WSDOTPavement Preservation Funds Note 1: Includes project engineering, construction engineering, safety, taxes. Note 2: Funds shown unadjusted for inflation.

9. Percentages of Pavement Preservation Funding by Type

10. Preservation Pinch

11. Preservation Funds by Lane-Mile per Year Note 1: Funding shown includes project engineering, construction engineering, safety, and taxes. Note 2: Amounts shown not adjusted for inflation.

12. Initial Bottom Line • Not enough funding to fully preserve the route system. • Increasing use of BSTs in lieu of 45mm thick HMA overlays—however overlays are still and will continue to be the preservation treatment of choice. • How did we examine the efficacy of increased BST use? • First, let’s quickly look at HMA performance.

13. Quick look at HMA Overlay Performance • Performance for more recent (post Superpave) projects • Rutting • IRI • Life by western and eastern Washington • Projects placed between 1996 and 2001 • Evaluated with 2006 pavement condition survey • Pavement age: 5 to 10 years • ½ inch HMA only • 26 projects

14. Average Performance

15. Rutting

16. Ride

17. HMA Overlay Life • Pavement life is also a function of • Construction practices • Specifications • Material selection

18. $21,000 per lane-mile $240,000 per lane-mile

19. Key Question Could we save money by using BSTs on some roads that are currently surfaced with HMA? • What is the effect on the WSDOT preservation budget? • What is the effect on long-term network performance? • What is the effect on the traveling public? • Further • What is a reasonable upper level of AADT, at which BST resurfacings can be used? • What is a reasonable upper level of annual ESALs at which BST resurfacings can be used? • What combination of BST resurfacings and HMA overlays produce a cost effective rehabilitation strategy?

20. HDM-4 (v2.03)The Highway Development and Management System software • Integrates multiple models in a unified analysis • Economic • Material • Structural • Condition • UW and WSDOT has experience with HMD-4

21. HDM-4 Modeling Observations • Model may be biased towards existing trends • The treatment strategy selected is highly dependent on the initial roughness • The BST/HMA combination strategy is often selected regardless • Not able to fine-tune the BST effects enough • The HDM-4 model schedules a large number of treatments in the first year • HDM-4 is difficult to master • HDM-4 software support is almost non-existent.

22. HDM-4 Estimated Roughness Conditions AADT less than 8,000 and annual design lane ESALs less than 40,000

23. HDM-4 Results • The NPV of all strategies are the same • Increasing the use of BSTs appears to be economically feasible • Agency expense and user costs increase over time for all strategies except the HMA overlay only option • Reduced agency expenses will result in rougher pavements and higher user costs • Higher BST use shifts cost from the agency to the user unless…

24. HDM-4 Conclusions • HDM-4 is of limited but some use. • Routes with AADT > 2,000 are viable for BSTs. • Considering more BSTs is not a mistake. • The cost of maintaining a road network is largely a zero-sum game.

25. Overall Assessment (1) • Analyses via HDM-4 showed that more lane-miles of BST OK from a NPV view. ADT criterion increases from 2,000 to 4,000-5,000. • WSDOT Pavement Policy has been changed to reflect this. • And…there physically is no ADT limit for BSTs. • More BSTs will likely increase the IRI on the route system but by a limited amount (cycles of BST/HMA overlays, level-up quantities, etc, limit IRI increases). • BSTs will rarely be used through towns and cities or at major intersections.

26. Overall Assessment (2) • Performance in Washington State • BSTs apparently exceed typical national stats. • HMA at or above national stats. Differences between western and eastern Washington need to be reduced. • Does WSDOT need more pavement preservation funds? • Of course—but how much? • Likely something close to $10,000/lane-mile/year.

27. Overall Assessment (3) • Is WSDOT likely to get that much pavement preservation funding anytime soon—NO. • So what can be done? • Tweak the mix of BST and HMA overlays (in progress). • Maximize quality of both hence performance life. • Monitor carefully via PMS. • Don’t do anymore HDM-4 analyses!

28. Questions? Thanks for you attention Contributors include Steve Muench, UW and Linda Pierce, WSDOT