Evaluation of Pavement Surface Characteristics for High Friction Surface Treatment (HFST)

Pavement skid resistance plays an important role in reducing fatalities and injuries from crashes. High friction surface treatment (HFST), initiated by Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), has been installed at numerous horizontal curves with demonstrated capability in improved pavement friction and roadway safety. Many research has been conducted to demonstrate the reduction of traffic fatalities on HFST, while few focused on HFST surface evaluation in the longer term and at a wider scale due to the limitations of traditional data collection devices. This paper evaluates pavement surface characteristics of 21 HFST sites located in 10 states. Pavement cracking, rutting, macro-texture, in terms of mean profile depth (MPD) are measured using the 1mm PaveVision3D laser imaging technology while pavement friction is tested by continuous fixed-slip friction tester respectively at the posted highway speed at one-pass data collection. The measured surface characteristics before, on, and after the HFST sites are compared and paired t-test statistical analyses performed to determine the impacts of HFST on these properties. The results exhibits strong evidence that the HFST sections have statistically significant higher MPD and skid resistance than those on the adjacent pavements without HFST. In addition, the potential application of using PaveVision3D technology to estimate HFST loss and roadway geometry calculation is discussed. The analysis results demonstrated PaveVision3D laser imaging technology can aid state agencies in managing HFST to restore and maintain skid resistance on pavements with high-crash rate.