Pavement Management in Kentucky

The principal objective of this paper is to summarize current pavement management activities in Kentucky. Early pavement management activities generally were decentralized (involving a number of transportation functions such as planning, design, construction, maintenance, and research) and involved long-term monitoring for skid resistance and ride quality (roughness). Current pavement management activities may be categorized by evaluation, project selection, and development of recommendations for pavement rehabilitation strategies. Pavement evaluation activities at the statewide system level typically involve assessments of ride quality (ridesbility index) and estimated pavement serviceability, skid resistance, visual condition ratings, and the accumulation of traffic volumes and pavement fatigue. Funding allocations to highway districts involves the application of limiting criteria to system level data obtained during the evaluation phase. Factors considered include rideability index (estimated from roughness measurements), skid resistance, visual condition ratings, accumulation of traffic volumes and fatigue, and engineering judgment. Recommendations for rehabilitation strategies also may be based on structural evaluations using deflection measurements. Typical rehabilitation strategies are discussed. Procedures and criteria for the allocation and distribution of funding to the highway districts are presented.