Implementation of a Texas Mechanistic-Empirical Thickness Design System (TxME)

The current flexible pavement design system (FPS) used at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has limitations in that it does not use any results from laboratory testing, so it is impossible to determine benefits from improved base materials or superior asphalt mixes. Developments over the last several decades have offered an opportunity for more rational and rigorous pavement design procedures. Substantial work has already been completed in Texas, nationally, and internationally in all aspects of modeling, materials characterization, and structural design. These and other assets provided the technical infrastructure that made it possible to develop a new mechanistic-empirical flexible pavement design system (TxME) specifically for Texas. The main objectives of this project were to identify or propose performance models and implementation approaches, and develop the new TxME.