Catoosa County Pavement Management Program (PMP)

Purpose

The purpose of a formal Pavement Management Program (PMP) is to establish and maintain a uniform definition and procedure for the application of various maintenance strategies to extend the overall expected life cycle of the County’s transportation system in the most economical and efficient manner.

What is Pavement Management?

Pavement management is a set of tools or methods to aide in the decision-making process to determine the best strategies for providing, evaluating, and maintaining pavements in a serviceable condition over a period of time. (AASHTO 1993)

Pavement Management Program (PMP)

Catoosa County’s road network is made up of roughly 427 centerline miles or 854 lane miles. The Transportation Department conducts ongoing inspections and monitoring of the County’s street conditions using the PMP every three years. The PMP uses field inspections along with software analysis of street segments to determine the pavement condition. Pavement treatment selection and funding scenarios are used to help determine where to spend pavement funds.

Pavement Conditions

Pavement conditions are measured using five distress categories which include fatigue (alligator) cracking, transverse cracking, longitudinal cracking, patching and potholes, and edge cracking.  The severity of distress in each category is then determined by a scale of Low 1-3, Medium 4-6, and High 7-9 based on the Strategic Highway Research Program’s (SHRP) research and recommendations.

The software program then calculates a pavement condition index (PCI) number based on the distress and severity observed for each road segment. PCI is a numerical rating of the pavement condition between 0 and 100 with 0 being the worst condition, and 100 the best possible condition. The chart below lists all the numerical conditions and severity. To see how your road rates

CLICK HERE. Please note the department only evaluates unincorporated county-maintained roads.

The condition of a road is affected by several factors including traffic volume, static dynamic loads, weather (rain, extreme heat, freezing temperatures), and moisture intrusion during its lifecycle. Various rehabilitation and resurfacing methods are available to maintain the road surface. Each method has their own benefits and expected service life.

New pavement deteriorates slowly at first and then at a continually increasing rate. This deterioration can be significantly slowed by use of preventative maintenance beginning in the early stages of a pavement’s lifecycle.