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Abstract
The main goal of a pavement maintenance program is to provide timely maintenance and promote cost-effectiveness in the pavement life cycle. The success of a maintenance program relies on accurate information on the relative performance of treatment methods. LTPP's SPS-3 test sections were built in 1990 to address the cost-effectiveness of various maintenance treatments such as a thin overlay, slurry seal, crack seal, and chip seal. Two SPS-3 sites on US175 and US62 were selected to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these four treatments. TxDOT's distress collection and rating systems were applied to judge the effectiveness of these four treatments. Both the TxDOT system and the historical distress data were used in this study. Distress data collection criteria are slightly different between TxDOT and LTPP, which result in different distress scores. Based on TxDOT distress survey results from Summer 2000, it was found that the ride and distress scores yield a similar trend, in that the best performer is a thin overlay. The next best treatments are a slurry seal and chip seal. The crack seal yielded the lowest (worst) distress and ride scores. Although the distress score for a thin overlay is higher (better) than for a chip seal, the average difference is only about nine points. LTPP distress data shows that the chip seal is the best performer. Sound underlying structural condition is one of the keys to the success of preventative maintenance treatments. With this condition on US175 and US62: all maintenance treatments lasted for 10 years. Among the chip seal, slurry seal, and 25 mm overlay, chip seal is the most cost-effective alternative.