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Inertial Profiler Certification for Evaluation of International Roughness Index (2018)

Chapter: Chapter 3 - Profiling Equipment Owned by State Highway Agencies

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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 3 - Profiling Equipment Owned by State Highway Agencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Inertial Profiler Certification for Evaluation of International Roughness Index. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25207.
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Page 45
Page 46
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 3 - Profiling Equipment Owned by State Highway Agencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Inertial Profiler Certification for Evaluation of International Roughness Index. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25207.
×
Page 46
Page 47
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 3 - Profiling Equipment Owned by State Highway Agencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Inertial Profiler Certification for Evaluation of International Roughness Index. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25207.
×
Page 47
Page 48
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 3 - Profiling Equipment Owned by State Highway Agencies." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Inertial Profiler Certification for Evaluation of International Roughness Index. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25207.
×
Page 48

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45 This chapter describes the inertial profilers and reference profilers owned by the state DOTs, based on the information that was obtained from the survey. Inertial Profilers Owned by State Highway Agencies Information regarding inertial profilers owned by the 44 state DOTs that responded to the survey are shown in Table 3. Table 3 also shows the number of the following types of inertial profilers owned by each state DOT: • High-speed inertial profilers, where the profiling equipment is permanently fixed to the vehicle; • High-speed portable inertial profiling systems, where the profiling equipment can be installed in another vehicle; and • Lightweight inertial profilers. This table also indicates the following: • Whether the state DOT uses an IRI-based smoothness specification for pavements, • Whether the state DOT accepts smoothness data collected on the final paved surface by the contractor, • Whether the state DOT or a vendor collects IRI data on the state highway network, and • Whether the state DOT or a vendor collects IRI data on HPMS sections that are not located on the state highway network. The number of profilers owned by a state DOT varied from state to state. Two state DOTs did not own a high-speed profiler, and they owned only a lightweight profiler. Ten state DOTs owned only one high-speed profiler. The profilers owned by the state DOT may be used for project-level data collection, as well as for network-level data collection. In state DOTs where the data collection on the state highway network and at HPMS sections located on the off-state system have been contracted out to a vendor, the state DOT will not be performing network-level data collection. The project-level data collection includes collecting data on the final paved surface for construction acceptance and/or for collecting data on the final paved surface to verify that the contractor collected data for construction acceptance (if the state accepts contractor-collected data on the final paved surface). Network-level data collection includes collecting data on the state highway network, as well as collecting data at HPMS sections that are located off the state highway network. Some of the profilers owned by the state DOT may be dedicated to project-level data collec- tion, while others may be dedicated to network-level data collection. In some state DOTs, the C H A P T E R 3 Profiling Equipment Owned by State Highway Agencies

46 Inertial Profiler Certification for Evaluation of International Roughness Index State Number Use IRI-Based Smoothness Specification? Accepts Contractor- Collected Smoothness Data? Lightweight Equipment Permanently Fixed Portable State Pavement Network Off-State Network HPMS Sections 1 1 0 0 Yes Yes Vendor Vendor 2 2 0 1 Yes No Vendor Vendor 3 1 0 1 Yes No DOT DOT 4 1 2 2 No N/A DOT DOT 5 12 0 0 Yes Yes Vendor Vendor 6 1 0 0 Yes Yes Vendor Vendor 7 2 0 0 Yes No DOT DOT 8 0 0 1 Yes Yes Vendor Vendor 9 10 0 0 No N/A DOT DOT 10 8 0 1 Yes No Vendor Vendor 11 0 11 1 No N/A Vendor Vendor 12 1 3 1 Yes Yes Both Both 13 1 0 0 No N/A DOT DOT 14 0 3 0 Yes No DOT DOT 15 1 1 1 Yes Yes Vendor Vendor 16 1 1 0 Yes No DOT DOT 17 4 0 0 Yes Yes DOT DOT 18 1 2 0 Yes Yes DOT DOT 19 1 1 1 Yes No Vendor Vendor 20 5 0 1 Yes Yes DOT DOT 21 2 0 0 Yes Yes Vendor Vendor 22 3 0 2 Yes Yes DOT DOT 23 2 5 0 Yes No DOT DOT 24 1 3 0 Yes Yes DOT DOT 25 2 0 0 No N/A DOT DOT 26 1 2 0 Yes No DOT Vendor 27 3 1 0 Yes Yes Vendor Vendor 28 1 0 0 Yes Yes Vendor Vendor 29 4 0 0 Yes Yes Both DOT 30 1 1 0 Yes No DOT N/C 31 3 2 0 Yes Yes DOT DOT 32 0 0 1 No N/A Vendor Vendor 33 1 0 0 Yes Yes Both Both 34 3 0 4 Yes Yes Both Vendor 35 1 0 0 Yes No Vendor Vendor 36 1 2 1 Yes No DOT DOT 37 5 0 0 Yes No Vendor Vendor 38 6 0 0 Yes Yes Vendor DOT 39 1 0 0 Yes Yes Vendor DOT 40 1 0 0 Yes No Both Vendor 41 3 0 0 Yes No Vendor Vendor 42 2 0 0 Yes No DOT DOT 43 1 0 0 Yes Yes Vendor Vendor 44 3 0 1 Yes Yes Vendor Vendor High-Speed Network-Level Data Collectiona Inertial Profilers Owned by State DOT Note: N/C = data not collected; N/A = not used for construction acceptance. aState DOT, vendor, or both collect data. Table 3. Inertial profilers owned by state DOTs.

Profiling Equipment Owned by State Highway Agencies 47 same profiler may be used for project- and network-level data collection. Further details about the purposes for which the state DOT–owned profilers are used are described in the next section. In some state DOTs, the management of all state DOT–owned profilers is handled by one office in the DOT. In others, the management can fall into different offices, based on the use of the profiler. In some state DOTs, the profilers that are used to collect profile data on the final paved surface for construction acceptance or to verify contractor-collected data on the final paved surface fall under the jurisdiction of one office, which is typically the Materials Division of the state DOT. The profilers that are used to collect network-level data fall under another office, which is typically the Pavement Management Division. In state DOTs that contract all network- level data collection to a vendor, the Pavement Management Division may not have any state DOT–owned profilers under its management. Purposes for Which Inertial Profilers are Used Table 4 shows the primary purposes for which the state DOT–owned profilers are used, based on the results from the survey. This table contains responses received from all 44 state DOTs that responded to the survey. Some of the other purposes for which state DOT–owned profilers are used to collect data are • For research studies, • For forensic studies, • To monitor frost heave and sulfate heave, • To assist maintenance division with rideability corrections, • To verify accuracy of network-level data collected by the vendor, and • To collect data on warranty projects. Primary Use of State DOT–Owned Profilers Number of State DOTs Collect data on final paved surface for construction acceptance 6 Verify contractor-collected data on final paved surface for construction acceptance 10 Collect data on final paved surface for construction acceptance, and 1 verify contractor-collected data on final paved surface for construction acceptance Collect data on state highway system, and 4 collect data on final paved surface for construction acceptance Collect data on state highway system, and 1 verify contractor-collected data on final paved surface for construction acceptance Collect data on HPMS sections located on off-state network, and 1 verify contractor-collected data on final paved surface for construction acceptance Collect data on state highway system, and 1 collect data on HPMS sections located on off-state network Collect data on HPMS sections located on off-state network, 1 collect data on final paved surface for construction acceptance, and verify contractor-collected data on final paved surface for construction acceptance Collect data on state highway system, 8 collect data on HPMS sections located on off-state network, and collect data on final paved surface for construction acceptance Collect data on state highway system, 11 collect data on HPMS sections located on off-state network, and verify contractor-collected data on final paved surface for construction acceptance Table 4. Primary purpose for which state DOT–owned profilers are used.

48 Inertial Profiler Certification for Evaluation of International Roughness Index Reference Profilers Owned by State Highway Agencies Table 5 shows the type of reference profilers owned by the 44 state DOTs that responded to the survey. Fifteen state DOTs that responded to the survey (i.e., 34% of the responding state DOTs) indicated that they do not own any type of reference profiler. Thirty-eight of the 44 state DOTs that responded to the survey indicated that they have an IRI-based smoothness specification. Table 6 shows the type of reference profilers owned by these 38 state DOTs. Twelve state DOTs that have an IRI-based smoothness specification indicated that they do not own a reference profiler. However, one state DOT indicated that although it does not own a reference device, it has access to a SurPRO that is owned by a university in its state. Although several state DOTs indicated that they own a Dipstick, all of these state DOTs indicated that they do not use it to collect reference data for certifying profilers. Reference Profiler State DOTs Responding to Survey Number Percentage (%) Only Dipstick 3 6.8 Only ARRB Walking Profiler 1 2.3 Only SurPRO 18 40.9 SurPRO and Dipstick 4 9.1 SurPRO and ARRB Walking Profiler 1 2.3 SurPRO, Dipstick, and ARRB Walking Profiler 1 2.3 SurPRO and SSI Walking Profiler 1 2.3 None 15 34.0 Total 44 100 Table 5. Type of reference profilers owned by the state DOTs. Reference Profiler Number of State DOTs Only Dipstick 3 Only ARRB Walking Profiler 1 Only SurPRO 17 SurPRO and Dipstick 3 SurPRO, Dipstick, and ARRB Walking Profiler 1 SurPRO and SSI Walking Profiler 1 None 12 Total 38 Table 6. Type of reference profilers owned by state DOTs that responded to the survey and have an IRI-based smoothness specification.

Next: Chapter 4 - Use of IRI for Construction Acceptance »
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TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 526: Inertial Profiler Certification for Evaluation of International Roughness Index determines the state of practice of certification of inertial profilers at the national and international levels. Inertial profilers are used to collect the repeatable and reproducible road profiles analyzed to calculate a smoothness or ride quality index, the most common of which—the International Roughness Index (IRI)—is a performance measure that state departments of transportation (DOTs) must report to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as part of Highway Performance Monitoring System/Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (HPMS/MAP-21) Act and Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act requirements. The information in this report can help ensure that accurate data are collected both for smoothness specifications at the project level and for MAP-21 Act and FAST Act requirements that the states provide accurate and consistent IRI data.

The report is accompanied by the following appendices:

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