Wet Pavements Crash Study Of Longitudinal And Transverse Tined Pcc Pavements

This Report to Stakeholders reviews some of our transportation research efforts in Wisconsin during the past four years. A few of these studies are already complete and have made a significant impact on the way we do business. Many of the projects will be finished in the coming months. For all of us interested in Wisconsin's transportation future, the report provides an overview of these diverse and laudable investigations.

Surface characteristics represent a critical issue facing pavement owners and the concrete paving industry. The traveling public has come to expect smoother, quieter, and better drained pavements, all without compromising safety. The overall surface characteristics issue is extremely complex since all pavement surface characteristics properties, including texture, noise, friction, splash/spray, rolling resistance, reflectivity/illuminance, and smoothness, are complexly related. The following needs and gaps related to achieving desired pavement surface characteristics need to be addressed: determine how changes in one surface characteristic affect, either beneficially or detrimentally, other characteristics of the pavement, determine the long-term surface and acoustic durability of different textures, and develop, evaluate, and standardize new data collection and analysis tools. It is clear that an overall strategic and coordinated research approach to the problem must be developed and pursued to address these needs and gaps.

The overall objectives of this research study may be stated as follows: Determine if surface characteristic measurements can be correlated to wet-pavement crashes in Ohio; Provide improved guidance on the use of ribbed versus smooth tires for pavement surface friction testing in Ohio, including the identification of suggested minimum surface friction numbers associated with each tire type; Provide recommended desirable or target surface friction numbers as a function of site categories and friction demand. Accomplishments of these objectives will help ODOT address their goal of reducing total crashes 10 percent and rear-end crashes by 25 percent by 2015.