Title 23

SECTION 490.309

490.309 Data requirements.

§ 490.309 Data requirements.

(a) The performance measures identified in § 490.307 are to be computed using methods in § 490.313 from the four condition metrics and three inventory data elements contained within the HPMS that shall be collected and reported following the HPMS Field Manual, which is incorporated by reference into this subpart (see § 490.111). State DOTs shall report four condition metrics for each pavement section: IRI, rutting, faulting, and Cracking_Percent. State DOTs shall also report three inventory data elements as directed in the HPMS Field Manual: Through Lanes, Surface Type, and Structure Type. All pavement data collected after January 1, 2018 for Interstate highways and January 1, 2020 for non-Interstate National Highway System routes shall meet the requirements of this section.

(b) State DOTs shall collect data in accordance with the following relevant HPMS requirements to report IRI, rutting (asphalt pavements), faulting (jointed concrete pavements), and Cracking percent. State DOTs will be permitted to report present serviceability rating (PSR) for specific locations in accordance with the HPMS requirements as an alternative where posted speed limits are less than 40 miles per hour.

(1) For the Interstate System the following shall apply for all the pavement condition metrics:

(i) State DOTs shall collect data -

(A) From the full extent of the mainline highway;

(B) In the rightmost travel lane or one consistent lane for all data if the rightmost travel lane carries traffic that is not representative of the remainder of the lanes or is not readily accessible due to closure, excessive congestion, or other events impacting access;

(C) Continuously collected in a manner that will allow for reporting in nominally uniform pavement section lengths of 0.10 mile (528 feet); shorter pavement sections are permitted only at the beginning of a route, end of a route, at bridges, at locations where surface type changes or other locations where a pavement section length of 0.10 mile is not achievable; the maximum length of pavement sections shall not exceed 0.11 mile (580.8 feet);

(D) In at least one direction of travel; and

(E) On an annual frequency.

(ii) Estimating conditions from data samples of the full extent of the mainline highway is not permitted.

(iii) State DOTs may collect and report pavement condition data separately for each direction of divided highways on the Interstate System. Averaging across directions is not permitted. When pavement condition data is collected in one direction only, the measured conditions shall apply to all lanes in both directions for that pavement section for purposes of this part.

(iv) For the portions of the Interstate mainline highway pavements where posted speed limits are less than 40 MPH (e.g., border crossings, toll plazas), State DOTs may collect and report the Present Serviceability Rating (PSR) as an alternative to the IRI, Cracking_Percent, rutting, and faulting in this pavement section and shall follow the following requirements:

(A) The PSR shall be determined as a value from 0 to 5 per the procedures prescribed in the HPMS Field Manual;

(B) Alternative pavement condition methods may be allowed to estimate a PSR with prior approval from FHWA of the method of correlation between their condition determination and PSR as required in the HPMS Field Manual;

(C) The PSR data shall be continuously collected in a manner that will allow for reporting in uniform pavement section lengths of 0.10 mile (528 feet); shorter pavement sections are permitted only at the beginning of a route, end of a route, at bridges, at locations where surface type changes or other locations where a pavement section length of 0.10 mile is not achievable; the maximum length of pavement sections shall not exceed 0.11 mile (580.8 feet);

(D) The PSR data shall be collected in at least one direction of travel; and

(E) The PSR data shall be collected on an annual frequency.

(2) For the non-Interstate NHS the following shall apply:

(i) For the IRI metric, State DOTs shall collect and report data:

(A) From the full extent of the mainline highway;

(B) In the rightmost travel lane or one consistent lane for all data if the rightmost travel lane is not accessible;

(C) Continuously collected in a manner that will allow for reporting in uniform pavement section lengths of 0.10 mile (528 feet); shorter pavement sections are permitted only at the beginning of a route, end of a route, at bridges, at locations where surface type changes or other locations where a pavement section length of 0.10 mile is not achievable; the maximum length of pavement sections shall not exceed 0.11 mile (580.8 feet)

(D) In one direction of travel; and

(E) On a biennial frequency.

(F) Estimating IRI metrics from data samples of the full extent of the mainline will not be permitted.

(ii) For the Cracking percent, rutting and faulting metrics, State DOTs shall collect data -

(A) On the full extent (no sampling) of the mainline highway;

(B) In the rightmost travel lane or one consistent lane for all data if the rightmost travel lane is not accessible;

(D) In one direction of travel; and

(E) On at least a biennial frequency.

(F) Estimating conditions from data samples of the full extent of the mainline highway will not be permitted.

(iii) For the portions of mainline highways where posted speed limits of less than 40 MPH, State DOTs may collect the Present Serviceability Rating (PSR) as an alternative to the IRI, Cracking_Percent, rutting, and faulting pavement condition metrics, in paragraphs (b)(2)(i) and (ii) of this section, and shall follow the following requirements:

(A) The PSR shall be determined as a 0 to 5 value per the procedures prescribed in the HPMS Field Manual;

(D) The PSR data shall be collected in one direction of travel; and

(E) The PSR data shall be collected on at least a biennial frequency.

(3) Data collection methods for each of the condition metrics shall conform to the following:

(i) The device to collect data needed to calculate the IRI metric shall be in accordance with American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Standard M328-14, Standard Specification for Transportation Materials and Methods of Sampling and Testing, Standard Equipment Specification for Inertial Profiler (incorporated by reference, see § 490.111).

(ii) The method to collect data needed to calculate the IRI metric shall be in accordance with AASHTO Standard R57-14, Standard Specification for Transportation Materials and Methods of Sampling and Testing, Standard Practice for Operating Inertial Profiling Systems (incorporated by reference, see § 490.111).

(iii) For highways with a posted speed limit less than 40 miles per hour, an alternate method for estimation of IRI is permitted as described in § 490.309(b)(1)(iv) or § 490.309(b)(2)(iii) may be used in lieu of measuring IRI, cracking, rutting and faulting.

(iv) The method to collect data needed to determine the Cracking_Percent metric for all pavement types except CRCP shall be manual, semi-automated, or fully automated in accordance with the HPMS Field Manual (incorporated by reference, see 490.111).

(v) For CRCP the method to collect the data needed to determine the Cracking_Percent metric is described in the HPMS Field Manual (incorporated by reference, see § 490.111) and includes longitudinal cracking and/or punchouts, spalling, or other visible defects.

(vi) For asphalt pavements, the method to collect data needed to determine the rutting metric shall either be:

(A) A 5-Point Collection of Rutting Data method in accordance with AASHTO Standard R48-10, Standard Specification for Transportation Materials and Methods of Sampling and Testing, Standard Practice for Determining Rut Depth in Pavements (incorporated by reference, see § 490.111); or

(B) An Automated Transverse Profile Data method in accordance with the HPMS Field Manual (incorporated by reference, see § 490.111).

(vii) For jointed concrete pavements, the method to collect data needed to determine the faulting metric shall be in accordance with AASHTO Standard R36-13, Standard Specification for Transportation Materials and Methods of Sampling and Testing, Standard Practice for Evaluating Faulting of Concrete Pavements (incorporated by reference, see § 490.111).

(c) State DOTs shall collect data in accordance with the following relevant HPMS requirements to report Through Lanes, Surface Type, and Structure Type.

(1) State DOTs shall collect data:

(i) For the full extent of the mainline highway of the NHS;

(ii) In at least one direction of travel for the Interstate System and in one direction of travel for the non-Interstate NHS; and

(iii) On an annual frequency on the Interstate routes and on at least a biennial frequency on non-Interstate NHS routes.

(2) Estimating data elements from samples of the full extent of the mainline highway is not permitted.