ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC PERCEIVED ROADWAY SMOOTHNESS

International Roughness Index (IRI) has been widely used by state DOTs to quantify pavement smoothness. When pavement condition falls below certain IRI thresholds, corresponding pavement maintenance treatments should be considered for application. Selection of appropriate IRI thresholds is essential to tactical allocation of limited resources to improve the conditions of states' roadway systems. This selection process is often challenging, however, because IRI thresholds are largely determined by Perceived Ride Quality (PRQ), and PRQ differs in each state. In this paper, a framework is proposed to address this problem. Passenger raters will be randomly selected from predetermined geographic locations, and their PRQ ratings collected. Taking this perceived ride data, along with other data collected, a statistical analysis will be conducted to establish the relationship between measured IRI values and PRQ. Appropriate IRI thresholds will then be determined. Once this framework is implemented, state DOTs could make informative maintenance decisions, which are expected to greatly enhance the public perception of pavement conditions in today's challenging economy.