(soft music)
- [Narrator] When roads are built in Texas,
contractors receive bonuses
based on how smooth the roadway is.
These ride quality bonuses and penalties
have been part of the process for years.
Should the specification be changed?
Can smoother pavements be achieved
with certain modifications?
- About 15 years ago
there was a ride quality spec that was introduced
that basically was gonna give an incentive/disincentive
for contractors to provide a better ride surface,
meaning a smoother ride surface.
And this was all based on IRI data
which is the International Roughness Index.
So anything below a 60, we considered good,
65 to 95 requires some kind of corrective action.
And then anything over a 95
is an automatic remove and replace.
So this research was to take a deep dive in to see
if we were actually getting the smoother roadways
for the incentive.
- We really set the stage with this project for TxDOT
to know and understand what it's getting out there
and what it might be able to achieve.
And now it becomes incumbent to figure out
how do we wanna write this
into new specifications and new guidance documents.
TxDOT actually in the process
of re-evaluating its specifications anyways
and so item 585 is going to undergo a specification rewrite.
And certainly this project can provide a lot of data to them
as they undergo this rewrite
to think about how they might wanna restructure it,
restructure those pay schedules
and where bonus kicks in, where penalty kicks in,
'cause what TxDOT is really said is,
if you can give us a superior product
we're willing to pay for that
and so we'll pay you bonus for that.
And if you can't meet our standards
we wanna have some sort of disincentive in there as well.
And so this project gives them the data
and the information they need to make those decisions
in the spec rewrite.
- What we saw from the research and conclusion research
was that the contractors
was actually weren't trying to maximize the bonus,
what they were really trying to do
was optimize production and bonus.
So they would look at how smooth a ride they could rewrite
based on how much production they could get in a day.
- I think what we can really say
is that what people have done before me,
going back to 2004, building that original specification,
getting industry buy-in has led to smoother pavements
being constructed over the last 15 years.
This project was really a chance to validate that
we thought that, that's what had taken place
but this project really validated that
and said, now that we know that moving forward,
what should we expect
and maybe should we make some more changes
to try to push the industry
to continue to build smoother payments in the future.
- [Narrator] For more information
and to find the publications for this project,
please visit the TxDOT Research Library
at the link shown below.