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(soft music)

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- [Narrator] When roads
are built in Texas,

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contractors receive bonuses

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based on how smooth the roadway is.

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These ride quality bonuses and penalties

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have been part of the process for years.

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Should the specification be changed?

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Can smoother pavements be achieved

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with certain modifications?

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- About 15 years ago

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there was a ride quality
spec that was introduced

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that basically was gonna give
an incentive/disincentive

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for contractors to provide
a better ride surface,

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meaning a smoother ride surface.

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And this was all based on IRI data

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which is the International
Roughness Index.

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So anything below a
60, we considered good,

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65 to 95 requires some
kind of corrective action.

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And then anything over a 95

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is an automatic remove and replace.

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So this research was to
take a deep dive in to see

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if we were actually getting
the smoother roadways

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for the incentive.

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- We really set the stage
with this project for TxDOT

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to know and understand
what it's getting out there

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and what it might be able to achieve.

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And now it becomes incumbent to figure out

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how do we wanna write this

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into new specifications
and new guidance documents.

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TxDOT actually in the process

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of re-evaluating its
specifications anyways

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and so item 585 is going to
undergo a specification rewrite.

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And certainly this project can
provide a lot of data to them

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as they undergo this rewrite

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to think about how they
might wanna restructure it,

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restructure those pay schedules

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and where bonus kicks in,
where penalty kicks in,

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'cause what TxDOT is really said is,

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if you can give us a superior product

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we're willing to pay for that

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and so we'll pay you bonus for that.

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And if you can't meet our standards

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we wanna have some sort of
disincentive in there as well.

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And so this project gives them the data

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and the information they
need to make those decisions

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in the spec rewrite.

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- What we saw from the research
and conclusion research

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was that the contractors

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was actually weren't trying
to maximize the bonus,

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what they were really trying to do

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was optimize production and bonus.

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So they would look at how
smooth a ride they could rewrite

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based on how much production
they could get in a day.

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- I think what we can really say

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is that what people have done before me,

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going back to 2004, building
that original specification,

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getting industry buy-in has
led to smoother pavements

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being constructed over the last 15 years.

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This project was really
a chance to validate that

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we thought that, that's
what had taken place

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but this project really validated that

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and said, now that we
know that moving forward,

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what should we expect

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and maybe should we make some more changes

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to try to push the industry

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to continue to build smoother
payments in the future.

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- [Narrator] For more information

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and to find the publications
for this project,

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please visit the TxDOT Research Library

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at the link shown below.