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(engine revving)

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(air whooshing)

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- [Narrator] The TxDOT
Maintenance Division,

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uses an in-house comprehensive
pavement management system,

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called Pavement Analyst.

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This system uses traffic,
location and distress levels

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to decide where road work
and rehabilitation is needed.

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Working with the Center for
Transportation Research,

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TxDOT developed models

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to predict a road skid number over time,

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helping improve safety
and prioritizing decisions

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on road maintenance around the state.

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- So district engineers,

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every year,

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they have to develop the
so-called four-year plan.

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The four-year plan,

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is what the different
districts believe they need

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to either maintain or rehabilitate
in the next four years.

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Traditionally,

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these decisions are made based

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on the so-called pavement
performance indicators,

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such as the amount of pavement cracking,

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or the depth of pavement
rotting or the riding quality.

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- The current system

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and similar to many
other system, if not all,

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they basically focus
on pavement conditions.

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Skid resistance also is crucial to safety.

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It's not directly considered

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in the optimization tool itself.

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We see the gap there, we
want to fill in that gap.

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So basically to do so,

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we'll need reliable performance models

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for us to predict

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what skid resistance
would change over time.

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And based on that, we
can make recommendations

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on what we need to do to improve it.

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- Recently, there is
more emphasis on safety

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and this is what originated this pavement.

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So there is no way or there was no way

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to be able to predict how the friction

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of the surface of the pavement
will evolve with time.

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So what this project did,

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we went back,

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we looked for the past
12 years of friction data

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and we used this information,

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which is actual field information

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and that is what makes
this project very unique.

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We use actual information
collected in Texas network.

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This system allows and
supports the district engineers

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to make maintenance and
rehabilitation decisions.

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These rehabilitation decisions
could be very subjective.

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So this system allows them
to make optimal decisions,

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because they combine engineering
principle and economics.

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So the selection of the pavements

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to be maintained or rehabilitated,

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are then, so the tax dollars are invest

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in the best possible way.

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- I think this is a great research project

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that it provides us the key piece

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for the network-level friction management.

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So by predicting the future's
performance for pavements,

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we actually can proactively
identify and address problems

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before it happens really,

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resulting in a crash or a near-crash.

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- As a result, if TxDOT decides

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and goes ahead and make the decision

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to implement the findings
of these two projects,

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we could be in a very unique position

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to develop the most reliable
friction management system

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and apply to Texas network.

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And as a result,

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we could have one of the safest networks

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in the entire country.

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- [Narrator] For more information

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and to find the publication
for this project,

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please visit the TxDOT Research Library

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at the link shown below.