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The Journal for Public Infrastructure

Pavement Health Track Analysis Tool

How healthy is your pavement network? Use the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) new Pavement Health Track (PHT) Analysis Tool to determine the health of your pavement network in terms of the pavement's remaining service life (RSL). The PHT Analysis Tool uses pavement performance models developed by FHWA for the Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS) and the National Pavement Cost Models. These pavement performance models are simplified versions of the models and procedures used in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide. The software requires inputs from the Highway Performance Monitoring System 2010 pavement data, or a state can use data from its pavement management system database. The program provides an option for inputs on material properties, climate, and loading to predict the future remaining service life of the pavement. If the data is not available, the program contains a compiled data set that uses data from such sources as the FHWA Long-Term Pavement Performance program and National Climate Data Center databases as default inputs. This compiled data set meets the needs of the RSL predictive models. Users must also specify criteria such as thresholds for distress and deficiency levels to reflect their agency's policies regarding the conditions that trigger maintenance and rehabilitation of rigid, flexible, and composite pavements.

The software offers a library of charts, geographic information system maps, and reports that can be customized by the user. A “wizard” tool takes the user step-by-step through the various options available for each type of report, chart, and map and provides data filtering, sorting, and aggregation. The primary data outputs will be the number of years until the terminal values for various distresses and the International Roughness Index (IRI) have been reached and the predicted distresses/IRI at the end of the weighted average RSL. A modular design allows for future expansion of the software's capabilities, including adding such features as the ability to develop and display the bridge health index for a particular corridor and to estimate pavement asset values, the impact of various maintenance and rehabilitation plans on RSL, and reconstruction needs. Additional future capabilities could include the ability to detect uneven distribution of RSL, integrate benefit and cost models from HERS, and incorporate state-specific pavement models or calibrated pavement performance coefficients. Download the PHT Analysis Tool from FHWA at www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/healthtrack/index.cfm