This study analyzed 95,000 overweight (OW) single-trip truck permits issued in Wisconsin between May 2007 and June 2013. A geographic information system and relational databases were used to conduct a statewide routing analysis to identify highways that are heavily used by OW permitted trucks, such as WI-140. Field studies at WI-140 confirmed a high proportion of OW trucks. In addition, pavement damage and deterioration caused by heavy truck traffic were investigated by conducting a visual distress survey and determination of the pavement condition index (PCI). The pavement of WI-140 was heavily distressed, with a PCI description of very poor. The Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) was used on WI-140 to evaluate the performance of the pavement under OW truck traffic. The results of the MEPDG analysis showed that the pavement was heavily distressed and deteriorated, a condition that was consistent with field measurements and observations. A primary application of the routing and pavement analyses is to assist the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in developing rehabilitation strategies for deteriorated pavements.
is study investigated the impacts of overweight (OW) permit truck traffic on flexible pavement performance in Wisconsin using field investigation and analysis utilizing the AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design software. A database of overweight single-trip permit truck records was analysed to produce a network of Wisconsin corridors heavily travelled by OW trucks. Four Wisconsin highways were selected for investigation due to high levels of OW truck traffic. e research included field work (traffic counts and visual pavement surface distress surveys) and AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design. Comprehensive analyses were conducted to evaluate pavement performance due to normal traffic loads as well as normal traffic loads plus the OW truck traffic loads. e use of mechanistic-empirical (ME) pavement analyses provided a methodology for estimating the proportion of pavement deterioration attributable to OW truck traffic. OW axle load distributions were developed and integrated with baseline truck traffic levels to develop axle load spectra and other traffic input parameters for the ME pavement analysis. e predicted total pavement deterioration levels from the AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design software were generally consistent with the levels of deterioration observed. e proportion of pavement damage and deterioration attributable to OW truck traffic was predicted to constitute a relatively minor proportion of total deterioration, with most distress indices showing relative increases of approximately 0.5% to 4%, with a few outliers. However, due to the small proportion of OW vehicles relative to the overall traffic levels, the OW vehicles were generally predicted to cause up to ten times the per-truck damage as compared with a typical legalweight truck, depending on the distress mode and the test site.
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