Harmonization of Pavement Condition Evaluation for Enhanced Pavement Management: An Ontario Case Study

ABSTRACT
Currently, pavement condition analysis use by Ontario municipalities utilize at least six different pavement evaluation strategies, namely, Inventory Manual Methodology (IMM), Overall Condition Index (OCI), Pavement Condition Index (PCI), Pavement Quality Index (PQI), Structural Adequacy Index (SAI), and Surface Condition Index (SCI). Also, many municipalities and consultants use modified versions of existing evaluation methodologies (adding/removing distress types or weighting criteria) to suit their individual needs. Ontario Regulation 588/17: Asset Management Planning for Municipal Infrastructure mandated the concept of levels of services for all asset classes. For paved roads, municipalities are required to report an average PCI value; however, the Ministry of Infrastructure used this terminology to refer to any numeric evaluation strategy.

This paper explores the need to standardize pavement condition evaluation methodology used by infrastructure owners across Ontario. This paper focuses on a review of the pavement condition evaluation methodologies being used by Ontario’s municipalities, quantifying the differences, and consolidating recommendations towards pavement condition evaluation standardization. A literature review was conducted to understand the pros and cons of variability in pavement condition evaluation methods. The paper presents results from survey of infrastructure agencies in Ontario which presents trends and variabilities in pavement condition evaluation methodologies. A field pavement condition investigation was performed on four sections of municipal roads in Ontario to understand the effect of different methodologies on the outcome pavement evaluation.