General Measurement Strategy to Analyze the Effects of Construction Specification Changes on Quality of HMA Surface Courses (1877-6)

The primary objective of this study was to develop a "Measurement Strategy" for evaluating the relative degree of success of new hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavement construction specifications. The specific reason for developing a Measurement Strategy was for use in comparing relative performance as a function of time of HMA pavements constructed under Item 340 (sometimes called methods & materials, recipe, or prescription specifications) with pavements constructed using the newer quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) specifications. Researchers developed a paired analysis method and reported in Report 1877-5. In the event that pavement construction specifications are developed that, in the future, after the Pavement Management Information System (PMIS) data collection process and database are upgraded, it may be desirable to compare performance of all suitable pavements in the database. A second measurement strategy was developed and provided to Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) which uses a general analysis method, that is, it is designed to consider all the appropriate pavements in the PMIS database if the number of pavements prepared using the different specifications are unequal.