FIELD TESTS OF AN AUTOMATED PAVEMENT-DATA COLLECTOR

Several companies currently manufacture automated equipment for collection of pavement data. The study reported here investigated the capabilities of one such system -- the Automatic Road Analyzer or "ARAN" -- to develop reliable estimates of truing-and-leveling for design documents through accurate measurements of transverse pavement profiles. The study also investigated the system's ability to produce accurate ground surveys for the design process. It is concluded that the equipment can provide reliable estimates for leveling courses. It was further determined that lack of reliable estimates for truing-and-leveling items has some disruptive impact on the capital program in some regions. However, even within regions having the highest historical overruns, this impact resulted in loss of about one medium-sized project in 250. In addition, the study confirmed that contractors do not unbalance their bids as a result of inaccurate estimates for truing-and-leveling. Because the New York State Department of Transportation pays its contractors by actual quantity placed for truing-and-leveling material, accurate estimates do not translate into construction cost-savings on a project-by-project basis. In addition, to determine if the ARAN system could provide ground surveys, roadway elevation data obtained by ARAN in 1993 on a 2-km section of the Jericho Turnpike on Long Island were compared to known elevations previously determined by rod-and-level. The results indicated that ARAN was not sufficiently accurate for this application at that time.

• Corporate Authors:

  New York State Department of Transportation

  Transportation Research and Development Bureau, State Campus
  Albany, NY  United States  12232-0869
• Authors:
  • Holmes, F
  • Noonan, J E
• Publication Date: 1998-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 22 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accuracy; Automatic data collection systems; Field tests; Leveling; Pavements; Surveying
• Uncontrolled Terms: Transverse profile
• Subject Areas: Construction; Highways; Pavements; I52: Construction of Pavements and Surfacings;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00763235
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Client Report 80
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: May 19 1999 12:00AM