Pavement Condition Index

 

Road maintenance is a basic tenet of good governance.  That is why the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) has an industry-accepted, award winning system for analyzing the conditions of the pavement for all 5,200 lane miles of roadways within the County. This system is called Pavement Management and is founded by a numeric system referred to as Pavement Condition Index or PCI. A Pavement Condition Index is a numerical expression between 0-100 numerically representing the pavement's condition.  For example, a PCI of 30 is considered as “poor” whereas a PCI rating of 80 indicates pavement in very good condition.

The pavement's numerical PCI score is developed through an analysis of nineteen (19) discrete pavement distresses (cracking, pot holes, environmental distress, utility cuts, etc.) and ranges from 1-100 with 1 being an absolute failure and 100 representing perfect conditions.  Following that rationale, roads with a lower PCI are candidates for systemic patching or resurfacing with hot mix asphalt.  The level of road repairs in any given year is based entirely upon available funding.  Given the nature of construction and procurement, the funding for FY19 (our current fiscal year) has been fully allocated based upon the last pavement study.  

 

MCDOT’s Division of Highway Services (DHS) conducts this PCI survey in two phases and on a rotating basis. All 1,000 lane miles of primary roads are surveyed one year followed by all 4,200 lane miles of residential roads the next year. This ensures accurate, timely PCI numbers.  This is a state-of-the-art process that uses high resolution cameras coupled with lasers mounted on slow moving vehicles (akin to Google) that accurately measures and records detailed pavement conditions.  These conditions are aggregated and converted to PCI values as discussed above. The primary roadway study is done every even year, and the residential roadway study is conducted every odd year. The results from the latest PCI survey will assist MCDOT in the development of future road resurfacing schedules.

Should you wish to “take a spin” in one of the vans used to conduct the biennale PCI survey, please feel free to check out this helpful YouTube on MCDOT's YouTube account.  Highway Services also runs a very active Twitter and Facebook account that works to give residents real time information and updates regarding projects and other noteworthy news. 

If your community is not currently scheduled for roadway repairs, feel free to make a Service Request for immediate road repairs such as pot holes or other safety concerns.