Town of Apex, North Carolina
Pavement Condition Survey
Executive Summary – February 24, 2012
I.
INTRODUCTION
USI was retained by the Town of Apex in the spring of 2011 to perform a pavement condition survey
(PCS) for the Town street system. USI identified approximately 119 miles of Town maintained
asphalt roadway. A visual PCS of these streets was conducted by USI. These street segments were
rated by driving each segment on a block to block basis and observing eight common pavement surface
distresses and their corresponding severity levels. In addition, approximately 5.3 miles of “Warranty”
Streets (streets that have not been taken over by the Town) and one Private Street were surveyed.
II.
PROCEDURES
The procedures used for this survey included:
• An inventory of the physical characteristics of selected segments of the municipality's streets.
These characteristics include block number, length, number of lanes, width, type of pavement,
location of sidewalk and curb and gutter existence per street segment side, asphalt height above
gutter, and amount and type of speed humps.
• Evaluation of the surface pavement distresses on selected street segments. Alligator cracking,
block/transverse cracking, reflective cracking, rutting, raveling, bleeding, ride quality, and
patching were measured according to well-defined severity levels. It should be noted that the
rating system used for this survey was developed by NCDOT and ITRE back in 1983 and is
still used by NCDOT and most North Carolina municipalities.
• Entering and compilation of the collected field data and post processing information into a
usable database management system.
• Calculating a pavement condition rating (PCR) for each street segment and for the entire street
system. The PCR for each street segment starts at 100 and is reduced by standard deduct
values based on the amount and severity of the distresses present.
• Recommending maintenance activities for each roadway segment based on the assessed
condition. The costs for these maintenance activities were determined from current industry
standard unit prices.
III.
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•
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FINDINGS
Apex’s overall PCR is 88.5.
The North Carolina municipal average is
80.0.
Apex’s streets are in “Good Condition”.
26% of the street system needs routine
maintenance or resurfacing.
5.5 miles of streets or 4.6% of the rated
system are recommended for resurfacing.
22,131 square yards of pavement require full depth patching.
Apex has approximately $53 million in roadway assets. This is based on a pavement asset
value of $31.00 per square yard.
Apex PCS Executive Summary
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USI of Carolina, Inc.
IV.
RECOMMENDATIONS
•
•
•
•
•
Apex has a current need of $1,564,891 to correct the pavement distresses that were detected at
the time of the survey.
o Additional costs of 25-40% can be incurred for drainage improvements, administration,
milling, utility adjustments, work zone traffic control, and other items.
In order for Apex to maintain an optimal 15 year paving cycle, USI recommends paving 8.0
miles of roads per year at a cost of $1,071,900 based on current asphalt prices.
USI recommends that Apex dedicate its maintenance funding towards preventive maintenance
practices and structural repair.
o One such preventive maintenance practice is Crack Sealing; USI recommends crack
sealing approximately 2.7 miles of streets.
Maintaining an aggressive crack sealing, patching, and resurfacing program should be a high
priority for the Town of Apex in tandem with allocating adequate funds and resources to
accomplish this task. Ultimately, postponing recommended maintenance activities typically
leads to pavement failures and subsequently costly major rehabilitation or reconstruction. As
can be seen from the Typical Pavement Deterioration Curve below, spending $1 on pavement
preservation prior to a pavement condition rating of roughly 60 will eliminate or delay
spending $6 to $14 on rehabilitation or reconstruction at a later date.
To be a good steward of the Town street system, it is prudent that preventative maintenance
practices continue and that a sustained financial investment be made to maintain these roadway
assets ($53 million). “There is no more fundamental transportation capital investment than
system preservation – keeping existing infrastructure in good condition. If preservation
investment is deferred, costs increase dramatically, leading to the saying ‘pay me now or pay
me more – lots more – later.” - Washington Department of Transportation 2007 – 2026
Highway System Plan.
Apex PCS Executive Summary
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USI of Carolina, Inc.
Town of Apex
p
2011 Pavement Condition Survey
Deliverables Meeting
April 29,
29 2011
Steve Lander, PE
Mike Marsh
Deliverables
1. Report
p
2. Appendices
 Distresses
 Street Listings
3. USI-TPA
4. Database
5. GIS
6. Compact Diskette
Report Introduction
1. Apex maintains 119 miles of roads
2. USI finished the survey in April 2011
3 Data Collection
3.


Eight common pavement surface distresses
observed
Additional attributes
4. Post data collection:
 PCR developed
 Maintenance activities are recommended
Findings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
PCR = 88.5
NC Municipality Average = 80
Street System is in “Good” condition
PCR is above average
5.5 miles of streets or 4.6% of the rated system
are recommended
d d ffor resurfacing
f i
Findings
26% of street system needs maintenance or
resurfacing
7. Full Depth Patching Required:
6
6.

22,131 square yards

17,055 square yards – Primary Maintenance Activity

5 076 square yards – Secondary Maintenance Activity
5,076
Recommendations
 Apex
p has a current need of $1,564,891
,
,


$831,980 – Routine Maintenance
$732.911 – Resurfacing
g
 Additional Costs – 25% to 40%

Raising
g structures, milling,
g admin., etc.
 15 year paving cycle


8 miles p
per yyear
$1,071,900 per year
Recommendations
 Crack Sealing
g
 2.7 miles – Primary Maintenance Activity
 5.3 miles – Secondary Maintenance Activity
 USI recommends that Apex should dedicate its
maintenance funding
g towards p
preventative
maintenance practices and structural repair

This practice will reduce the maintenance cost
per mile in future years
Proactive
P
ti vs. Reactive
R
ti P
Pavementt
Maintenance Program
Roadway Assets
 AASHTO’s
AASHTO’ Rough
R
hR
Roads
d Ah
Ahead
d
USA Roadways - $1.75 Trillion
 4,000,000
4 000 000 miles
il off roadways
d
 $437,500/mile
 Assuming
A
i an average pavementt width
idth off 24’
 Roadway Value ~ $31/SY
 Apex
A
streets
t t – 1,712,650
1 712 650 square yards
d
 Roadway assets – $53 million

2009 AASHTO Publication
Data Collection – Pavement Distresses
Alligator Cracking
Reflective Cracking
Block Cracking
Raveling
Data Collection – Pavement Distresses
Rutting
Bleeding
Patching
Ride Quality
Data Collection – Additional Attributes
Additional Attributes




Sidewalk
Curb and gutter
Asphalt height above gutter
Amount and types of speed humps
Pavement Condition
Predominant distresses of rated streets (% of total
mileage):



Alligator Cracking – 12%
Block Cracking – 24%
Raveling – 26%
Priorities
High Priority




Crack sealing
F ll d
Full
depth
th patching
t hi
Short overlay
Resurfacing of alligator cracking and
rutting
Priorities
Medium Priority
 Resurfacing of severe:




Block/transverse
Bl
k/t
cracking
ki
Reflective cracking
Ra eling
Raveling
Bleeding
Priorities
Low Priority
 Resurfacing of moderate:



Block/transverse
Bl
k/t
cracking
ki
Reflective cracking
Ra eling
Raveling
 Resurfacing of rough ride quality
 Resurfacing of moderate to severe:


Patching
Ride quality
Priorities
Basic Street Inventory Data
Basic Street Inventory Data
Figure 1 - Breakdown of Streets into PCR Categories
100
90
80
Percent of Syste
em
70
69.5
60
50
40
30
20
13 9
13.9
10
8.2
3.9
4.5
0
Very Good
Good
Fair
Poor
Very Poor
91-100
81-90
66-80
51-65
0-50
Pavement Condition Rating
2011
Unit Costs
Figure 2 - Distribution of Maintenance Needs by Primary Repair Type
Percentage of Total Miles
Total Miles: 118.90
Crack Seal, 2.3%
Full-Depth Patch, 19.1%
Short Overlay, 0.4%
1" PM Resurfacing, 2.9%
1" PM Resurfacing & Seal,1.6%
No Repair, 73.6%
Figure 3 - Distribution of Maintenance Costs by Primary Repair Type
Percentage of Total Cost
T t l Cost:
Total
C t $1,564,891
$1 564 891
1" PM Resurfacing, 25.1%
1" PM Resurfacing & Seal,
20.4%
Short Overlay, 2.2%
2" PM Resurfacing, 1.3%
Crack Seal, 1.7%
Full-Depth Patch, 49.3%
Street Listings
USI TPA
USI-TPA
Questions and Answers