Traffic load data requirements for pavement design

The objective of this paper is to report on an ongoing study funded by the US Federal Highway Administration dealing with the relationship between traffic data input and the resulting variation in the Pavement Design Guide design output. The ultimate goal of the study is to develop recommendations for the traffic data required to produce reliable pavement designs, for particular pavement design applications. This paper presents preliminary results of the first study component. It shows that the less sophisticated the data collection technology used and the shorter the data coverage, the higher is the uncertainty in estimating the traffic data elements required for input in the new PDG. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E212095.