Overall Brookhaven pavement condition index rises to 70.43
21st Century technology eliminates much of the guesswork
Brookhaven, GA, Sept. 26, 2018 - When Brookhaven officially became a new city a little more than five years ago, along with the transformation came a network of old city streets with problems decades in the making. Since 2014, the City has spent over $12 million on city streets, totaling nearly 48 lane-miles. The end game, based on a perpetual 5-year plan, is to convert Brookhaven’s 253 lane-miles into the finest transportation network in the region, if not the state.
This aggressive street paving effort, conducted by Public Works, has successfully raised the overall Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of Brookhaven streets from 60 to 70.43. The PCI, developed by the United States Army of Corps Engineers, is the industry standard in measurement of pavement quality and widely used in transportation engineering.
Crews with C.W. Matthews, one of Brookhaven’s paving contractors, lay 1.5” of fresh asphalt on Woodsdale Road in June 2017.
Based on a scale of 0 to 100, the PCI provides a rating for the condition of road segments (a road segment is the stretch between two intersections). Of the network of road segments examined, individual segment ratings have varied from 18-99, reflecting a wide range of street conditions throughout the City.
The PCI is a weighted average of 33% of roughness index and 67% of surface distress index. This means that some roads that appear to be in worse conditions to the naked eye may have a higher PCI index than other roads that appear to be in better condition. The pavement list used by Public Works is prioritized based on the PCI and the potential traffic volume on each road.
The PCI is updated every five years by an outside firm, Infrastructure Management Services (IMS), that uses innovative 21st Century laser technology and GPS tracking to provide automated data collection and pavement analysis services. The next scheduled assessment is slated for 2019.
“Gone are the days when a worker would have to park, get out and walk and visually observe road conditions,” said Public Works Director Hari Karikaran. “In Brookhaven, we take a more scientific approach. The laser scanning takes away the guesswork and the computer provides valuable data scans of every street segment.”
Karikaran noted that the City is already a year ahead of its current five-year paving program and added that the cycle can be amended if any single issue becomes a bigger priority. Priorities can change based on the latest data, so various improvements are constantly in flux and can be adapted or changed based on immediate needs.
“With the click of a button we can get an aggregate average of the street condition,” he continued. “Based on the data received, planned paving projects are not only determined based on the most immediate needs, but the computer makes recommendations for the next four to five years. We take all of this available information and use it to help create our paving schedule.”
In addition to relying on the computer data, Public Works professionals also re-evaluate the roads that the data identified every year to get more in-depth information to determine the appropriate necessary rehab method and accurate cost estimate.
“In-depth geotechnical testing, just before the annual budget preparation, helps determine the road rehabilitation method, such as milling and asphalt overlay, varied level of patching and asphalt overlay, or a full road reconstruction and asphalt overlay,” Karikaran continued.
“To make as much progress as we have in five years in a city so young, with limited finances, is a monumental achievement by our Public Works Department,” said Mayor John Ernst. “It is our mission, as a government, to have the best roads in the metro area. The rising PCI levels show a sustained commitment to our residents to one day having the best transportation network for any municipality in the state.”
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Media Contact:
Burke Brennan
Communications Director
404-637-0709
Burke.Brennan@BrookhavenGA.gov
