Pavement Friction Prediction for Single and Multiple Lane Rural Roads

Pavement friction is one of the most important operational requirements to ensure road safety. Adequate pavement friction is a fundamental requirement to perform safe driving, steering, and braking because it affects the interface between the tires of a vehicle and the pavement surface. Pavement friction is determined through a combination of two surface textures, microtexture and macrotexture. In Ontario, Canada, the provincial transportation agency is responsible for monitoring and maintaining adequate pavement friction; however, incorporating friction into the pavement management is still challenging because there is not a specific device that can measure both textures simultaneously at a high speed. This paper provides regression models that can be used to estimate skid resistance for rural roads based on field measurements of macrotexture, type of surface coarseness, aggregate properties, and operational condition of the roads. The models can be used by researchers and practitioners to predict skid resistance for asphalt pavements.