Date of Award

12-1992

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Uldis Smidchens

Second Advisor

Dr. Thomas L. Maleck

Third Advisor

Dr. Charles C. Warfield

Abstract

Strategies for the ranking of county road improvement projects can be based on a rating that reflects the physical condition of the pavement, a rating that reflects the pavement roughness, a rating that incorporates the combination of physical condition of the pavement and the pavement roughness (its pavement serviceability rating), or a rating that takes into account the age of the pavement and amount of traffic

This study compared the relationship between the strategy of the ranking of each road segment based on that segment's: (a) surface distress rating and roughness rating, (b) surface distress rating and pavement serviceability rating, (c) surface distress rating and traffic/age rating, (d) roughness rating and pavement serviceability rating, (e) roughness rating and traffic/age rating, and (f) pavement serviceability rating and traffic/age rating.

Only the worst one-third of the road segments as determined by each ranking strategy were included for evaluation. The segments were in ordinal data format. The Spearman rho (p), a nonparametric test statistic for ordinal data, was used to determine if there is a correlation among the rankings. To test the null hypotheses, the alpha level was set at .05.

Based on the data and analysis no conclusions could be drawn between the strategy of ranking of each road segment based on that segment's: (a) surface distress rating and roughness rating, (b) distress rating and traffic/age rating, or (c) pavement serviceability rating and traffic/age rating.

However, there was a relationship between the strategy of the ranking of each road segment based on that segment's: (a) surface distress rating and pavement serviceability rating, (b) roughness rating and pavement serviceability rating, and (c) roughness rating and traffic/age rating.

The pavement serviceability rating was derived from an average of the pavement condition and pavement roughness ratings. It was therefore expected that a high level of correlation would be found between the order of projects ranked for improvements by the surface distress rating and pavement serviceability rating systems, and between the order projects ranked for improvements by the roughness rating and pavement serviceability rating systems.

The collection of both surface distress rating and roughness rating appears not to be a duplication of ratings. The results of this study suggest that the elimination of certain data does change the rank of road improvement priorities. The additional expense to collect data is warranted depending on the organization's goals, objectives, and policies.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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