The District will take adequate measures to properly characterize the existing functional and structural condition of pavements scheduled for rehabilitation. Evaluating a pavement’s existing condition is necessary for any rehabilitation or reconstruction project as a means to determine the adequacy of past performance, failure mechanisms, and extent of rehabilitative effort necessary. Evaluations are conducted to determine both structural and functional characteristics and can involve both destructive and nondestructive tests and surveys.

Destructive testing involves boring or trenching into the existing structure with the goal of obtaining samples for further laboratory evaluation and to observe the in situ condition of the various layers.

Nondestructive tests and surveys are available to acquire data that can be reduced to structural properties, presence of moisture, degree of distress, friction properties, and smoothness. Nondestructive surveys can also serve as a screening tool to identify locations to perform destructive testing. Pavement evaluation is discussed in, Chapter 4 “Pavement Evaluation.”