Conduct a Friction Testing Program, Data Analysis and Effectiveness of the NMDOT Open Grade Friction Course Program

The conducts friction testing year-round on all state-owned roads and collected data are stored in database. There is a lack of guidance on what new roads should test at for open-graded friction course (OGFC), concrete, or chip seal, or any correlation with traffic safety, smoothness, or resurfacing criteria. Findings from this friction data focused research will be applied to pre- and post- OGFC, to determine if the friction courses are effective. There is a need to study the influence of friction values (skid number) and limits on traffic crash rate potential, which is proposed herein. In addition, it is important to understand how friction affects paving material selection (say, a good quality high micro-texture aggregate), as well as pavement ME distress functions (modify IRI equation). This study investigates the relationship between Mean Texture Depth (MTD) and skid resistance, as measured by the Locked Wheel Skid Tester (LWST) under wet conditions, through correlation and regression analyses. Results indicate a strong positive association, with Spearman’s (0.8970), Pearson’s (0.8693), and Kendall’s (0.7349) correlations confirming statistical significance. Among various regression models, polynomial regression best captures the relationship, highlighting a non-linear interaction between pavement texture and skid resistance. Additionally, the study examines the correlation between skid number (SN) and crash data across multiple years. The low R² values for most years suggest a weak correlation, except for 2016 (R²=0.4617), indicating a moderate association. These findings emphasize the necessity of filtering data to identify crash-prone road segments where low SN values significantly contribute to crashes. Proper segment selection and supervised crash data collection are critical.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $240,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  R922050

  C06372

• Sponsor Organizations:

  New Mexico Department of Transportation

  1120 Cerrillos Road
  P.O. Box 1149
  Sante Fe, NM  United States  87504-1149

  University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

  Department of Civil Engineering
  Albuquerque, NM  United States  87131-0001
• Project Managers:

  Moya, Abigail

  Henderson, Tesha

• Performing Organizations:

  University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

  Department of Civil Engineering
  Albuquerque, NM  United States  87131-0001
• Principal Investigators:

  Tarefder, Rafiqul

• Start Date: 20220624
• Expected Completion Date: 20260623
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Data analysis; Friction course; Open graded aggregates; Skid resistance; Texture
• Geographic Terms: New Mexico
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Materials; Pavements; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01962492
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: New Mexico Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: R922050, C06372
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 5 2025 10:54AM