ABSTRACT
Pavement ruts present a potential road safety hazard that can lead to skidding or hydroplaning accidents in wet weather. Ruts collect water during wet weather and cause pavement skid resistance to fall. Although the potential danger of driving on flooded pavement ruts is well recognized, the magnitudes of reduced skid resistance and the corresponding driving risks on rutted pavements during rainy days have not been well studied and documented. This is mainly due to the complexity of analyzing the skid resistance characteristics of wet pavements. Using a recently developed theoretical skid resistance and hydroplaning simulation model, this paper proposes a quantitative procedure of evaluating the wet-weather driving risks of rutted highway pavements for different rut depths under different surface runoff flow conditions and different vehicle speeds. Driving risks are evaluated by comparing traffic speeds with the hydroplaning speed and the maximum vehicle speed allowed based on safe braking distance consideration.
