This report contains guidelines and recommendations for managing and designing for friction on highway pavements. The contents of this report will be of interest to highway materials, construction, pavement management, safety, design, and research engineers, as well as others concerned with the friction and related surface characteristics of highway pavements.

This synthesis report will be of interest to pavement design, construction, management, and research engineers, highway safety officials, and others concerned with pavement friction characteristics. It describes the current state of the practice and discusses the methods used for evaluating wet pavement friction characteristics of new and restored pavements. This synthesis reviews models used for measuring and evaluating friction and texture, causes for friction changes over time, and aggregate and mix design to provide adequate friction. Also presented are construction and surface restoration practices for providing good pavement surface characteristics. In addition, considerations of noise and ride quality are discussed when compromise may be required.

The most important factor resulting from the investigation of the effects of road-surface texture characteristics on skid resistance is the technological consequences with a view to the composition of the wearing course. In the course of this work, qualitative data were obtained and evaluated, which shall later be supplemented by quantitative data, about the coefficient of friction measured with the locked wheel on the one hand and through tracings of the surfaces of cores and laboratory samples on the other hand. The tracings were carried out with a device that has a measuring accuracy of ±5 ?m and a step length of 12.5 ?m. To investigate the time-dependent changes of the road-surface texture under traffic, tests were carried out with a polishing simulator. Through the tracing of selected profiles and the statistical evaluation of the results before and after polishing, comparisons can be made with other existing systems for the measurement of the surface texture as well as prescriptions for new technological demands on materials for the construction of wearing courses. As a result of these investigations, the polishing test according to the British Standard Polished Stone Value (PSV) has been made obligatory for Austria.

One of a 5-volume set, each covering a broad subject, which cumulates annually all citations that appeared during the year in: Highway safety literature.

Report on the activities of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Highway Administration under the Highway Safety Act of 1966.