Extent, Severity, and Location of Chip Seal Loss on the South Dakota State Road Network

treatments to non-Interstate asphalt pavements within two years of paving and successively when needed. Both experience and the literature have shown that chip seals provide a new wearing course, help extend pavement life by as much as five years or more, increase skid resistance, and increase performance (Raza, 1994). Low-cost chip sealing is an essential treatment to preserve the state road network. Research Project 1999-09: “Interstate Asphalt Pavement Maintenance ” (Wade et al, 2001) recommended standardized practices to improve the design and construction of chip seals by the SDDOT. However, in recent years, some chip seals have not performed adequately after one season of service. SDDOT does not record surface treatment loss as a distress in its pavement management database, therefore the location, extent, and severity of chip seal loss on the state road network is unknown. It was originally assumed that snowplows were removing the chip seals during winter maintenance activities. Chips seals appeared to be scraped off to varying degrees, ranging from very little along centerline to all material being removed from the roadway. However, chip seal loss could be caused from multiple mechanisms or possibilities. These could range fro