Agencies develop road segments based on a wide variety of metrics: age, intersection, long-term plans. To be 95% confident that a segment’s Pavement Condition Index (PCI) reflect its true condition, Orange County is increasing percentage of sections sampled from 20% to 25%.
Orange County doesn’t have many four-lane roads now but is likely to build more because population is quickly increasing. To ensure pavement condition is accurately measured and monitored, the Roads & Drainage Division’s consulting firm is collecting images of the additional lanes of roads with two or more lanes in each direction.
Like any camera, image detail depends on how bright (or cloudy) the day was when a road section is assessed. To account for such variables, Orange County is adding “noise factor” to each road section’s PCI score to calculate “adjusted PCI.”