Effect of speed hump characteristics on pavement condition

Speed humps are the most common type of traffic calming devices due to their low cost and easy installation. However, in many Egyptian roads, considerable number of these humps is randomly placed without proper engineering studies and justifications. Deterioration of pavement condition is observed near these humps. This paper presents a case study applied to collect and analyze visual inspection data for the reason of evaluating the impact of speed humps on pavement condition on intercity rural roads. The paper used 52 speed humps located in an intercity two-lane, two-way road that connects two cities, Tahta and Gerga, in Upper Egypt. The total length of this road is about 34 km. Pavement condition index (PCI), in road sections, near speed humps in the two directions of travel were calculated from the visual inspection measurements. The characteristics of each speed hump (width, height, and distance from preceding hump) were measured. Using statistical analyses, the correlations between the pavement conditions and hump characteristics were examined. Regression analysis models were developed to represent the relationships between pavement conditions and hump characteristics. Generally, the results proved that the pavement conditions are greatly influenced by the presence of speed humps and hump characteristics.