Comparison of the asphalt condition and the road surface condition scores

The Asphalt condition (new) is an improved version of the Road surface condition score, the former default score also meant for asphalt roads. The new score provides a higher dynamic range and resolution, creating more separation between scores for roads with different levels of deterioration. The increased separation enables distinguishing road sections with extremely severe deterioration from sections that are less deteriorated but would have still received a score of 0 with the Road surface condition score.

Due to the characteristics of deduct value curves and non-limited compounding of co-existing distresses, Road surface condition score would receive negative values on roads in varying poor condition if not limited to 0. The practical impact of all the initially negative values resulting in a final Road surface condition score of 0 is that the resolution of the data is limited on those severely distressed roads.

In comparison, the new scoring produces values between 0 and 100, as well as distributed more evenly across the scale by applying a deduction function. The score does not produce any negative values that would be set as 0.