Statewide Falling Weight Deflectometer Data Collection

Location: Minnesota

Client: Minnesota Department of Transportation - State Aid for Local Transportation 

Services: Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) testing

Year: 2009-2010

The Minnesota County State Aid Highway (CSAH) system covers roughly 30,500 miles in all 87 counties. We were retained by the Minnesota Department of Transportation to perform statewide CSAH Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) data collection on approximately 1/3 of this system.

Throughout a two-year period, we (and our subconsultants) collected accurate, GPS-linked FWD data and provided it to Mn/DOT’s Division of State Aid for Local Transportation. We also obtained roadway segment data from the counties (including specific highway segment limits, pavement structure, traffic volume and subgrade soils information), and assembled it into a database to be used for future pavement structural analysis. The analysis will ultimately help Minnesota’s county engineers allocate resources for CSAH improvements and maintenance, which will benefit local users, the trucking industry and taxpayers.