This report documents a study undertaken to identify and evaluate indices to characterize pavement rutting. As a result of this work, several transverse profile indices have been added to the Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) database to facilitate future analysis. In addition, the study has yielded important findings regarding the accuracy and repeatability of three- and five-point rut depth measurements commonly collected for pavement management purposes. It was found that the three-point rut depth measurement does not provide repeatable and accurate measurement of pavement rutting. Also, if a five-sensor rut bar is used for network-level data collection, care should be taken to ensure that the transverse location of the rut bar is consistent from year to year and that the mean values are adjusted to reflect more realistic rut depth values.

This report will be of interest to highway agency engineers involved in the collection,