Pavement roughness directly influences road user costs and it’s one of the main parameters of road condition assessment. This parameter helps to evaluate the costs caused by the road network condition and the economical benefits of reconstruction works. Pavement roughness is characterized by International Roughness Index (IRI). This is an internationally approved value that characterizes ride comfort and that is calculated using the sum of vertical oscillations of the vehicle chassis per road section (generally 100 m), its unit is mm/m. IRI is calculated using an algorithm generated by the World Bank in 1970.

Roughness values for a road network are classified according to the ride comfort as follows:

The best average values from the first measurement of a new pavement start from 0.6 mm/m.

Along with roughness measurements it’s possible to determine also the pavement texture, or its macro- and megatexture to be more precise. Pavement texture characterizes the road surface and it has a direct influence upon traffic safety (skid resistance), ride comfort (noise and irregularities), user costs (fuel costs), and construction quality (segregation, sweating). The pavement texture is defined as vertical irregularities on a pavement surface that deviate from an ideal, perfectly flat surface. World Road Association (PIARC) has established standard categories of texture, classified by wavelength These categories include microtexture (wavelengths up to 0.5 mm), macrotexture (0.5 to 50 mm), megatexture (50 to 500 mm), and roughness (wavelengths 500 mm – 50 m).

We use LaserMaster ja Laser Texture Meter LTM-1 for pavement roughness and texture measurements. The manufacturer checks and calibrates these devices each year. In 2012 LaserMaster successfully participated in comparative testing of roughness measurements on Swedish roads. This proves that our measurements are comparable to those performed in Finland and Sweden.