A study evaluating the cost-effectiveness of using paving fabrics in roadway maintenance projects is getting a new look.

The original work was a comprehensive study of pavement repair materials and methods. It examined maintenance treatments on 370 roads in Greenville County, S.C.. in the 1997-98 maintenance year.

Released in 2005. The Study of Pavement Maintenance Techniques Used on Greenville County Maintained Roads, was undertaken, compiled, and later presented by C. Joel Sprague, senior engineer for Texas Research Institute (TRI/Environmental Inc.).

This exhaustive study compared the cost-effectiveness and performance of four road-maintenance treatments:

(1) in-place, cold mill recycling and an overlay
(2) patching, followed by paving fabric and an overlay
(3) paving fabric and an overlay
(4) overlay only

What made this study particularly compelling was its groundbreaking use of a road-condition rating system as a performance monitoring tool.