The authors discuss test results and analyses of tire hydroplaning, skid resistance, and other tire-pavement interactions. They address roadway and vehicle operator controls for mitigating hydroplaning and improving highway safety. The conclusions are based on analyses of simulation, laboratory, and full-scale tests. Pavement cross slope, texture, rut depth, pavement wear, surface drainage, drainage-path length, precipitation intensity and duration, tire inflation, tread-pattern depth, tire construction, and vehicle traveling speed influence hydroplaning tendencies and vehicle control. Other factors considered are tire rolling resistance, vehicle fuel consumption, noise, splash and spray, and headlight glare. These results are applicable to highway pavement design, construction, and rehabilitation; tire construction; and vehicle operation.

Several measurement systems were evaluated to determine their applicability for measuring wet-pavement friction on transitional roadway sections. It was found that the two-wheel trailer is capable of such measurements if it is instrumented to measure the vertical dynamic test-wheel load as well as the longitudinal drag force during locked-wheel braking. A less desirable approach is to use accelerometers to measure the lateral and vertical accelerations on the trailer and compute the wheel load from these measurements. There is greater friction deterioration on curves, ramps, intersections, and other transitional roadway areas from traffic wear and the environment than on tangent sections. When these roadway sections become slick or have marginal skid resistance, they can be milled, grooved, resurfaced, or overlaid applying a sprinkle treatment to restore adequate friction characteristics. This paper addresses both the measurement and the restoration aspects of this problem.