Experts Rank Pavement Resistance as the Leading Factor in Road Quality

A team of researchers has carried out a comparative assessment of how strongly different designed pavement properties shape overall road quality, and their analysis points to a clear hierarchy: pavement resistance matters most. The study, published in Scientific Reports, examined three main criteria for evaluating pavement — pavement resistance, driving conditions and environmental protection, the last of which includes sustainability. According to the researchers, pavement is one of the most important elements of road transport infrastructure interacting with travelling vehicles, yet the relative significance of its required properties has remained understudied.

To quantify that significance, the team enlisted 33 experts who assessed the influence of 12 sub-criteria on overall road quality. Rather than relying on a single weighting technique, the researchers determined the relative weights of the criteria and their sub-criteria using four methods: the Average Rank Transformation into Weight-Linear (ARTIW-L), the Average Rank Transformation into Weight-Non-linear (ARTIW-N), the Direct Percentage Weight (DPW) method and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The study then utilised the averages of the relative weights yielded by these four approaches, a design intended to ensure an objective solution rather than one dependent on the quirks of any single method.

The AHP calculations served as an internal check on the expert panel’s judgements. No conflicting AHP matrices were found, because the consistency ratio of each matrix was less than 0.1, the standard threshold for acceptable consistency in pairwise comparisons. A second statistical measure, the coefficient of concordance, came in at 0.654, indicating agreement among the experts’ rankings. That value exceeded the critical threshold of 0.054 by approximately 12 times, which the authors interpret as evidence that the expert judgements were consistent rather than scattered.

Using the Inverse Hierarchy for Assessment of Main Criteria Importance (IHAMCI) method, the study ranked the three main criteria by their share of importance. Pavement resistance emerged as the most important factor, accounting for approximately 53% of the overall assessment. Driving conditions followed at 31%, while environmental protection, including sustainability, accounted for 16%. The results therefore identify the most, intermediate and least important pavement indicators according to the assembled experts, offering a structured weighting that can inform how road quality conditions are evaluated.

For road authorities and pavement engineers, the findings suggest that properties tied to a pavement’s resistance to loading deserve the greatest weight when designed pavement characteristics are assessed against road quality conditions, with driving comfort and environmental considerations playing substantial but secondary roles. Because the study is being shared early to provide faster access to peer-reviewed, accepted research, the published version is citable and carries a permanent DOI, though it remains subject to further edits before the final Version of Record replaces it.

Subject of Research: A comparative expert assessment ranking designed pavement properties by their significance for road quality conditions

Article Title: Comparative assessment of the significance of designed pavement properties for road quality conditions

Article References: Sivilevičius, H., Tamošaitienė, J., & Šernas, O. (2026). Comparative assessment of the significance of designed pavement properties for road quality conditions. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-69992-4

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-69992-4

Keywords: pavement resistance, road quality, pavement properties, driving conditions, environmental protection, sustainability, Analytic Hierarchy Process, expert assessment, weighting methods, coefficient of concordance, transport infrastructure, Scientific Reports