More than 70 percent of pavement distress starts as cracking. Left untreated, cracks let water into the base, which is the single biggest cause of potholes and structural failure. This guide covers the crack types, their causes, and how to seal the right ones first.
What Is Inside
- What a crack is, through each pavement layer
- The 220 billion dollar cost of deferred crack repair
- How AI classifies six crack types automatically
- A severity matrix by crack width and pattern
What Causes Them
- Traffic loads flexing the pavement until the surface fatigues
- Thermal stress opening transverse cracks as asphalt expands and contracts
- UV exposure and oxidation stiffening bitumen over time
- Water seeping into hairline cracks and widening the fracture
How AI Finds Them
- Collect: dashcam on any vehicle or phone, GPS-tagged, no road closures
- Detect: six crack types classified and severity-scored automatically
- Locate: exact GPS and chainage per defect, with length measurement
- Deliver: GIS dashboard, PCI scores and cost estimates within hours
Severity and What To Do
- Low, under 3 mm isolated: routine crack sealing, within 90 days
- Medium, 3 to 10 mm spreading: rout and seal plus spot patch, within 30 days
- High, 10 to 25 mm with alligator forming: full-depth patch or mill and overlay, within 7 days
- Critical, over 25 mm or alligatored: full-depth reclamation or mill and overlay, immediate
Who It Is For
- Road authorities and municipal bodies
- Pavement and maintenance engineers
- Survey and consultancy teams
A crack sealed today costs a fraction of the full-depth patch or overlay it becomes if ignored for a season.
