Determine whether a client's requested 'PCI survey' needs the formal paywalled ASTM D6433 procedure or can be satisfied with the free USACE PAVER methodology it's derived from.
domain: ASTM D6433 (current edition D6433-24, paywalled) — Standard Practice for Roads and Parking Lots Pavement Condition Index Surveys; free alternative: US Army Corps of Engineers ERDC-CERL PAVER system, from which the standard's methodology originated · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Check whether the client's contract or municipal RFP explicitly cites 'ASTM D6433' by name (common in public-agency specs) — if so, the paywalled standard (store.astm.org) is likely the required referenced basis.
If the client just wants a defensible 0-100 condition rating without a named-standard citation, use the freely available PAVER user manual and distress-rating methodology, developed by USACE ERDC-CERL and approved for public release.
Run the PCI survey: define sampling units, then record distress type, severity, and density per the ASTM/PAVER methodology.
Compute the 0-100 PCI score.
Feed the score into a pavement management/prioritization report for the client.
Known gotchas
Honest negative: ASTM D6433's full text is paywalled; PAVER is a free, publicly-released alternative built on the same underlying US Army CERL research, but citing 'PAVER methodology' is not equivalent to citing 'per ASTM D6433' when a contract specifically names the ASTM standard — check which the client actually requires.
PCI is a visual-distress index only — it doesn't measure structural capacity (no deflection testing), so don't represent a PCI score as a structural pavement evaluation.
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