Permeameter test results on open-graded friction course pavement on Interstate 95 in Needham, Massachusetts, 2018-2025

Open-graded friction course (OGFC) pavement is a layer of porous asphalt spread over the surface of impervious dense-graded hot-mix asphalt that is traditionally used as the wearing surface in Massachusetts. Benefits of OGFC pavement include noise reduction, less vehicular spray, hydroplaning, and surface reflectivity, and often provides measurable improvements in concentrations of sediment and associated constituents discharged from highways. Few datasets are available in New England that characterize temporal permeability of OGFC pavement. From October 2018 through September 2021, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, conducted a field study to monitor highway runoff from a section of traditional dense-graded hot-mix asphalt and from a section of OGFC pavement on Interstate 95 near Needham, Massachusetts (Smith and others, 2023) where semi-annual measurements of pavement permeability were collected. Later, from October 2023 through September 2025, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Highway Sustainability Research Center collected additional semi-annual measurements of pavement permeability to provide supplement data to support a salt efficiency study to assess proper application rates of deicing chemicals necessary to prevent ice formation and maintain clear surfaces on OGFC pavements, particularly when the permeability of the OGFC layer in not known. This data release contains the results of the permeameter tests on the OGFC pavement and calculated coefficients of permeability for the full monitoring period, October 2018 to September 2025.