Asphalt Pavement Distress encompasses which conditions?

• A. Potholes only
• B. Cracking, distortions, disintegration, skid hazards, and surface treatment distress
• C. White-lined cracking only
• D. Thermal expansion only

Answer: (B)

Distress in asphalt pavement encompasses all the ways the surface can deteriorate under traffic and weather. The best description includes cracking, the formation of distortions like rutting or other unevenness, disintegration such as raveling or loss of coating, skid hazards from reduced friction or polished aggregate, and distress in surface treatments like seal coats or chip seals. This broad view captures potholes as a possible manifestation but not the only one, reflecting the wide range of problems you look for in a pavement condition survey. The other options are too narrow—focusing only on potholes, or only on a single crack type, or solely on thermal expansion—so they don’t fully describe the range of distress conditions asphalt pavements can suffer.