CONDITION OF EXISTING PAVEMENT. Assessment of the condition of the existing pavement is one of the most important and difficult steps in design of a reconstruction or overlay project. Measurement of the properties of the existing pavement should include the thickness, condition, and strength of each layer; the subgrade soil classification; and some estimate of foundation strength (CBR or subgrade modulus). An assessment of the structural integrity of the existing pavement is necessary. The overlay design procedures in this AC assume that the overlay is to be placed on a base pavement with significant structural integrity. Problems such as alkali-silica reactivity in existing rigid pavements should be addressed, and if necessary mitigated, prior to overlay. Severely distressed areas in the existing pavement should be carefully studied to determine the cause of the distresses and to determine potential mitigation. Subsurface drainage conditions should be assessed carefully and corrected if found to be deficient. In some instances, subsurface drainage corrections are best performed through reconstruction. Overlaying an existing pavement without correcting poor subsurface drainage will usually result in poor overlay performance. A valuable technique for assessing the structural condition of the existing pavement is nondestructive pavement testing (NDT) (see AC 150/5370-11, Use of Nondestructive Testing Devices in the Evaluation of Airport Pavement, Appendix 4). NDT can be used to estimate foundation strength, measure joint load transfer, and possibly detect voids in existing pavements. NDT can also be used to determine structural capacity, to assist with calculating PCN, and to assess areas of localized weakness.