This paper presents a method to characterize asphalt pavement macrotexture using the gray-tone difference matrix （GTDM）and discusses the potentials of the GTDM indicators for skid resistance evaluation.There are 37 field sites included in the data collection,which cover 6 types of asphalt pavement surfaces. The mean profile depth derived from 3-D macrotexture measurements （MPD3 ） has a significant relationship with the mean texture depth （MTD ）,which can be described by a logarithm model with R2 of 0.962.There is no significant linear relationship between the friction coefficient at a speed of 60 km/h （DFT60 ）and macrotexture indicators.A nonlinear model with British pendulum number （BPN ） incorporated can relate DFT60 to MTD or indicator fcon .A comparison with MTD shows that GTDM-based fcon has a potential to be a macrotexture indicator for skid resistance evaluation,which describes the general height difference and the average local height difference of pavement macrotexture. A relatively high fcon is helpful for improving asphalt pavement skid resistance.
