Long-Term Plan for Concrete Pavement Research and Technology—The Concrete Pavement Road Map (Second Generation): Volume I, Background and Summary

CHAPTER 1. WHY A LONG-TERM RESEARCH PLAN FOR CONCRETE PAVEMENTS?

For generations, concrete has been the workhorse for long-life, dependable pavements. By generally performing well for many years beyond their original design life, concrete pavements have provided a substantial return on taxpayers’ investments.

For most of the 20th century, the same materials–aggregate, portland cement, and water–were used in concrete for pavements, with only minor refinements. It was a fairly forgiving, hightolerance formula. Mixes made with portland cement and high-quality aggregates allowed some variations in subgrade quality, construction practices, and other variables without sacrificing pavement performance. For generations, the emphasis was on constructing new pavement miles, and the industry had the luxury of keeping traffic off new concrete pavements for several days, even weeks, while the concrete developed its internal maturity and design strength.

Over the past 20 years, however, the concrete pavement industry has experienced more changes than in the preceding 80 years, and these changes are turning the process of building concrete pavements on end. Some of the ongoing environmental, social, and economic trends affecting the industry include the following:

• Today’s concrete mix designs integrate a plethora of new, sometimes marginal, materials, reducing tolerance for materials variations and sometimes resulting in serious compatibility problems.
  
  
• Motorists have become more demanding. They want smoother, quieter pavements than ever before, and they do not want to be delayed by road closures or work zones for road construction or repair. They want paving crews to "get in, get out, and stay out."
  
  
• Most of the highway system has been constructed, so the emphasis has shifted from building new miles of pavement to rehabilitating existing ones, requiring a wider variety of concrete pavement solutions.
  
  
• A serious squeeze on capital for pavements is reducing dollars available for upfront project costs.
  
  
• Growing environmental pressures are affecting mix designs and construction practices.
  
  
• Pavements are carrying significantly more and heavier traffic than ever before, and the trend will continue. According to industry projections, a lane-mile of pavement built in 2015 will have to carry 70 percent more trucks than a lane-mile built in 1995. In this

In this environment, the old system for constructing concrete pavements no longer works. In recent years, pavement failures unheard of 30 years ago have occurred. The industry has tried to stay ahead of the trends, but improvements in concrete pavement construction have been incremental, inconsistently implemented, and sometimes only marginally successful. In the coming decades, changes such as those described above will only increase, as will the consequent challenges for the concrete pavement community.

To achieve concrete pavement’s full potential in the 21st century, the industry should respond to these trends soon with dramatic, even revolutionary, improvements. The improvements cannot be piecemeal. They should be the result of a carefully developed and aggressively implemented strategic plan for research and technology transfer. The CP Road Map is that plan.

NEW TRENDS AND NEW NEEDS

The following sections describe in more detail the trends listed previously in this report. Changes occurring in the concrete industry are interrelated, exacerbating the resulting challenges.

Materials and Mixes

Perhaps the most significant change in recent years is in concrete pavement mixtures. Mixtures are becoming more complex and are no longer so forgiving.

Many factors have led to the use of new materials in concrete. For example, to make fast-track or other special-use mixes, chemical additives are commonly included in mix designs. Fly ash and slag are also added to mixtures to replace some of the portland cement and enhance certain concrete mix characteristics, such as reduced alkali-aggregate reaction and increased resistance to attack by sulfates in soil and water.

Ironically, new materials or additives that solve one problem can cause other unforeseen problems often related to materials incompatibility. The host of aggregate, cement, and mineral and chemical admixture sources from which to choose makes it difficult to develop mix designs that perform consistently. Concrete can fail with only moderate variations in materials from supplier to supplier. There is no longer any room for error. In addition, complex mixtures that perform satisfactorily under lab conditions can be less predictable under actual field conditions.

The industry needs improved, reliable QC systems to ensure predictable and reproducible performance of today’s complex mixes, pavement after pavement after pavement.

Motorists’ Expectations

Pavement users (including funding providers) require a certain level of pavement functionality and performance. Motorists are demanding quieter and smoother pavements that improve the driving experience and do not adversely affect the communities they abut. Pavement surfaces should be perfected to eliminate joint noise and tire whine, while continuing to provide a safe level of friction and reduced tire hydroplaning and spray when wet.

Transportation agencies, concrete pavement engineers, materials providers, and contractors need new tools and strategies for better understanding and controlling pavement surface characteristics such as smoothness, friction, spray, drainage, rolling resistance, and visibility. Traffic noise is also a growing problem in urban areas. The industry must understand concrete pavement’s role in this phenomenon and provide balanced solutions.

In addition, motorists have no patience for long road closures or work zone delays. The speed of completing construction, repair, and rehabilitation work has become a critical issue, with mottos like "fast-track construction" and "get in, get out, and stay out" becoming common industry themes. Needed solutions include better use of available material on the roadway and quicker and timelier inspections.

Shift from Traditional Concrete Pavement Construction

In the past 15 years or so, with most of the highway system built and in service, the industry’s emphasis has changed from constructing new pavements to repairing and rehabilitating existing ones. According to a study by the Road Information Program, pavements on 25 percent of the Nation’s major metropolitan roads–interstates, freeways, and other principal arterial routes­ are in poor condition. ⁽³⁾ In the next few years, more than 25,000 mi of the Nation’s highways will require serious attention. Up to 75 percent of pavements already identified as needing improvement are light-service pavements.

To remain competitive, the concrete pavement industry should be able to deliver affordable alternatives for a variety of road repair, maintenance, and rehabilitation needs. What truly is needed is the next generation of a mix of fixes: a menu of viable, cost-effective concrete pavement solutions that provide concrete’s durability and strength for the short or very long term.

The industry is already experimenting with different types of concrete overlays, bonded and unbonded, which are further distinguished by the type of existing pavement they cover. Because of cost, time required for construction, and misconceptions about overlays, however, these alternatives have had only a minimal impact nationally. The industry needs new overlay design approaches, lower cost strategies, and faster construction methods.

The mix of fixes could also include two-lift construction, in which a thin overlay of superior concrete mixture is placed on a thick layer of lower quality concrete; stop-gap rehabilitation projects; and staged improvements, in which short-term pavements are later used as subbase when their design life is over. Some solutions could focus on improving pavement foundations so that thinner pavements can provide the same level of service as traditional, thicker pavements.

Different mix designs for different solutions exacerbate QC challenges related to materials compatibility and fast-track construction environments.

Capital Squeeze

The level of funding available for pavement repair and rehabilitation is not keeping pace with needs. In 2004, State and local funding for road and bridge improvements was down 18 percent from 2002 levels, and restraints on domestic budgets are not likely to end anytime soon. This directly relates to the need for a full array of concrete pavement products to provide an affordable mix of fixes that allows agencies to properly distribute limited funds.

Static or reduced public agency funding is spurring the transfer of roles and responsibilities from State and local transportation agencies to the construction industry. This transfer includes a shift from method specifications to end-result, or performance, specifications. Mix designs, QC, endresult testing, warranties, design-build, etc., require more expertise from the contractor than ever before. Contractors and agencies alike need better tools for monitoring, controlling, and ensuring desired pavement performance.

These tools include software for integrating mix designs with structural designs and construction inspections. They include software for conducting high-speed analyses and predicting mix performance during the critical 72-h period when concrete operations have a significant impact on overall pavement performance. They include new equipment and testing methodologies that will help control the product during construction, reducing variability.

It is difficult to reduce costs while maintaining predictable service. The industry needs better methods and tools to identify and address cost issues, test different designs, conduct life-cycle cost analyses, and use marginal materials.

Going Green

Pavements should also meet ever-more demanding environmental challenges. For example, rainwater runoff issues are driving the need to develop pervious pavements for specific applications, like parking lots, curbs, and gutters. In cold climates where snow is an issue, the salt brine placed on pavements to improve safety may actually cause premature damage to the concrete.

Quality building materials are harder to come by, and new sources are not being brought online, increasing the use of marginal materials. The cement industry, under pressure to reduce harmful byproducts of portland cement manufacture, is increasing its use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), including recycled materials like fly ash (captured from exhaust gases of coalburning electricity generating plants) and slag (tapped from the waste that floats to the top of iron blast furnaces).

As described previously in this report, using these new or marginal materials requires advancements in mix design, new construction methods that incorporate marginal mix designs, and QC systems to ensure that satisfactory performance can be reproduced reliably.

Congestion and Loads

Pavements are the backbone of the Nation’s transportation system and are essential to its economic well-being. Virtually all of the goods produced and sold in this country are transported on U.S. highways. From 1970 to 1998, the average daily highway traffic volume increased 130 percent, while average daily loading increased 580 percent.

By 2020, the U.S. population is predicted to grow by 50 million people. Vehicle travel is expected to increase by about 42 percent and heavy truck travel by 49 percent, putting even greater stress on the Nation’s roadways. Without additional lane capacity and with projected increases in truck traffic, a lane-mile of pavement built in 2015 will have to carry 70 percent more trucks than a lane-mile built in 1995.

Clearly, concrete pavements can carry heavy-duty truck traffic, but even this area has room for advancement. For example, the industry needs improved foundation designs that allow for better assignment of loads through the slab and better drainage mechanisms.

As congestion increases, access to facilities for constructing, maintaining, and rehabilitating pavements will become more difficult. Automobiles, trucks, the pavement, and neighborhoods abutting the pavement will all have to coexist. This will have a dramatic impact on pavement programs, including initial pavement selection, speed of construction, rehabilitation and maintenance strategies, and budgets. Developing concrete pavement systems to address these needs is a critical challenge.

NEW NEEDS: A NEW GENERATION OF SOLUTIONS

The bottom line is that one size no longer fits all. The concrete pavement industry must reinvent itself and develop a generation of pavement solutions for the 21st century.

What exactly would this new generation of solutions look like? How would they be developed? With AASHTO, ACPA, FHWA, PCA, State agencies, universities, and other organizations working relatively independently on specific challenges, how can stakeholders agree on the answers, establish common priorities, reduce duplication of effort, and make the solutions a reality?

To answer these questions, FHWA needs a unique long-term research plan with the following characteristics:

• Strategic. The CP Road Map should deliver performance-based concrete pavement systems that dramatically affect the way concrete pavements are designed and constructed. Performance-based concrete pavement systems use sophisticated and objective QC systems at every step of a pavement project to ensure that the desired performance is achieved.
  
  
• Innovative. The road map should result in revolutionary new technologies and processes for quickly constructing safe, quiet, and durable pavements for a variety of traffic, loading, and other service needs (a mix of fixes) at minimum cost and with materials that require higher compatibility standards and controls.
  
  
• Embraced. The CP Road Map should be embraced by the entire stakeholder community and developed by and reflect the needs of all stakeholder groups.
  
  
• Independent. The CP Road Map is not bound by cost or time limitations or tied to any one agency or pot of money. It should lead the concrete pavement community to overcome hurdles, pool their resources, and jointly conduct, coordinate, and implement the research over a period of 7­10 years.
  
  
• Implementable. The CP Road Map should include strategies to quickly move useful new products and systems to the field.
  
  
• Accompanied by a research management plan. The management plan should effectively guide the conduct and coordination of research outlined in the CP Road Map.

The following chapters describe how such a plan was developed, provide an overview of the resulting CP Road Map, and outline an innovative research management plan for conducting the research.

Accelerated Implementation and Technology Deployment

The demand for rapid, cost-effective, and innovative solutions to address these deficiencies has never been greater. It is not enough to just complete important research; a process needs to be developed to accelerate the implementation of the research and associated technology innovations. Historically, the implementation of research has taken approximately 10 years. As an industry, dramatic steps need to be taken to reduce the time needed to implement proven concrete pavement research and deploy innovations aimed at shortening project delivery, reducing costs, and providing a sustainable product.

One way to implement proven research and deploy innovations to users is through the following three-step process that has been proven effective:

1. All research that is ready for deployment should be detailed in a user-friendly guide or manual that clearly and concisely describes not only the method of implementation but why it is important and how it can meet the goals of shortening project delivery, protecting the environment, ensuring pavement durability, and engaging in cost-effective construction.
   
   
2. The guides or manuals should be used to create a program to educate agencies and industry throughout the country. Teams of subject experts need to be organized and deployed to educate agencies by using the guides or manuals and to assist agencies through the process of evaluation, design, and construction implementation for each new innovation. Reports of each step of the process need to be completed by the team to document the process and to record the lessons learned from each of the projects.
   
   
3. Once projects are constructed, the team should utilize the lessons learned to update the guides or manuals, which can then be deployed to other projects.

Other States, AASHTO, and FHWA have employed methods to accelerate the deployment of new technology that can reduce the time it takes to implement innovative research by half. For example, FHWA, in conjunction with AASHTO, has selected market-ready technology and innovations that warrant special focus and deployment within the transportation sector.

FHWA’s Technology Deployment Initiative and Partnership Program encourages innovations and technology transfer in highway design and construction. This program provides technology deployment to Federal agencies, States, and local transportation agencies. To qualify for the program, an initiative must meet the criteria of a technology feature defined by FHWA as a material, process, method, equipment item, or other feature as follows:

• Has not been sufficiently tested under actual surface conditions to merit acceptance without reservation in normal highway construction.
  
  
• Has been accepted but needs to be compared with alternate acceptance features for determining relative merits and cost effectiveness.

This type of program strongly encourages the concrete pavement industry to address challenges through innovation and technology transfer.