CRCP - The High Performance Pavement
June 01, 2012 at 2:02 PM
Under an interagency contract with TxDOT, Dr. Moon Won with Texas Tech University, conducted an analysis of the performance history of continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) to support life cycle cost analysis calculations. On average a 30 year-old CRCP was found to have only 1.5 distresses per lane mile ("terminal condition" for CRCP is generally considered to be five to ten distresses per lane mile). So, CRCP truely is the high performance pavement!
It should be noted that this analysis was based on information contained in the TxDOT Pavement Information System (PMIS) and includes pavements with designs that would not be allowed today. In older designs, TxDOT allowed CRCP to be built directly on a crushed stone sub-base and without concrete shoulders. These pavements were prone to pumping and edge failures otherwise known as punchouts. Newer TxDOT design standards incorporate stabilized sub-bases and tied concrete shoulders, which improve pavement performance significantly.
Richard Rogers
Rich is the director of concrete pavements at the Cement Council of Texas. He can be contacted at rrogers@cementx.org or 817-540-4437.
