Develop statewide recommendations for application of PCC joint reflective cracking rehabilitation strategies

Abstract

Concrete pavements are facing rapid deterioration due to the increasing high traffic volumes. Maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction (MRR) have become major activities for all the state highway agencies. Due to shortage of available funding and continuous aging of pavements, many state highway agencies are now seeking cost-effective MRR strategies. This has led a need to develop a systematic and comprehensive decision process for selecting the optimum MRR strategy that considers pavement, traffic and construction issues. This research is an effort to help the state highway agencies select the maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction strategy for concrete pavements. The research identifies feasibility, suitability and acceptability criteria that every MRR strategy should meet. The rehabilitation strategies satisfying these criteria are then weighed in decision process to determine the optimum rehabilitation strategy. Research also focuses on developing recommendations for statewide methods for rehabilitating jointed concrete pavements so as to minimize reflective cracking. Data was collected from relevant project case studies to assess and improve the framework for decision process. Further research will be required to enhance the selection process.