United States Department of Transportation
i
Grooving of concrete pavements : final report.
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1973-08-01
[PDF-3.26 MB]
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Abstract:This project was initiated by the Louisiana Department of Highways in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration to determine whether transverse diamond cut grooves of a certain style (Christensen Style 7) placed in hardened concrete in several configurations including a solid pattern and various gapped patterns (cut 3 feet and skip 2, 3 and 4 feet) would result in skid resistance improvement and accident reduction. Three types of locations were chosen for investigation: rural, low traffic; rural, high traffic; and urban.
Generally it was found that whereas the skid resistance was improved initially, the improvement fell back within the original value range after approximately 4 million vehicle passes. At this point wear was evident and 5 1/2 years after cutting the grooves had virtually disappeared in the wheel paths. Others who use a relatively soft material will probably find that the wear will be much faster. Louisiana's concrete aggregate is exclusively chert gravel, a hard substance.
No conclusion could be drawn with regard to accident reduction because at the rural sites no accidents whatsoever have been recorded, and at the urban site the accident incidence actually went up. However, in the latter case the data is too sketchy to evaluate.
Lastly, the research concludes that, since the cost of this type of improvement runs to 2 1/2 times the cost of skid resistant overlays, and the durability of this type transverse groove is less than the durability of most overlays, the state should turn to some other type skid improvement technique both in the case state should turn to some other type skid improvement technique both in the case of rural roadways and spot locations of high accident incidence in urban areas.
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