United States Department of Transportation
i
The Application of Permeable Pavement With Emphasis on Successful Design, Water Quality Benefits, and Identification of Knowledge and Data Gaps
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2015-06-01
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[PDF-3.06 MB]
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Abstract:Permeable pavement presented in this paper is defined as a type of pavement that has ability to store stormwater until it infiltrates through the subgrade soil and can function as a conventional pavement to carry specific traffic load and speed. Hence, open graded friction course (OGFC) that is an overlay of open graded pavement installed over conventional pavements is not discussed in this paper. Depending on surface pavement, permeable pavements are generally grouped as porous asphalt (PA), pervious concrete (PC) and permeable interlocking concrete pavers (PICP). For permeable pavement to function well, regardless of the type of surface pavement, it is required to satisfy both the structural and hydrologic requirements. If designed and constructed well, then permeable pavement also can act as a best management practice and often viewed as an alternative low impact development option for urban areas. Currently, the majority of the successful permeable pavement installations are related to parking lots and other commercial areas with low speed and light traffic load. During the past two decades tremendous progress has been made with regards to the application of permeable pavements with issues related to structural design, hydrologic design, water quality, and surface clogging. However, several important research questions remain unresolved and must be addressed before permeable pavements are fully integrated and implemented in urban roads; especially in highways with higher speeds and loads. This paper focuses on successful application of permeable pavement design and performance with special emphasis on stormwater management, water quality benefits, and identification of knowledge and data gaps. The paper provides a summary of the current practice and design methods, discusses the potential application of permeable pavement for highway environment, summarizes the research progress documented in the literature related to mixed design, hydrologic performance, maintenance, water quality benefits, identifies knowledge gaps and unresolved issues, and explores the future direction in permeable pavement application. The content of this report revealed that there have been many successful permeable pavement installations in the United States though mostly in parking lots and other commercial areas with low speed and light traffic load. However, only a handful of demonstration projects and simulations studies that evaluate the use of permeable pavement in highway environments and urban roads, which have higher vehicle speeds and heavier loads. One notable field study in this area was completed by Minnesota Department of Transportation. Results from this study showed a positive picture for permeable pavements based on overall structural and hydrologic (i.e., infiltration and water quality) performance. The University of California Pavement Research Center and National Cooperative Highway Research Program have also completed simulation and feasibility studies on the performance of permeable pavements under highway conditions. Both studies produced promising results. While tremendous amount of progress has been made with this relatively new pavement technology, knowledge gaps remain in design, performance and maintenance evaluation.
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