Constructability Review of Surface Treatments Constructed on Base Courses - Interim Report

Details

• Creators:
  Senadheera, Sanjaya ; Leaverton, Michael ; Vignarajah, M.
• Corporate Creators:
  Texas Tech University. Dept. of Civil Engineering
• Corporate Contributors:
  Texas Department of Transportation. Research and Technology Implementation Office ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Best Practices Construction Management Pavement Base Course Pavement Performance Seal Coats Surface Treating
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/TX-07-0-5169-1
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Texas
• Corporate Publisher:
  Texas. Department of Transportation
• Abstract:
  It is common practice for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to construct surface treatments (1-, 2- or 3- course) directly over base courses. There are also many other highway agencies, both in the United States and in other countries that use surface treatments directly over base. The decision to use surface treatments is based on a number of factors including low life-cycle cost, low initial construction cost, inexpensive maintenance, historically favorable experience, availability of experienced contractors, and availability of sound local materials. These surface treatments have a significant influence on pavement performance. Problems associated with surface treatments include flushing/bleeding in the wearing courses, debonding at the interface with the base layer, poor ride quality, loss of aggregate (raveling) and ineffective sealing of the pavement. When a surface treatment is used as an underseal, its failure may lead to accelerated failure of the overlying surface layer. A formal statewide constructability review of surface treatments over base has not been conducted either by TxDOT or by other state highway agencies in the recent past. Recently concluded TxDOT research project 0-1787: Seal Coat Constructability Review, resulted in a number of operational changes in seal coat practices including updates to the specifications and the seal coat inspector training manual. A similar study on surface treatments placed on prepared base can lead to surface treatment construction operations becoming more effective and creating longer lasting and higher quality pavements. The objective of this research project was to conduct a comprehensive constructability review of surface treatment as practiced by TxDOT districts and to identify best practices. A comprehensive survey of existing surface treatment practices was conducted, both by interviewing highway professionals and by visiting construction projects. Interviews were conducted with TxDOT district personnel, contractors, material suppliers and other State DOT personnel. Information collected from the constructability review was used to develop a district training workshop. The workshop was delivered by the researchers at eight regional locations, and each workshop was attended by TxDOT professionals from at least 3 districts. This interim report highlights the key findings from the constructability review.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  0-5169
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:614757fd92e695b5af224825bac62dc4a6d29597ee2ccd6d7df921866dc8f2addbff7a415983af90eacb93f1e8b8c560b552b9c8f57003ae85b280a43c4d6a64
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/88832/dot_88832_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.38 MB ]