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Field Study to Determine Salt Usage Efficiency and Transport to the Surrounding Environment on Two Pavement Types

File Language:
English


Details

  • Creators:
  • Corporate Creators:
    University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
  • Corporate Contributors:
  • Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Resource Type:
    Tech Report
  • Geographical Coverage:
  • Edition:
    Final Report [August 2022 – September 2025]
  • Corporate Publisher:
    Massachusetts. Department of Transportation
  • Abstract:
    The purpose of this study was to collect and analyze field data to determine whether winter salt applications on Open Graded Friction Course (OGFC) and Dense Graded (DG) pavement types are appropriate, deficient, or excessive. The study aimed to provide the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) with evidence-based guidance for optimizing winter maintenance practices for these pavement types. MassDOT had a unique opportunity to investigate salt usage efficiency on both pavement surfaces at an existing field site located consecutively along I-95 (Rt. 128) southbound in Needham, Massachusetts. The methodology for evaluation of both pavement types, with respect to winter maintenance, included: field site instrumentation, documenting winter maintenance activities at the field location, direct friction measurements, analysis of crash data, photograph comparison, and data analysis. The overall combined data analysis could not be completed as there were gaps in a crash data and photographs. The winters of 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 were less harsh than historically anticipated for the region, thus yielding limited data to analyze. In fall 2024 the research team proposed a no-cost time extension so that another winter of data could be collected, but there was no formal response to that extension request. The internet-based survey showed that only 12.5% of respondents currently place OGFC in their state. The reasons noted for opting not to use OGFC included snow and ice concerns, durability issues, project failures, cost, and poor performance issues. Limited field instrumentation data combined with winter maintenance treatment application data indicated that the OGFC and DG pavement surfaces responded similarly to the winter maintenance in terms of pavement temperature and friction (based on data from both invasive and non-contact sensors). The safety implications related to winter maintenance activities for both OGFC and DG pavement types could not be investigated due to incomplete crash data and limited direct friction measurements. No changes could be recommended to winter maintenance treatment application rate for either pavement type based on this study. Generally, the data collected in this study indicated OGFC and DG pavement types perform similarly when the same winter maintenance was applied.
  • Format:
    PDF
  • Funding:
    119609
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:f2dbf27451030123ed8d508012899b3bfe7e80d4c5e9b327e84b6e88cd5bf5d5cc87938cac0a9739d65f85f3db8b958d252ee71ede1e194924f3bd38ea3ed134
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 3.80 MB ]
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