Forensic Investigation of Pavement Failure on Vasquez Boulevard

Details

• Creators:
  Acimovic, Benjamin ; Rajasekar, Leela ; Akhavan, Reza
• Corporate Creators:
  Colorado Department of Transportation - Region 6 Materials
• Corporate Contributors:
  Colorado. Department of Transportation. Applied Research & Innovations Branch ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Anti-stripping Agents Equivalent Single Axle Loads Pavement Design Pavement Stripping Rutting Stone Matrix Asphalt Superpave Vehicle Size Weather
• Publication/ Report Number:
  CDOT-2007-7
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Colorado
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Colorado Department of Transportation. Applied Research & Innovations Branch
• Abstract:
  Vasquez Boulevard between mileposts 291 and 297 in Commerce City was originally constructed in the 1940s with asphalt that didn't contain an anti-stripping agent. It is now part of US Highway 6 and has been designated as an over-weight and over-height relief route for the I-25 corridor. The boulevard has become a main trucking route for a heavily industrialized area. There was a major rehabilitation project in 2001 on this stretch of road with 2" milling and 2" stone matrix asphalt (SMA) paving. Parts of this pavement started rutting less than a year after construction. An investigation of the pavement failure determined that the causes were excessive and repeated loading of over-weight and over-height trucks; exposure of milled surface that didn't contain an anti-stripping agent to traffic and weather; inexperience with SMA paving materials, testing, and construction; and highly variable mix gradation and AC content quality levels. Recommendations for future SMA projects include training personnel to understand the complexities of SMA; establishing rigorous methods of calculating ESALs; adding fibers to reduce drain down and increase film thickness; using material transfer vehicles to minimize segregation and improve smoothness; and specifying the Superpave Gyratory Compactor for design and verification testing.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7f9355dfbab0927d3acef15ac686ffa46f1da86dd02aa69bdaf64c284d88460b2d4a5f85b1f2bda89a29337ab73a538393f497dbab2d156b0314bb00704d15b4
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/93063/dot_93063_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.81 MB ]