As the number of vehicles on America’s roadways continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, pavements continue to deteriorate faster and require replacement. In urban and densely populated areas, however, pavement construction can cause traffic delays, thereby increasing user costs. A method for expediting pavement construction to reduce traffic delays and user costs is therefore needed. A feasible method for expediting construction of portland cement concrete pavements through the use of precast concrete panels is described. The main advantage of precast concrete panels is that they can be set in place and assembled quickly, allowing traffic back onto the pavement almost immediately. This allows pavement construction to be carried out in overnight or weekend operations, when traffic volumes are low, resulting in tremendous savings in user costs. The concept presented for precast concrete pavement should have the same, if not better, durability as conventional cast-in-place concrete pavements currently being constructed. Also, by incorporating prestressing, it is demonstrated that equivalent load repetitions and design life can be achieved with a significant reduction in pavement thickness over conventional pavements. Although the initial construction costs may be higher for precast pavements, the savings in user costs far outweigh any additional construction costs.
The use of precast concrete is rapidly becoming a viable method for repair and rehabilitation of portland cement concrete pavements, with several projects under construction or in development throughout the United States. Construction with precast concrete offers numerous benefits over conventional cast-in-place pavement construction. Most notable is how quickly a precast pavement can be opened to traffic. Precast panels can be placed during overnight or weekend operations and opened to traffic almost immediately. In addition, because precast panels are cast in a controlled environment, the durability of a precast pavement is also improved. In March 2002, the Texas Department of Transportation completed construction of a precast pavement pilot project aimed at testing and further developing a precast pavement concept developed by the Center for Transportation Research at The University of Texas at Austin. This project was constructed on a section of frontage road along Interstate 35 near Georgetown, Texas. The project incorporated the use of posttensioned precast concrete panels. The panels were posttensioned in place not only to tie all the panels together but also to reduce the pavement thickness required and improve durability. The finished pavement demonstrated not only the viability of precast pavement construction but also the benefits of incorporation of posttensioning. Although the project was constructed without the time constraints and complexities that will eventually need to be considered for precast pavement construction, it ultimately helped to develop viable construction procedures for future precast prestressed concrete pavements.
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