Evaluation of asphalt pavements construction practice in West Virginia

Abstract

Construction practice is a key factor in building high quality pavement. Unfortunately failure and distresses frequently develop shortly after construction. These distresses may be due to the contractors failing to follow the guidelines and specifications. Monitoring pavement construction provides information for evaluating contractors' practices relative to the best practices as documented in various training courses. Accordingly, the West Virginia Department of Highways (WVDOH) decided to review construction practices. The WVDOH hired 4 coops during summer 2012 and 2 coops during summer 2013 to document asphalt pavement construction projects. The coops were assigned to observe and record pavement construction practices. Observations were documented on forms with supporting photographs and video records. West Virginia University was contracted to train and monitor the coops and gather and analyze the construction monitoring information. All the observations data were put into and analyzed using a Microsoft Access database. The results for summer 2012 shows that plant operations comply with best management practices in most areas. However, the observations did indicate several opportunities for improvement in the hauling, placement and compaction of the asphalt concrete. Observations from summer 2013 showed plant operations remained "good", the performance of hauling, surface preparation, placement and compaction of the asphalt concrete were better than observed in 2012. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS