Innovation

Innovation Benefits Everyone

concrete street If there is such a thing as an all-purpose pavement to meet all demands, concrete pavement may well be the answer, a result of decades of innovation.

Even so, the concrete pavement industry is continually developing new paving processes and products, all aimed at meeting the changing demands of the traveling public, as well as the people responsible for our nation’s surface transportation network.

A new generation of quiet pavements

In response to urban noise and the public’s demand for quieter urban roadways, the industry is investing millions of dollars conducting extensive laboratory and field testing to pioneer a unique surface texture that can be used for either new or existing concrete pavements.

The “Next Generation Concrete Surface” (NGCS) re proving to be as quiet or quieter than any alternative, including the newest generations of asphalt pavements. NGCS concrete pavements are not only quiet when they are first built, they remain quiet.

A different kind of CPR

All pavements eventually need to be repaired or replaced because of routine wear and tear, as well as the constant changes in the environment around the pavement and the earth beneath the pavement.

On older concrete pavements, a technique called concrete pavement restoration (CPR) can preserve and extend service life when sections become uneven or when the pavement loses some of its surface features. This typically involves grinding away a small amount of the surface to remove bumps and minor damage, leaving a like-new pavement that is smooth, durable, and safe.

Fast-track paving

In cases where construction or repairs are performed on particularly busy pavement sections, fast-track paving is the answer. Unique planning and construction staging techniques, advanced traffic management, and special rapid-setting concrete mixtures are used to build or rehab pavements quickly and with few disruptions.

Many fast-track pavements have been completed overnight and then, opened to rush hour traffic the next morning. New techniques using pre-cast concrete slabs are also gaining popularity. Pre-cast slabs are made in an off-site factory, shipped to the construction site and lifted into place, allowing traffic to resume using the roadway within hours.

Better resurfacing

Thin concrete overlays, measuring 2 inches to 4 inches thick, were created by engineers of the American Concrete Pavement Association to provide a cost-effective alternative to thin flexible pavements, which typically last about 10 years.

Funny thing, though— concrete overlays typically outlast the competition, as well as exceed their life expectancy. The result? Some of the earliest and thinnest concrete overlays, placed in the early 1980’s, were carrying traffic for nearly 20 years— more than twice their engineered design life.