Innovative Road Coating: An Original Solution To Improve Safety and Durability of Concrete Pavement

Abstract

The use of pervious concrete with high water permeability has been limited to date to the construction of low traffic roads, car parks or walkways in urban areas. This paper presents an innovative and sustainable pervious pavement structure which offers increased safety, comfort and durability while ensuring an attractive initial cost. The new structure is composed of an ordinary concrete layer offering the required structural capacity and an ultra-thin wearing course providing high standards in terms of safety and riding comfort in addition to aesthetic possibilities (color choices). Structural performance and pavement service life were analysed using French method. Structure durability under heavy traffic was tested by the FABAC heavy traffic simulator of IFSTTAR Nantes using a total of five millions cycles of 6.5 tons half-axle load. Placement in a new highway project using a modified slipform under real conditions is presented with positive results. Finally, a comparison of the carbon footrprint of this innovative pavement structure versus established asphalt and concrete structures is provided which shows and overall reduction in CO2 impacts.