Notable Facts About Concrete Pavement

Fact

B y using concrete pavement and innovative traffic management, the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department (NMSH&TD) recently replaced-with a minimum user delay-a 22-mile, ten lane section of I-40 running through the heart of the Albuquerque business district. Traffic volume was at 100,000 vehicles per day,

In the most complex project ever undertaken by the NMSH&TD, six bridges were widened, a major portion of the 22 mile section of pavement, and two key intersections, were reconstructed 328 days ahead of schedule!

Fact

T he State of Illinois has a significant investment in 74 publicly owned airports serving the aviation community: maintenance and reconstruction costs are potentially enormous. A reliever for Chicago O'Hare, DuPage Airport recently added two new runways, parallel taxiways and an apron all constructed with concrete.

"For DuPage, a high volume airport with a significant amount of pavement, concrete was clearly the most cost effective."

Brian Welker, project engineer for DuPage with Crawford, Murphy and Tilly

Fact

T he existing asphalt on State Route 36 (at I-75 between Atlanta and Macon, Georgia) was in desperate need of repaving from rutting and shoving under heavy truck traffic, which accounted for 60 percent of
the daily traffic.

"We wanted to repave in concrete because it would require less annual maintenance than asphalt and provide the district with a long-term solution.
We are expecting the life-cycle costs of the proposed concrete pavement to far exceed asphalt."

Mark Mastronardi, engineer with the Georgia Department of Transportation

Fact 

F rom recent research conducted by the Engineering Research Institute at Iowa State University comparing actual construction and maintenance costs of portland cement concrete pavements for several Iowa counties over a 40 year period, the following conclusions were reached:

• Concrete roadways cost as little as one-third the total cost of building, maintaining
  and repairing asphalt.
• Using concrete pavement, and using whitetopping over existing asphalt pavements,
  reduced by one-half the average cost per mile to maintain a county roadway system.

Fact

S ixty percent of the 47,744 mile U.S. Interstate highway system was built of concrete, especially in urban areas where FHWA anticipated heavy traffic volumes. Concrete was selected because of its superior durability, safety, higher reflection of light at night, and greater traction. 

Fact

C oncrete naturally can support the heaviest loads, such as truck traffic and the increasingly larger jumbo jets. There is less deformation than asphalt, and although the initial cost of concrete can be higher than asphalt, concrete usually has a useful life that is twice that of asphalt.

Fact

C oncrete pavement consistently serves 20-30 years without needing major repair, while asphalt generally lasts only 8-12 years before resurfacing, or significant repairs are required.

Fact

A ten year survey concluded in the mid-1980s of 2,000 miles of municipal streets in Kansas revealed that asphalt pavement was nine times as expensive to maintain as concrete.

Fact

B ecause of its light color, concrete reflects from 33 to 50 percent more light than asphalt.

Fact

B y using more heat-reflecting concrete instead of asphalt, Atlanta officials lowered their average city temperature by six degrees!

Fact

A merica 's first concrete street, built in 1891 in Bellefontaine, Ohio, is still in service today.

Fact

I f America's 47,744 miles of Interstate highways were paved with concrete, 11,000,000 gallons of fuel would be save EACH DAY!

Fact

C oncrete pavement offers longer life, lower life cycle costs, and less inconvenience to the public, than asphalt.

Fact

S ioux City , Iowa 's concrete streets last an average of 58 years before replacement or resurfacing. Very little maintenance is required.

Fact

D enver , Colorado invested in concrete streets in the early 1950s. Forty years later, with much heavy use and extreme temperatures, these pavements are still in good shape.

Fact

T he Pennsylvania Turnpike, built on a railroad right-of-way during the 1930s, was the first major intercity turnpike, or tollroad, completed in the United States, and was constructed entirely of concrete.

Fact

I n 1891, a full 17 years before the first mass-produced automobile-the "Model T" Ford-America's first concrete pavement was laid, an 8-foot-wide strip of Main Street in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

Fact

T he extreme heat and speed generated by NASCAR tires rutted the asphalt surface of the race track turns at Watkins Glen, NY. In April, 1999, the owners installed the nation's first concrete turns into the race track. "Three times the traction of asphalt," says NASCAR driver Kenny Shroeder.

Fact

T he useful life of a concrete road is 40 years. When it is replaced, the old surface can be crushed and used in the new road. Modern concrete roads are very smooth-riding, energy-saving, cooler, and quiet.

Fact

L ife-Cycle Cost Analysis is a tool that brings together all of the information needed to make an educated choice: initial investment, anticipated service life, overlay and maintenance costs over the roadway's life, the value of money saved as well as spent.

Fact

C oncrete pavements can be reused-both for road surfaces and bases. The entire operation can be accomplished on-site. This keeps the nation's landfills free of highway rubble.

Fact

I n urban areas, concrete pavements, together with trees, can reduce summer temperatures by as much as ten degrees! Lessening the need for air conditioning, this means huge energy/dollar savings for towns and cities.