Pennsylvania SPS-6 Performance at 10 Years: Evaluation of Concrete Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies

Abstract

With a long history of constructing jointed concrete pavements, Pennsylvania pursued the construction of Special Pavement Studies (SPS-6) sections for the rehabilitation of jointed concrete pavements experiment. After 10 years of service under very high loads on rural Interstate highways, a number of sections required renewal. The performances of the eight standard Strategic Highway Research Program sections, a control section, and three state supplemental sections were examined. The experiment included a broad range of treatments, including minimum and maximum concrete pavement restoration, the use of thin and thick overlays, and the use of crack or break and seat as well as rubblization as pretreatments for pavement overlays. Ten years after construction, many of the pavements that received the treatments are in need of major rehabilitation. This provides an opportune time to evaluate both the structural and functional performances of these test sections to date. Additionally, an evaluation of cost-effectiveness showed the importance of performing thorough evaluations of projects for rehabilitation and the potential benefit of rubblization of badly damaged jointed concrete pavements, a method used on the state supplemental sections, as a preoverlay strategy.

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