Vasquez Boulevard between mileposts 291 and 297 in Commerce City was originally constructed in the 1940s with asphalt that didnt contain an anti-stripping agent. It is now part of US Highway 6 and has been designated as an over-weight and over-height relief route for the I-25 corridor. The boulevard has become a main trucking route for a heavily industrialized area. There was a major rehabilitation project in 2001 on this stretch of road with 2 milling and 2 stone matrix asphalt (SMA) paving. Parts of this pavement started rutting less than a year after construction. An investigation of the pavement failure determined that the causes were excessive and repeated loading of over-weight and over-height trucks; exposure of milled surface that didnt contain an anti-stripping agent to traffic and weather; inexperience with SMA paving materials, testing, and construction; and highly variable mix gradation and AC content quality levels. Recommendations for future SMA projects include training personnel to understand the complexities of SMA; establishing rigorous methods of calculating ESALs; adding fibers to reduce draindown and increase film thickness; using material transfer vehicles to minimize segregation and improve smoothness; and specifying the Superpave Gyratory Compactor for design and verification testing.
Forensic Investigation of Pavement Failure on Vasquez Boulevard
2007
71 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Civil Engineering , Highway Engineering , Road Transportation , Transportation , Transportation & Traffic Planning , Pavement failure , Vasquex Boulevard(Commerce City Colorado) , Asphalt , Investigation , Anti-stripping agent , Main trucking route , Rutting , Recommendations , Stone matrix asphalt (SMA) paving