WHEEL TRACK RUTTING DUE TO STUDDED TIRES

The extent of pavement rutting attributable to studded tires was investigated to determine the extent to which pavement wear has contributed to rut development in Alaska. The investigation is based on an extensive literature review as well as a survey questionnaire sent to all highway agencies in the snow zones of North America and Northern Europe. In addition, measurements of studded tire use and wheel track rutting taken at several locations in Alaska during the winter of 1990 provided new information. Very little research has been done since 1975 in this area, except in Scandinavia. Nearly all agencies continue to prohibit or restrict the use period of studded tires, but enforcement of stud use is typically minimal. Very little new information on the percentage of vehicles using studded tires or on tire wear studies is available, except for recent stud use surveys performed in Alaska from 1989 to 1991. At the sites studied, approximately 25% of all tires were studded during winter. Factors affecting wear rates are defined, and limited wintertime wear rate measurements in Alaska indicate that pavement wear occurs at a rate of about 0.1 to 0.15 in./million studded tire passes. The contributions of wear from studded tire abrasion in pavement rut development must not be ignored when factors in pavement rutting are analyzed. This analysis will be very difficult in many states because there is almost no information available on actual stud use or on the wear rates from modern vehicles and tire types.