NATIONWIDE PERFORMANCE STUDY OF IN-SERVICE ASPHALT CONCRETE OVERLAYS ON CRACKED AND SEATED PORTLAND CEMENT CONCRETE PAVEMENTS

One method used to rehabilitate portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements is to place an asphalt concrete overlay on the existing pavement. Although the overlay can improve the pavement's structural capacity and rideability, it can also create maintenance problems. These problems result from reflection cracking at the location of joints and cracks in the underlying slab. A method used to control the reflection cracking problem is to crack and seat the existing PCC pavement, thereby reducing the movement of the cracked slabs under the overlay. This paper discusses the results of a national study that investigated the performance of asphalt overlays of cracked and seated pavements. Pavements with up to 11 years of service life were evaluated with condition surveys, roughness measurements, and deflection measurements. Both cracked and seated pavements and control sections were evaluated. On the basis of the analysis, it was concluded that cracking and seating produced no significant loss of structural support but also did not appear to significantly improve overall pavement performance.