Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Road Construction
Road Construction
Chapter 2
ROAD CONSTRUCTION
1
Road Construction
EARTHWORKS
EARTHWORKS
Excavation
It is therefore necessary to use a bulking factor to determine the volume of material that will be
created by excavation.
Similarly a shrinkage factor is defined for the compaction of a soil at it's final destination:
3
Road Construction
EARTHWORKS
Earthmoving Equipment
4
Dump Truck
Road Construction
EARTHWORKS
Earthmoving Equipment
Shovel
SUBGRADE PREPARATION
The subgrade is the in-situ material upon which the pavement structure is placed.
Increasing the load-bearing capacity of the subgrade soil will most likely improve
pavement load-bearing capacity and thus, pavement strength and performance.
Additionally, greater subgrade structural capacity can result in thinner (but not
excessively thin) and more economical pavement structures.
The finished subgrade should meet elevations, grades and slopes specified in the
contract plans.
6
7
Road Construction
SUBGRADE PREPARATION
Subgrade Performance
8
Road Construction
SUBGRADE PREPARATION
Poor subgrade should be avoided if possible, but when it is necessary to build over weak soils
there are several methods used to improved subgrade performance:
SUBGRADE PREPARATION
If the subgrade ruts excessively under construction traffic it may cause premature
pavement rutting and will result in variable paving thicknesses.
(2) Remove all debris, large rocks, vegetation and topsoil from the area to be paved
These items either do not compact well or cause non-uniform compaction and mat
thickness.
(3) Treat the subgrade under the area to be paved with an approved herbicide
This will prevent or at least retard future vegetation growth, which could affect subgrade
support or lead directly to pavement failure.
10
Road Construction
SURFACE PREPARATION
Preparing the subgrade and granular base course for new pavement
Involves activities such as subgrade stabilization, over-excavation of poor
subgrade, applying a prime coat or compacting the subgrade.
11
Road Construction
SURFACE PREPARATION
Prime Coats
The granular base layer can be prepared with a prime coat if necessary. A prime coat
is a sprayed application of a cutback or emulsion asphalt applied to the surface of
untreated sub grade or base layers in order to (Asphalt Institute, 2001):
1. Fill the surface voids and protect the sub base from weather.
2. Stabilize the fines and preserve the sub base material.
3. Promote bonding to the subsequent pavement layers.
Tack Coats
A tack coat is a thin bituminous liquid asphalt, emulsion or cutback layer applied
between HMA pavement lifts to promote bonding. Adequate bonding between
construction lifts and especially between the existing road surface and an overlay is
critical in order for the completed pavement structure to behave as a single unit and
provide adequate strength. If adjacent layers do not bond to one another they
essentially behave as multiple independent thin layers.
12
Road Construction
SURFACE PREPARATION
COMPACTION
Compaction is the process by which the volume of air in an Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) mixture is
reduced by using external forces to reorient the constituent aggregate particles into a more
closely spaced arrangement.
Inadequate compaction results in a pavement with decreased stiffness, reduced fatigue life,
accelerated aging/decreased durability, rutting, raveling, and moisture damage.
13
Road Construction
SURFACE PREPARATION
Compaction Equipment
There are three basic pieces of equipment available for HMA compaction:
(1) Paver screed
(2) Steel wheeled roller
(3) Pneumatic tire roller.
14
Road Construction
Quality issurance addresses the overall problem of obtaining the quality of a service, product,
or facility in the most efficient, economical, and satisfactory manner possible.
Quality control
Those quality assurance actions and considerations necessary to assess production and
construction processes so as to control the level of quality being produced in the end
product.
This concept of quality control typically includes sampling and testing by the contractor to
monitor the process but usually does not include acceptance sampling and testing by the
agency/owner.
15
Road Construction
Acceptance
Sampling, testing, and the assessment of test results to determine whether or not the quality
of produced material or construction is acceptable in terms of the specifications.
Independent assurance
A management tool that requires a third party, not directly responsible for process control or
acceptance, to provide an independent assessment of the product and/or the reliability of
test results obtained from process control and acceptance testing.
The results of independent assurance tests should not be used as a basis of product
acceptance.
16