Chapter 2

a
Ro nced
te n a n
Ma i n ta ti o
a b i l i
e h
&R
 Introduction
• Maintenance: is the routine work performed to keep a
pavement, under normal conditions of traffic and
normal forces of nature, as nearly as possible in its as
constructed condition.

• It is the function of preg, repaserviniring, and

restoring a highway and keeping it in condition for
safe, convenient, and economical use.

• It includes both physical maintenance activities such

as sealing, patching, filling joints, and so forth and
traffic service activities including painting pavement
 Why Maintenance is
Necessary?
 The road transport network of any country plays a vital role in its

economy, and the physical condition of its infrastructure is

critical.

 With out adequate and timely maintenance, highways and rural

roads alike unavoidably deteriorate, leading to higher vehicle

operating costs, increased number of accidents, with their

associated human and property costs and reduced reliability of

transport service .

 When repair work is delayed, it will often involve extensive

rehabilitation, and even reconstruction, costing many times more

than simpler maintenance treatment carried out earlier.

 Why Maintenance is
Necessary?
Late or insufficient maintenance will increase the
ultimate repair costs and raise road user costs and
inconvenience, and reduce safety.

The need to protect the existing network and keep it

in good condition is paramount, often taking
precedence over new investment

Road maintenance is therefore an essential function

and should be carried out on a timely basis.
 Maintenance categories

maintenance activities are classified in

terms of their frequency.
Main categories

• Routine maintenance

• Periodic maintenance

• Urgent maintenance
 Maintenance categories

1. Routine works:- these are works that are

undertaken each year. Activities can be grouped
into cyclic and reactive (recurrent) works types.

Cyclic works are those undertaken where the

maintenance standards indicates the frequency at
which activities should be undertaken. Examples are
culvert cleaning, ditch cleaning , brush cleaning
etc.., which are dependent on environmental effects
rather than traffic levels.
 Maintenance categories
Reactive (Recurrent) works are those where

intervention level, defined in the maintenance

standard, are used to determine when maintenance is

needed.

Frequency depends on engineering and traffic

characteristics of the particular road.

Example
• Unpaved Roads: Repair pot-holes and ruts
• Paved Roads: Repair pot-holes ,Patching, Crack seal,
 Maintenance categories

2. Periodic works:- these include activities undertaken at

intervals of several years to preserve the structural
integrity of the road, or to enable the road increase axle
loadings.

The category normally excludes those works that change

the geometry of a road by widening or realignment.

Frequency depends on engineering and traffic

characteristics of the particular road.

Works can be grouped into preventive, resurfacing, overlay,

pavement reconstruction.
 Maintenance categories

Example of periodic maintenance

• Unpaved Roads: Re-gravelling

• Paved Road: Resealing ( surface dressing),

Overlay, Re-gravelling shoulders, road
surface marking
 Maintenance categories

3. Urgent Maintenance

Required as when Emergencies Problems

needing immediate action when a road is
blocked.

• Example: Removal of debris and other

obstacles, placement of warning signs
etc…….
Pavement Condition Life Cycle
75% Time

40% Quality Drop

Each $1 of Renovation
Cost Here…

Will Cost $4 to $5
if Delayed to Here
40% Quality
Drop

17% Time

Years
 Importance & Challenge of Highway
Maintenance
importance
 Protect investments made in highways.
 Economic & safety of public road system.
Challenges:
× increased roads (additional mileage of travel),
× vehicle sizes, and traffic.
× Traveling public expect higher level of
maintenance.
 Maintenance Operations
• Road surfaces
• Shoulders & approaches.
• Roadsides
• Bridges, tunnels, & drainage structures.
• Traffic controls & safety devices.
• Control of snow & ice.
 Maintenance of Road
• Aggregate road surfacesSurfaces

• Failures due to improper drainage, poorly mixed

materials, inadequate foundation.

• Repairs:
• Patching

• Blading

• Scarifying & resurfacing (when areas to be patched are

numerous).

• Stabilization.

• Bituminous surface treatment

 Maintenance of Road
• Bituminous surfaces
Surfaces…

• Failures due to weathering, failure of base or

subgrade due to material quality or compaction or
improper drainage.

• Repairs:
• Patching

• Scarifying

• Resealing.

• Non skid surface treatment

 Maintenance of Road
Surfaces …
• PCC surfaces

• Repairs:

• Filling & sealing of joints & cracks

• Patching areas where failure has occurred.

• Repairing areas damaged by settlement &

pumping.

• Treating collapsed pavements

 Maintenance of Shoulders &
Approaches
• Well graded gravel shoulder : blading to proper slope
and filling ruts or worn out materials.

• Turf shoulders: filling holes & ruts, blading, seeding,

trim & clean shoulders (weed control).

• Approaches: include public side roads, private

driveways, ramps, speed change lanes, & turnouts.

• Approach maintenance is similar to shoulder

maintenance + extra efforts to maintain potholes,
ruts, and other types of deterioration
 Maintenance of Roadsides

• Roadside: include area between traveled surface & the limit

of the right-of-way (medians, roadside parks, right-of-way
fences, picnic tables, ..etc.

• Vegetation management & control (include mowing, weed

eradication & control, seeding, planting vegetation, & care
of trees & shrubs).

• Mowing is done to provide sight distance, improve

drainage, reduce fire hazards, & improve appearance of
the roadway.

• Seeding & planting vegetation are important for

prevention of erosion.
 Maintenance of Bridges, Tunnels & Drainage
Structures

• Bridges: Maintenance is needed to minimize

deterioration or repair damage caused by accidents,
floods, or other unforeseen events.

• Steel bridges: clean & paint to prevent corrosion.

• Concrete bridge decks deterioration: Corrosion of

reinforcement bars due to penetration of water & deicing
salts or chemicals.

• Bridge decks with minor deterioration: patch with special

concrete.

• Bridge decks with major deterioration: Overlay or

 Maintenance of Bridges, Tunnels, & Drainage
Structures…

• Tunnels
• Special attention areas:

• Supports (check for decays).

• Tunnel walls & ceilings (check for leaks).

• Portals (free from loose rocks).

• Lighting (for visibility)

• Ventilation

• Drainage structures
• Should be kept in good working conditions.

• Surface drainage, ditches, & culverts.

 Maintenance of Traffic Control & Safety Devices

A traffic sign is defined as a device mounted on a fixed or portable

support whereby a specific message is conveyed by means of

words or symbols.

The sign is placed or erected for the purpose of regulating,

warning, or guiding vehicular, pedestrian, or bicycle traffic.

Safety devices: Guardrails, barriers, pedestrian overpasses &

underpasses, fence to restrict access of pedestrians

& animals.
 Maintenance of Traffic Control & Safety Devices

 Physical maintenance of traffic control

devices should be performed to ensure
legibility and visibility.
 Safety devices should be frequently &
systematically inspected & repaired

 Devices should be removed if no longer

appropriate
 Maintenance of Traffic Control & Safety Devices

Traffic markings are all lines, patterns, symbols, words,

colors, or other devices, except signs and power-
operated traffic control devices, set into the surface of,
applied upon, or attached to the pavement or curbing
and placed for the purpose of regulating, warning,
or guiding traffic
Markings have several limitations.
May be hidden by other vehicles directly over the
markings or by snow, or by dirt
Maintenance of Traffic Control & Safety Devices

May be worn by sand or gravel.

May not be visible when wet.
They wear due to traffic and the
environment and must be maintained or
replaced.
Removal of markings from the pavement is
a difficult task
 Paved Roads Distresses/Surface condition
survey
1/Bleeding or Flushing

Description:- localized accumulations of bitumen at road surface, making

the road appear black and shiny.

Probable Cause :- This distress is caused by excess asphalt in the surface

layer and/or low air void content .

Contribute factors include:

 Insufficient covering aggregate.

 Lack of proper rolling during placement

 Failure to protect a newly constructed surface

from traffic until the asphalt has cured sufficiently

How to maintain
 Minor Bleeding can be corrected by applying coarse sand or stone
screening to bolt up(secure) excess asphalt.
 Major Bleeding can be corrected by cutting off excess asphalt with
motor grader. If the surfacing is excessively rough, resurfacing may be
necessary.
 Paved Roads Distresses…
2/Potholes

Description: Localized bowl-shaped holes in the pavement surface.

Probable Cause & Contributing Factors;- Potholes are caused by water

penetrating the surface and causing the base/or sub grade to become
wet and unstable. They also may be caused by a surface that is too thin
or that lacks sufficient asphalt content, lacks sufficient base, or has too
many or too few fines. Potholes can also be caused by a condition of high-
severity alligator cracking.

• How to maintain; Clean out hole, Remove

any wet base, Shape holes so that it has

vertical sides, Prime hole, Fill hole with

Ac/Surface treatment, Properly compact with

 Paved Roads Distresses…
3/Rutting Channels

• Description: Channelized deformation along the wheel

tracks and appears about 50 to 80cm from the edge

of the pavement.

• Ruts are noticeable after a rainfall, when the depressions are filled with
water.

• Probable Cause and Contributing Factors: Rutting is

caused by heavy loads and high tire pressures, possibly

but not necessarily aggravated by loss in bearing

capacity and poor construction methods.

• How to Maintain: When there is rutting with out cracking, repair the
area by replacing the bituminous layers by materials of better
compaction and if rutting is associated with cracking, remove the old
surface ,if the area shows signs of mud being pumped to the surface,
 Paved Roads Distresses…
4/ Subsidence
• Description: Vertical depression of the road surface, usually
localized and circular in shape, in many instance, light
subsidence are not noticeable until after a rain, when water is
collected.
• Probable cause and Contributing factors; It can be result of sub
grade settlement caused by saturation, poor construction
methods or possible caused by materials poor quality.
• How to maintain
• Repair the affected area by replacing
the base or sub base material with
material of better quality and composition
and proper compaction.
If the depression is sever, start reconstructing from the sub
grade.
 Paved Roads Distresses…
5/Alligator Cracking/ Crocodile Cracking/Crazing

• Description; Alligator or fatigue cracking is a series of interconnected

cracks, Cracking begins at the bottom of the asphalt surfacing
propagating to the surface initially as a series of parallel longitudinal
cracks. After repeated traffic loading, sharp-angled pieces with a pattern
resembling the skin of an alligator will develop.

• Probable Cause & Contributing factors: it is mainly caused

by fatigue failure of the asphalt concrete surface under repeated traffic

loading.

• How to maintain

To repair distress of such type, asphalt patching

(Crack sealing) method of maintenance can be applied.

It is highly recommended that this type of failures

better be maintained at their early stage with crack sealing.

 Paved Roads Distresses…
6/ Patching
• Description; A patching is an area
of pavement which has been
replaced with new material to
repair existing pavement.

• Probable Cause & Contributing Factors; Patching is

operated in order to adequately eliminate a defect. But
sometimes, it does not correct the cause of the damage
itself. It is more or less a cosmetic solution to a defect. As a
consequence, the damage will reappear here and nearby.
Hence patching reflects a weakness of the pavement.
 Paved Roads Distresses…
7/ Corrugation
• Description: Corrugation is a series of closely

spaced ridges and valleys occurring at regular

interval along the pavement. The ridges are
perpendicular to the traffic direction and
usually extend across the whole width of the carriageway.

• Probable Cause & Contributing factors; This type of distress is

usually caused by traffic action combined with unstable
pavement or base (inadequate stability of asphalt surface or
base, compaction in wave form.)
• How to Maintain
• To repair corrugation in a thin surface treatment, scarify the
 Paved Roads Distresses…
8/Raveling
• Description; Raveling is the wearing away of the

pavement surface by progressive loss of aggregate

from the road surface.
• Probable Cause & Contributing Factors:

This distress can be caused by hardened asphalt

binder or a presence of poor quality mixture.
In addition, raveling may be caused by certain
types of traffic, e.g.. Tracked vehicles.
• How to Maintain

When a small percentage of the pavement is raveling, repair with a

skin patch. When a large percentage of the pavement shows
raveling, the pavement should be resurfaced.
 Paved Roads Distresses…
9/Transverse Cracking
• Description: Cracks extending
across the pavement at
approximately perpendicular to
the pavement center line.

• Probable Cause & Contributing Factors; these may be

caused by thermal stresses of AC surface due to daily
temperature cycling or some form of construction fault.

• How to Maintain

This type of damage can be maintained by sealing the

cracked area.
 Paved Roads Distresses…
10/ Longitudinal Cracking
• Description: Cracks extending

parallel to the pavement’s

centerline.

• Probable Cause & Contributing factors; These types of

damage can be caused by ;
 poorly constructed lane joint.
 Thermal stresses in AC surface due to daily temperature
cycling.
• How to maintain

Crack sealing can be used to maintain this type of

damage.
 Paved Roads Distresses…
11/Low Shoulder
• Description; Low shoulder is a

difference in elevation between

the pavement edge and the
shoulder.

• Probable Cause & Contributing Factors; This is caused by

shoulder erosion ,shoulder settlement or by building up
the road way with out adjusting the shoulder level.
• How to Maintain

• Level the shoulder with the edge of the pavement with

appropriate material and better compaction.

 Paved Roads Distresses…
12/ Lacy Edge
• Description; Cracking and
disintegration of the outer edge of
pavement.
Probable Cause & Contributing Factors;
This distress is accelerated by traffic loading and be caused by
erosion of the edge of the paved surface ,lack of shoulder support,
shoulder unstable or too low. This damage occurs in pavements in
which the road base & shoulders are of the same type of material.
How to Maintain
Repair the affected area by applying Asphalt patching with
bitumen and aggregate (surface treatment) or with cold mix.
 Paved Roads Distresses…

13/ POLISHED AGGREGATE:

• Is smooth and rounded of surface aggregate particles either in
their original condition or after repeated abrasive wear by
traffic.

• When the aggregate in the surface becomes smooth, and

reduced its adhesion with vehicle tires during wet surface
road .
 This defect lead to increase in the number of wet skid
accidents.
 Polished aggregate causes a reduction in skid resistance, especially when wet.
CAUSES OF POLISHED AGGREGATE
• Low quality aggregate and
 Paved Roads Distresses…

14/ SHOVING
 It is a localized plastic movement in the bituminous surface.
 Areas subjected to frequent vehicular braking action can
exhibit shoving.
 Bus stops are often the first locations to exhibit premature
distortion in the form of shoving.

CAUSES OF SHOVING
 The cause of shoving is usually lack of stability in the
bituminous mix.
 the mix being too rich,

 the aggregate having excessive amounts of fines, rounded or

smooth textured particles

 Paved Roads Distresses…

14/ SHOVING…

• Shoving occurs when the applied forces exceed the

shear strength of the asphalt mix or underlying

layers.
• Shoving can also occur when thin asphalt layer are

placed over granular bases and sub bas.

 Unpaved Roads Distresses
1/ Potholes

• Description: Bowl-shaped

depression in the road surface.

• Probable Cause & Contributing Factors:

Potholes are caused by the loss of material from the road

surface due to the wear and tear action of traffic. They are
exacerbated under the presence of water inside the hole. The
road then continues to disintegrate because of weak spots in
the underlying soil and loosening surface material.
How to Maintain
 Spot re-gravelling
 Re-gravelling of the total width of the pavement.
 Unpaved Roads Distresses…
2/ Rut
• Description: Surface depression
in the wheel path that is
parallel to centerline of the road.

• Probable cause & Contributing Factor: Ruts are caused by

permanent deformation of the road layers due to
repeated vehicle activities. It can be aggravated by a
deficiency of bearing capacity of the sub grade material.
• How to maintain
• Fill the depression similar material as the pavement and
compact it by keeping the crown shape. For area of high
severity, re-gravelling or deep (heavy) blading is
recommended.
 Unpaved Roads Distresses
3/Corrugation
• Description: Closely spaced ridges
and valleys (ripples) at regular Interval.
The ripples are perpendicular to the
traffic direction.

• Probable Cause & Contributing Factors :This type of

distress can be caused by traffic and loose aggregate. This
distress usually occurs on hilly, on curves, in area of
acceleration or deceleration, or in areas where the road is
soft or potholed.
• How to maintain
• To repair this type of damage blading is recommended.
The frequency of blading depends up on the level of traffic
 Unpaved Roads Distresses…
4/Gullies

• Description :Channels formed by

the loss of surfacing material as
a result of the flow of water over the
road, Gullies can occur transversely
or longitudinally.

• Probable Cause and Contributing Factors: This type of distress is caused

by loss of shear strength of surfacing material by tractive forces
induced by flowing water. The type of material also contributes to this
phenomenon.

• How to Maintain

• Formation of gullies could be avoided by properly maintaining side

ditches and grading or re-gravelling is recommended to maintain roads
that are damaged by gullies.
 Unpaved Roads Distresses
5/Loose Gravel
Description; Unbound coarse gravel material on the
road surface. Loose gravel may be distributed over
the full width of the road but most frequently is
concentrated away from the normal road wheel path
and forms berms (mound) in the center or along
the shoulder( the less traveled area)

Probable Cause & Contributing Factors; caused by wear and tear

action of traffic on un-surfaced roads which will eventually loosen
the larger aggregate particles from the soil binder. This distress
can also be caused by raveling of weakly bound material due to
lack of compaction or poor composition ( e.g. Grading, plasticity).
• How to Maintain
• Blend fine material with the loose gravel to increase cohesion
and moist compact the material.
 Unpaved Roads Distresses…
6/ Improper Crown Shape

• Description: Poorly shaped

cross section of the road with
a slope that doesn’t drain water
from the road surface.
• Probable Cause & Contributing Factors: This type of
damage can be the result of ruts, potholes and
subsidence formation on the road surface. Lack of
routine maintenance to retain the crown of the road.
• How to maintain
• Maintain proper crown shape of the road by blading, for
area of high severity, re-gravelling is recommended.
 Unpaved Roads Distresses
7/Stoniness /Coarse Texture
• Description: The exposure
of large size aggregate
(larger than the usual
recommended size37.5mm) in
the road surface.

• Probable Cause and Contributing Factors: This type of distress

occurs by wearing away of fines from pavement under traffic
load or by wind or water erosion of fines from the road
surface.
• How to Maintain
• Re-gravelling of the surface with a recommended aggregate
size can be utilized to maintain roads with such type of
damage.
 Pavement Recycling
• Involves the following:

• Remove existing pavement fully or partially.

• Reduce reclaimed material to suitable size.

• Blending reclaimed materials with virgin aggregate & liquid asphalt.

• Relaying the material as base, binder, or surface course

• Advantages of Hot mix Recycling:

• Economy

• Conservation of national resources.

• Improvement of the structural strength of the pavement with little

or no change in thickness.

• Correction of existing deficiencies in the pavement mix.

 Pavement
Rehabilitation
• Proper maintenance extend pavement life. However,
best-maintained pavements will deteriorate with time
and will need rehabilitation.

• Rehabilitation: restoring or betterment of roadway

commonly used when structural strengthening is
required and includes overlaying and resurfacing

• Reconstruction – this usually means that at least one

layer of the pavement needs to be reprocessed.

• Upgrading – this usually means that strengthening

and some realignment are required.
 Design of pavement overlays

Need for Overlay

A flexible pavement, with accumulated traffic loads
and time in service, may suffer one or more of the
following deficiencies:
1. Excessive rutting
2. Excessive cracking
3. Inadequate ride quality
4. Inadequate skid resistance of surface
 Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
In designing an overlay for an existing pavement, it is
imperative to perform a thorough evaluation of the
existing pavement to determine its areas of deficiency
and deterioration.
The fundamentals in the evaluation of pavement’s
includes:
functional, structural and safety performance.
Functional Performance : is the ability of the pavement
to serve its users in its primary function, which is to
provide a safe and smooth driving surface
 Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
The most commonly used measure of functional
performance of a pavement is its ride quality, which is
commonly quantified in terms of Present Serviceability
Rating (PSR) or Present Serviceability Index (PSI),

a PSR of less than 2.5 was considered to be

unacceptable for primary highways, and if less than 2.0
for secondary highways.
 Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
Structural Performance
Is its ability to sustain the applied traffic loads without
showing distress.
Deficiencies in a pavement’s structural performance can
be manifested through its observed distresses, and the
main types of distresses are cracking, rutting, and
raveling.
Safety Performance
Two main common concerns in the evaluation of
pavement safety are
 Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
 Measurements of skid resistance are made in terms of skid

number (SN), which is defined as:

SN 100 f where: f = friction factor, or coefficient of

friction

 A skid number of over 35 on a wet surface is generally

considered to be acceptable, while a skid number of less than

25 is considered unacceptable.

 Hydroplaning is the condition when the vehicle tires loss

contact with the pavement surface due to the accumulation of

 Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
Overlay Design Procedure
Overlay design procedures can be divided into two categories as follows
1. Effective Analysis Procedure
2. Deflection Procedure
Effective Analysis Procedure
The required thickness of AC overlay is computed as:

Where
T0 = required overlay thickness in centimeters
SN new = structural number of a new pavement
SN eff = effective structural number of the existing pavement
a0 = structural coefficient of the AC overlay
 Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
The determination of the required SN (SN new) for future traffic
for an overlaid asphalt pavement (SN new ) is similar for a new
construction. It requires the determination of (1) the future traffic
(Nf ), (2) the effective
subgrade resilient modulus (MR), (3) the design PSI loss (DPSI), (4)
design reliability (R), and (5) overall standard deviation (So)
SNeff requires knowing the existing pavement structure and using
the equation:
SNeff = a1T1 + a2T2m2 + a3T3m3
Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
 Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
Deflection Procedure
The steps involved in the procedure are as follows:
Step 1: Determine a representative rebound deflection (RRD)
Step 2: Determine the design future traffic in terms of cumulated
equivalent standard axles (ESAs).
Step 3: Determine the required overlay thickness.

The representative rebound deflection RRD is taken as:

RRD = ( x + 2s) Fc
Where:
x is the arithmetic mean of the individual deflection
measurements adjusted for temperature
s is the standard deviation of the adjusted individual
measurements
 Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
F temperature adjustment factor
The critical period is the interval during which the
pavement is most likely to be damaged by heavy loads.
If the deflection measurements are made during the
critical period, the adjustment factor c is equal to 1 . If
deflections are not measured in the critical period, c is
greater than 1 and can be determined from a
continuous record of measured deflections for a similar
pavement . If no record of comparable deflection data
is available, c should be selected by means of
engineering judgment .
Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
 Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
Example:
A series of deflection measurements were made on a
full-depth pavement during a critical period at pavement
temperature of 55°F. The measured deflections are 0.84,
0.89, 1.02, 0.64, 0.71, 0.66, 0.51, 0.89, 0.86, and 0.69
mm. Compute the representative rebound deflection
RRD and determine the overlay thickness to support the
future traffic of 10,000,000esa.
Solution:
X=(0.84+0.89+1.02+0.64+0.71+0.66+0.51+0.89+0.86
 Evaluation of Pavement Performance for
Overlay
= [(0.84–0.77)2+(0.89–0.77)2+(1.02–
0.77)2+(0.64–0.77)2+(0.71–0.77)2+(0.66–0.77)2+(0.51–
0.77)2+(0.89–0.77)2+(0.86–0.77)2+(0.69–0.77)2]/(10–
1)=0.024mm2, or s=0.15 mm. At pavement temperature
of 55°F and without an untreated aggregate base, from
Figure above, the temperature adjustment factor
F=1 .38 .
During the critical period, c=1 . RRD = (0 .77 + 2 x 0.15)
x 1.38 x1 = 1.48mm.
The corresponding overlay thickness will 150mm