Thirty-Three-Year Performance of Jointed Concrete Test Sections in North Carolina

Abstract

Eight test sections of jointed portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement were constructed in 1967 on I-95 in North Carolina. The test sections were rediscovered this year when six of the eight fell within the project limits of an interstate rehabilitation project. Outlined are the performance of those six sections, the control section using data collected in 2001, and the historical data found in an old research file. Performance was measured and ranked based on distress surveys, roughness reported as the international roughness index, and joint faulting. All six sections were 9 in. thick with flexible paved shoulders and 30-ft joint spacing. The test section with the best overall performance consisted of undoweled PCC placed on a bituminous base course. This section remains in fair to good condition after 33 years, resulting in the most favorable annual cost. Where direct comparison sections were available, dowels reduced faulting by 1 to 1.5 mm over the 33-year period. Longitudinal, transverse, and multiple-break cracking were common in the sections having cement-treated base or subbase, reducing their service lives and increasing their annual costs.