TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 634: “Texturing of Concrete Pavements” explores and presents a recommended process for determining the type of concrete pavement texture that should be used for a specific highway project. The process considers the effects of texture type on friction and noise characteristics. The report will guide pavement and construction engineers in identifying and specifying textures for concrete pavements that will provide adequate surface characteristics. The information contained in the report will be of immediate interest to state engineers and others concerned with concrete pavement design and construction.
Tining—a means of texturing newly constructed concrete pavements—is generally performed to enhance pavement-surface macro-texture to improve pavement-surface frictional characteristics and reduce potential for hydroplaning, skidding, and wet-weather crashes. However, there has been a concern that tining has evolved without adequate consideration of the effects on noise generation, long-term durability, smoothness, constructibility, pavement serviceability, and cost-effectiveness. Other options for texturing concrete pavements might provide better performance and yield environmental and economic benefits. Furthermore, no widely accepted guidelines or procedures for identifying and selecting methods of texturing concrete pavements that consider relevant technical, environmental, economic, and safety issues are available. Thus, research was needed to develop a rational procedure for use by highway agency personnel in identifying and selecting texturing methods that will provide adequate surface characteristics for concrete pavements.
Under NCHRP Project 10-67, “Texturing of Concrete Pavements,” Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA), worked with the objective of recommending appropriate methods for texturing concrete pavements for specific applications and ranges of climatic, site, and traffic conditions. Appendixes A through F contained in the research agency’s final report provide detailed information on the literature review, test results, and data analysis, as well as a sample specification for texture. These appendixes are not published herein; but they are available on the TRB website. Please click on the title above to download the report in PDF form.