South America: Two Important Short-Slab Projects in Two Peru Cities

Juan Pablo Covarrubias, P.E., General Manger-TCPavements® and ISCP Director and Technology Transfer Committee Director, discussed two projects in two different cities of Peru. He stated, “The short slab technology (TCP) continues its successful implementation in several countries. Since 2009 TCP has been spreading in Peru with various projects of different types. Due to an optimization of the slab dimensions, this technology allows for the implementation of thinner concrete pavement, rather than traditionally designed concrete pavement. Currently, there are two outstanding projects under construction Peru—in the industrial sector and the urban sector.”

Mr. Covarrubias stated, “The FIRST, south of the city of Lima, Peru, is ‘Sector 62’ that corresponds to an industrial urbanization of 110,000 m² (131,559 sy) of paved surface, with 15-cm- (5.9-in-) thick concrete pavement with optimized geometry—built by the company AplicaPeru.”

Mr. Covarrubias continued, “The SECOND, in the northern city of Piura, Peru, is the paving of an avenue called ‘Avenida Sánchez Cerro’. The slabs here are 14-cm (5.5-in) thick, with optimized geometry—built by the company COSAPI. This pavement was designed for more than 20,000,000 equivalent single axle loads (ESALS) in 20 years. Concrete was provided by Cementos Pacasmayo and the project owes its importance for being the first built under the commercial agreement between Pacasmayo and TCPavements.”

Mr. Covarrubias explained the reason for the selection of short-slab concrete pavement for these two projects. “This technology has been one of the selected methods for reconstruction after the floods associated with the ‘El Niño’ climatic phenomenon that affected several cities in Peru in 2017.”

Beginning in March 2017, exceptionally warm water in the Pacific Ocean fueled torrential rain in western South America, which then came pouring down out of the mountains—overwhelming the arid landscape of the surrounding towns. A weather station recorded 43 inches of rain in the Piura region, from January to mid-March 2017—ten times the normal average rainfall of just 4 inches! Peru President Pedro Pablo Kaczynski said, “There hasn’t been an incident of this strength along the coast of Peru since 1998 [—one of the strongest El Niño years on record].”

“Due to the savings generated during these pavement projects, two more similar projects with TCP are expected to begin construction in Peru 2018,” concluded Juan Pablo Covarrubias.

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