Improved overlays are now available for asphalt and concrete pavements that enable agencies to provide long-life performance under a wide range of traffic, environmental, and existing pavement conditions. Overlays are widely used, but not always targeted, so FHWA created the “Targeted Overlay Pavement Solutions (TOPS)” initiative as part of “Every Day Counts” round six (EDC-6).
Greg Dean, Executive Director at Carolinas Concrete Paving Association: “More targeted #resilient overlay solutions will be required in our changing climate and the American Concrete Pavement Association can help! #concreteoverlays #MixOfFixes #inundation #SpreadTheLoad“
More than 40% of major roads in the United States are in poor or mediocre condition.1 The U.S. Department of Transportation’s “2015 Conditions & Performance Report” estimated that America needs $836 billion to fix highways and bridges. By enhancing overlay performance in priority locations, State and local highway agencies can help ensure safer, longer-lasting roadways.
“Targeted” refers to high-priority or high-maintenance locations such as primary or interstate pavements, intersections, bus lanes, ramps, and curves where the standard fix is not performing well. Targeted overlays can extend pavement life 15 to 40 years depending on the materials used. They also increase load-carrying capacity and improve safety, mobility, and user satisfaction in a cost-effective and sustainable manner.
Targeted overlays can extend pavement life
15 to 40 years depending on the materials used
Tim Aschenbrener, TOPS Team Co-Lead-FHWA said, “The use of overlays is often based on an agency’s experience and budget. With the Every Day Counts TOPS initiative, we’re encouraging agencies to consider the variety of overlays that are now available. We want to help them expand the types of overlays that they commonly use.”
Targeted FHWA FACT SHEETS:
• Different types of overlays
• Will release several case studies
• Will release several “How-to” documents
• Webinars Planned
• Workshops Planned
The National Concrete Pavement Technology Center (CP Tech Center)‘s 2014 “Performance History of Concrete Overlays in the United States” Brief provides a brief history of the construction of concrete overlays in the United States and then summarizing the details of 12 concrete overlay projects across the country. It concludes with a short list of additional resources. Concrete overlays are cost-effective, long-lasting solutions for pavement preservation, resurfacing, and rehabilitation and thus should be an integral part of every agency’s overall asset management program. The purpose of the brief is to demonstrate the applicability of concrete overlays as an asset management solution on a wide array of existing pavement types and roadway classifications.
SAFETY: Thousands of miles of rural and urban pavements need structural enhancement and improved surface characteristics, such as smoothness, friction, and noise. Targeted overlay pavement solutions can improve the condition of highways significantly in a relatively short time.
SAVINGS: Timely and well-designed overlay applications are consistently cost-effective because less subsurface work is required. In urban areas, impacts to utilities and pedestrian facilities are minimized.
PERFORMANCE: Targeting overlay solutions to high-maintenance areas such as intersections, bus lanes, ramps, and curved alignments can pay immediate dividends in terms of reduced maintenance needs, fewer work zones, and improved safety.
Aschenbrener added, “While there’s no single answer for everyone, by using good project selection practices, we believe every agency can find a targeted solution that is both cost-effective and durable.”
INNOVATIONS IN OVERLAYS:
—TOPS Team is promoting overlays that offer many benefits to stakeholders:
• 8 asphalt overlays
• 2 concrete overlays
• Reduce maintenance
• Maximize previous investments
• Reduce user delays (fewer work zones) due to extended service life of pavement structures
—TOPS products
• Increase skid resistance
• Improve resiliency in flood-prone areas
• Reduce splash and spray
• Reduce noise.
SUCCESS STORIES:
The Colorado DOT has approximately 1,000 lane-miles of concrete overlays on existing asphalt pavements
—CONCRETE OVERLAY:
• Bonded System that acts with the underlying asphalt
• Unbonded system that is paved on top of the existing asphalt to carry ever-increasing volumes of traffic
Click on each image to go to page, or click on links below
CONCRETE:
CONCRETE ON CONCRETE:
Bonded
Unbonded
CONCRETE ON CONCRETE:
Bonded
Unbonded
Angela James Folkestad, Executive Director-American Concrete Pavement Association Colorado/Wyoming Chapter said, “We’ve had great success with concrete overlays in Colorado for more than two decades. They are faster and far more economical to deploy than reconstruction. The reduced frequency and duration of work zones means safer roadways for both workers and users.”
The New Jersey DOT (NJDOT) efforts paid off in the past decade:
• Binder-rich intermediate course—similar to crack attenuating mix
• Highly modified asphalt
• Stone matrix asphalt
Robert Blight, Supervising Engineer, Pavement Design and Technology Unit–New Jersey DOT said, “Targeted overlay pavement solutions have made a significant difference in New Jersey’s asphalt pavements. We’ve increased our good pavements by nearly 30%. Our goal is to create a balanced, cost-effective approach of preservation, resurfacing, rehabilitation, and reconstruction that best optimizes allocated funding to create the best possible roadway network condition.”
EDC-6 EFFORTS:
28 States are participating in the TOPS EDC-6 initiative, with 13 participating in both concrete and asphalt. The TOPS team is developing resources to help transportation agencies select the right overlay product for the right location.
1“Key facts about the U.S. surface transportation system,” May 2021:
https://tripnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/TRIP_Fact_Sheet_NATL.pdf
IMPORTANT LINKS:
For more information, please contact a member of the FHWA Office of Infrastructure Pavement Materials team:
CONCRETE:
Sam Tyson, Office of Infrastructure Pavement Materials team-FHWA
E-mail: sam.tyson@dot.gov
ASPHALT:
Tim Aschenbrener, Office of Infrastructure Pavement Materials team-FHWA
E-mail: timothy.aschenbrener@dot.gov
Join the “FHWA Pavement and Materials” E-mail List to receive updates about the program: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOTFHWA/subscriber/new?topic_id=USDOTFHWA_164
FACT SHEETS: www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/tops/?utm_source=innovator
EDC-6 TOPS webpage for additional resources:
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_6/targeted_overlay_pavement.cfm?utm_source=innovatorhttps://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_6/targeted_overlay_pavement.cfm?utm_source=innovator
TOPS STORYBOARD: www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_6/tops_storyboard/page06.html
CP Tech: “Performance History of Concrete Overlays in the United States” Brief: https://intrans.iastate.edu/app/uploads/2018/08/Performance-History_FHWA-acknowledgment_tagged.pdf
CP Tech: “Guide to Concrete Overlays”: https://intrans.iastate.edu/app/uploads/2018/08/Overlays_3rd_edition.pdf
FHWA INNOVATOR News article titled “Create a Top-Notch Pavement Network with TOPS“: www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/innovator/issue85/page_01.html?utm_source=social
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2015 Conditions & Performance Report: www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/2015cpr/?utm_source=innovator