Paving

Quality of pavement construction is important. “A well-built but poorlydesigned pavement is likely to outperform a poorly-built but well-designed pavement. Consequently, the impact of a capable contractor with skilled and experienced superintendents and laborers on achieving good pavement performance cannot be over-emphasized” (Rollings 2001: 292). The two main types of concrete paving are slipform paving and fixed form

paving. Both have advantages and disadvantages and each is better suited to some projects than to others. On most slipform paving projects, however, small amounts of fixed form paving or “handwork” are still necessary. Agency specifications, such as the FAA P-501 which is part of Standards

for Specifying Construction of Airports, AC 150/5370-10B (FAA 2005) and Ohio Department of Transportation Specifications (ODOT 2005), often address many aspects of paving. In some cases, the agency furnishes a “recipe” specification with mixture proportions for the concrete. A detailed discussion of concrete paving operations, with photographs,

is provided in the AASHTO/FHWA/Industry Joint Training Participant’s Manual, Construction of Portland Cement Concrete Pavements (ACPA 1996a). A CD with PowerPoint presentations that accompanies this manual may be purchased separately from ACPA. Concrete plant operations are addressed in pages V-1-V-74. Slipform paving is covered on pages VI-1VI-64, and fixed form paving on pages VI-65-VI-105.