Municipal Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation

You didnt see it coming but theres no mistaking that dull thud. Youve hit a pothole and its going to be expensive. A new tire can cost up to $400. A wheel alignment costs about $200. Replacing the tire rims: as much as $800. No wonder motorists vent their frustrations in the annual poll of the worst roads in the province. But if a municipality is scrambling to fill potholes and repair crumbling roads, its probably too little, too late and too expensive. We asked three Ontario municipalities about their road maintenance and rehabilitation programs - a major urban centre, a large county, and a small municipality. But first, a maintenance and rehabilitation primer.

A Stitch in Time Asphalt pavements are remarkably resilient and with proper maintenance should last for at least 20 years. The key is proper maintenance. As the garage owner on a commercial for oil filters so eloquently put it: You can pay me now or you can pay me later. Spending a dollar on preventive maintenance in the tenth year of a pavements life can save up to five dollars in corrective maintenance five years later. Preventive maintenance is an organized, systematic approach to maintain and improve the condition of a road and slow future deterioration. By correcting small problems before they become big ones, you eliminate the worst first syndrome (and the irate calls from motorists who have just had to have a new alignment job), save money by postponing major rehabilitation projects, reduce traffic delays and improve the performance of the entire road network. An effective preventive maintenance program has three components: identifying the most appropriate candidates for maintenance, doing the maintenance before problems get out of hand, and selecting the right maintenance technique. An up-to-date pavement condition survey identifies the type of pavement distresses in the road network, evaluates

those distresses based on severity and extent, and establishes which roads need to be fixed first. A condition survey shouldnt just tell you which pavements have problems that need correcting today. It should also tell you which pavements need treatment today to avoid problems tomorrow. Knowing that a pavement needs maintenance is one thing. Carrying out the treatment on time and on schedule is another. You need to apply preventive maintenance treatments before the problem gets out of hand, not after. It makes sense, for example, to rout and seal before a single crack spreads into multiple cracks. When budgets are tight, preventive maintenance is often one of the first items to be sacrificed. It is short-term gain for long term pain. Dedicated funding needs to be part of any preventive maintenance program. Finally, you need to select the right treatment. There are a number of preventive maintenance techniques, each of which has been specifically developed to treat specific types of distress at specific levels of severity. The decision as to which treatment to use typically depends on the type of pavement; the type, extent and severity of the pavement distress, and the type of road (its use, volume, and traffic speed).

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Selecting the right treatment should also be as much an economic decision as a technical one based on how long a particular treatment can extend the life of the pavement and thus postpone or eliminate expensive rehabilitation projects. On the Road to Rehab A typical asphalt pavement should last between fifteen and twenty years. With a bit of luck (and a good preventative maintenance program, a road can last as much as 30 years. But eventually all roads require major rehabilitation as they get close to the end of their useful life. Most signs of distress such as cracks, small potholes, and stripping can be fixed with normal maintenance techniques. Even severe defects can be repaired relatively quickly and easily as long as they are localized. In fact, a well-planned, well-executed preventive maintenance program can extend the life of roads by up to fifteen years. But when the pavement starts to show extensive structural defects, it is time for a complete rehabilitation. All rehabilitation projects should start with an engineering inspection. Engineers will examine the road, take some core samples, use ground penetrating radar to check subsurface conditions, carry out deflection tests and review the condition and performance of the existing road to ensure that any underlying problems are corrected before the new pavement is laid. Drainage problems, for example, need to be corrected, the road profile will need to be restored, and measures put in place to avoid reflective cracking (the propagation of existing cracks in a pavement into a new overlay) The most popular method of rehabilitating roads is the use of a hot mix overlay - a new layer of hot mix pavement laid over a reconstructed base. Done properly, an overlay should give between 15 and 20 years of extended pavement life almost as good as a brand new pavement at considerably less expense. The contractor starts the process by preparing the old pavement. In most cases if the pavement structure is still sound, a shave and pave is all that is needed. The contractor mills the top layer of asphalt (which can then be recycled) and then lays the new layer of asphalt. Pavements with severe structural problems will need additional rehabilitation techniques. Cold In Place Recycling is a construction technique that turns part of the existing pavement into a new aggregate base. About three-quarters of the existing pavement is removed (typically between 65 and 125 mm.), mixed with an emulsion or expanded asphalt, re-laid and then compacted. After a short period to allow the stabilized mixture to cure, the contractor lays down one or two lifts of asphalt to create a new pavement. The entire process is carried out in-situ. None of the old pavement is removed from the site. Full Depth Reclamation takes the process one step further by processing the entire flexible pavement and a predetermined portion of the base material. By completely removing the old pavement, full depth reclamation erases all deep cracks thus eliminating any possibility of reflective cracking. It also

restores the pavements profile and cross-fall. Once the new base is finished, the contractor completes the job with a new layer of asphalt. The entire construction process typically takes two to three days after which the lane can be immediately opened for traffic. The County of Middlesex

County of Middlesex
Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation
Population: 71,200 Area: 1,776 square kilometres Roads: 1,583 lane kilometres 100% paved 90% rural / 10% urban Action Areas: Corporate Culture of Sustainability Healthy Communities Economic Vitality Sustainable Natural Environment Education, Engagement and Partnerships Sustainability Implementation and Monitoring Road Budget (2009): Capital Rehabilitation Kilometres to be rehabilitated - $8.9 million - $6.2 million - 64

Each year, we review every kilometre of the roads in our network, says Chris Traini, the county engineer for Middlesex County. It is something I like to do myself. First of all, because the road condition survey is subjective, having the same person do it every year ensures consistency and second, it gives me the opportunity to see the condition of the roads for myself. You get a much better appreciation of whats going by getting out in the field than you do by reading a consultants report. Chris bases his assessment on OGRAs pavement condition guidelines for the type of distress, the severity of the distress and the ride quality and assigns a pavement condition index rating to each road in the asset management model. We have been using the pavement performance system for almost a decade and we have council buy-in and support to make sure that we are doing the right work, he says. One of the things that we look at is the percent of the system that is rated as adequate and we have seen some steady improvement. Five years ago, 44 percent of our network was rated adequate. Last year, it was 53 percent, which means that half the network should last at least another 10 years without major rehabilitation. The county does maintenance and rehabilitation on about 84 lane-kilometres a year, which means that the entire network will be rehabilitated over an 18 year period - consistent with
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the life span of most asphalt roads. This year, the county is planning to do 64 kilometres of road rehabilitation, somewhat less than normal due to an unusually large expenditure scheduled for a major bridge rehabilitation project. The county uses surface treatment and microsurfacing, which typically extends the life of a road from two to five years, for low volume lightly travelled roads. It also uses surface treatment in urban areas as a stopgap measure on roads scheduled for major utility work in the near future. The countys preferred choice for road rehabilitation is cold-in-place recycling with a hot mix overlay - a technique that converts the old pavement into a new roadbed. We have done about 400 lane-kilometres of CIP over the last 13 years, says Traini. It eliminates transverse and edge cracking and the quality of the surface holds up really well. The county expects to do about 24 lane-kilometres of CIP this year. Another 6 lane-kilometres will be completely reconstructed. But when it comes to maintaining the roads and preventing future distress, it is not always the most obvious solution that has the biggest payoff. Last year under a separate contract, the county added about 12 kilometres of subdrains to the network. A lack of good drainage is probably the biggest cause of pavement failure, Traini points out. We are a big proponent of good drainage and we put in subdrains where we can, which helps eliminate settlement and alligator cracking. A little bit of paint helps too. We like to paint the edges of all our roads, concludes Chris. It keeps the traffic to the center of the road and helps keep the stress off the edges. Why spend the money fixing a problem, if you can eliminate the problem in the first place? The City of Ottawa

Keeping track of 5,000 kilometres of roads is almost a full time job, says John Morand, project manager for the City of Ottawas Infrastructure Services Branch, which is why the city relies on its Pavement Management Application software package. The PMA is used to maintain an inventory of all city roads, tracking daily traffic volume, riding comfort, surface distress, structural adequacy of the pavement structure and soils, past maintenance history and other road inventory data. Ottawa went through a large amalgamation process in 2001 and considerable effort has been spent on validating the inventory data. Each year, the city updates the pavement condition information on about 20 percent of the road network using trucks mounted with sensors and cameras to collect data on riding comfort and surface distresses. The field information is then fed into the software, which uses the pavement condition data to calculate a Pavement Quality Index. About 20 percent of the road network is considered to be in need but with current funding levels, we can only resurface about 2 to 3 percent of the paved road network each year, says Morand. We are starting to fall behind. In order to make the most effective use of the funds that are available (and to avoid subjective assessments by staff and council), the city staff ranks each road section based on technical priorities using factors such as traffic volume, improved Pavement Quality indicator, and need year. Roads with higher traffic volumes and roads that have been in a backlog condition for a number of years get higher scores. Arterial and collector roads, particularly those that carry substantial bus and truck traffic, are rehabilitated more frequently than local roads. The staff then conducts a visual inspection of the highest priority roads to ensure the validity of the ratings and prepares a resurfacing list for the next capital budget. Periodic resurfacing and rehabilitation is much more cost effective in the long run than reconstruction, which can be a costly and disruptive exercise, says Morand. By sealing the road surface and correcting minor road imperfections, a preservation treatment extend the life of a pavement at significantly lower cost than conventional mill and overlay treatments, in-place recycling or reconstruction. About one-third of Ottawas 2009 budget has been allocated to preservation-type treatments such as microsurfacing, thin lift overlays, slurry seals, crack sealing and surface treatments and will be used on roads that are not as yet technically identified as needs in the Pavement Management system. Morand is particularly enthusiastic about microsurfacing. We can get five to seven years more life out of a road after microsurfacing and it improves rideability as well, he says. A lot of our roads are heavily pitted and polished but once they have been microsurfaced the skid resistance comes

City of Ottawa
Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation
Population: 1,150,000 Area: 1,776 square kilometres Roads: Center line kilometres - 5,500 40% rural / 60% urban 50 % built before 1980 Action Areas: Corporate Culture of Sustainability Healthy Communities Economic Vitality Sustainable Natural Environment Education, Engagement and Partnerships Sustainability Implementation and Monitoring Road Budget (2009): $14.6 million for resurfacing $6.5 million for preservation

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right back to where it should be. And at about $4 a square metre, its almost half the cost of a thin lift overlay. The city expects to be able to use pavement preservation techniques on about 70 kilometres of roads this year. An additional 30 kilometres of roads will be completely resurfaced, typically using shave and pave and partial and full depth in-place recycling techniques. The city also hopes to use more warm mix next year (a new asphalt that is laid at cooler temperatures than traditional hot mix and thus conserves energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions). We did a 3,500 tonne warm mix trial to pave about seven kilometres on John Quinn Road last year and its holding up well, Morand concludes. City of Brockville

Last year, the city rehabilitated just under three kilometres of roads - less than 3 percent of the road network. Over 90 percent of our roads are urban cross-section and our biggest issue is reflective cracking so surface treatment is not usually effective, Cosgrove points out. If we are going to do the work, we prefer to do a mill and overlay to get rid of shallow cracking and re-establish a good drainage profile. The Brockville staff periodically reviews the latest pavement technology and mixes to see if any of them are applicable but given the volume of traffic in the city, Cosgrove says that the tried and true works fine. We are not going to use something just because it is new. A smaller municipality has the advantage of keeping it simple.
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City of Brockville
Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation
Population: 24,000 Area: 1,776 square kilometres Roads: 120 center-lane kilometres 273 lane-kilometres Road Budget (2009): $350,000 (milling overlaying and crack sealing) (plus an additional one-time expenditure of $130,000 from gas tax funding)

Smaller municipalities dont need a complicated or sophisticated pavement management program, maintains Conal Cosgrove, director of operations for the city of Brockville. With just over a hundred kilometres of roads, it is a relatively small inventory. Handling the assessment is a very manageable job for one person to do and because the appraisal is somewhat subjective, having the same person do it every year provides some consistency. Each road is given a pavement condition index based on a visual rating and the ratings are updated annually. Reconstruction work is based on a three-year forward looking assessment and integrated with the 10-year capital budget. The reconstruction plan is also co-ordinated with a utilities co-ordinating committee to make sure, as Conal says, that we are not working at cross-purposes. Council sets the budget and then we try to maintain a balance between reasonable size paving jobs and making sure that we are covering as much of the city as we can, he says. But at the rate that we are reconstructing our roads, it is going to take about 50 years to do the entire network and asphalt pavement just doesnt last that long. Even though our budget is increasing, we are falling behind.

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GLOSSARY OF PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE

Hot Mix Overlay: placing a layer of hot mix over existing pavement. Thin overlays are at least 40mm thick if conventional asphalt is used but thinner overlays can be laid with specialized mixes. The most common rehabilitation technique (as opposed to preventive maintenance technique) is a similar form of hot mix overlay. Commonly known as Shave and Pave, this process involves the contractor milling and replacing up to 80mm of asphalt. Thicker overlays can extend the life of a pavement by between 15 and 20 years. Benefits: provides new waterproof surface mitigates surface ravelling seals small cracks improves ride quality and corrects surface irregularities improves surface friction Selection and Application: used on stable pavements with a sound base, but have a surface which exhibits minor surface distresses such as cracking, rutting, ravelling and roughness. Can be used to strengthen pavements. Do not use on pavements showing structural distress or pavement failure. Defects will quickly reflect through the new surface. Service Life: 5 to 15 years Hot in Place Recycling: heating the existing pavement and reblending the asphalt. Rejuvenators and virgin hot mix may be added. Typical thickness: 25 - 50 mm. Benefits: provides new waterproof surface slows surface ravelling seals small cracks improves ride quality and corrects surface irregularities improves surface friction Selection and Application: used on stable pavements with a sound base, when the surface exhibits minor surface distresses such as cracking, rutting, ravelling and roughness. Can be used to strengthen the pavement when applied in conjunction with an HMA overlay. Do not use on pavements showing structural distress or pavement failure. Defects will quickly reflect through the new surface. Service Life: 5 to 12 years Micro-surfacing: the application of a cold mix of dense-graded aggregate, polymer modified asphalt emulsion, water, and mineral fillers. Capable of filling wheel ruts up to 40mm deep when the pavement has stabilized and is not subject to plastic deformation. Benefits: improves surface friction slows surface ravelling, seals small cracks improves ride quality and corrects surface irregularities Selection and Application: used on stable pavements with a sound base that have minor surface distresses such as cracking, rutting, ravelling and roughness. Can be used to correct rutting. Do not use on pavements showing structural distress or pavement failure. Defects will quickly reflect through new surface Service Life: 5-7 years Fog Seal: a light application of diluted slow-setting emulsion. Benefits: rejuvenates dry and brittle asphalt surfaces seals very small cracks and surface voids slows the rate of weathering and oxidation Selection and Application: Use on structurally sound pavements to improve surface conditions on pavements showing signs of minor cracking, weathering, segregation or ravelling. Service Life: 1 - 2 years Crack Sealing: routing, cleaning and filling the crack with sealant. Moisture infiltration is the primary cause of pavement deterioration Crack sealing prevents water and debris from entering a crack. Crack Filling does not involve routing and does not fully seal the crack. Benefits: prevents moisture and debris from getting into cracks prevents water damage to the pavements structure extends pavement life by 3-5 years Selection and Application: use for cracks less than 25mm wide, spaced uniformly along the pavement and with limited edge deterioration. Use Crack Filling for older pavements with wider, more random cracking. Best applied during cool dry weather (0C - 15C) when cracks are almost fully open. Service Life: 3- 5 years

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TECHNIQUES*
Cold Planing or Milling: removes bumps, ruts and irregularities, restores the profile and leaves a uniform, textured surface. Benefits: improves ride quality and corrects surface irregularities .improves surface friction Selection and Application: cold plane before applying a recommended resurfacing product. A tack coat should be applied to all milled surfaces prior to paving the new riding coarse Service Life: Typically resurfaced within 48 hours; when overlaid with HMA, service life is similar to mill and overlay treatment Cold In-Place: reprocesses existing pavements in-situ to a depth of 100 mm. Typically overlaid with 1 or 2 lifts of HMA to produce a sound pavement structure. Benefits: uses 100% existing aggregates and asphalt mitigates reflective cracking corrects cross fall and longitudinal grades of existing pavements Selection and Application: use on stable pavements with a sound base showing surface distresses such as cracking, rutting, ravelling and roughness. Service Life: 10- 12 years Chip Seals: a uniform application of asphalt emulsion to a prepared pavement surface followed by a rolled aggregate cover (OPSS 304 Class 1-6 Surface Treatments). Can postpone the need for heavier surface treatments or resurfacing for 2 to 4 years. Benefits: improves surface friction slows surface ravelling and oxidation, corrects minor deformations and seals small cracks provide temporary cover for a base course until the final asphalt courses can be placed Selection and Application: provides an economical allweather surface for light to medium traffic (polymer-modified emulsions and high quality aggregates should be for higher traffic volume applications). Must be applied to structurally sound pavements. Service Life: 5 to 7 years for chip seals and 2 to 4 years for sand seals Slurry Seal: a cold mix paving technique using a mixture of densegraded aggregate, asphalt emulsion, water, and mineral fillers. Benefits: improves surface friction slows surface ravelling, seals small cracks improves ride quality and corrects surface irregularities Selection and Application: use on stable pavements with a sound base showing minor surface distresses such as cracking, rutting, ravelling and roughness. Do not use on pavements with structural distress, as cracks will quickly reflect through new surface. Minimum thickness is 9.5mm Service Life: 5 years plus Cape Seal: a chip seal followed by a slurry seal. Benefits: improves surface friction slows surface ravelling, seals small cracks improves ride quality and corrects surface irregularities Selection and Application: use on stable pavements with a sound base showing minor surface distresses such as cracking, rutting, ravelling and roughness. Do not use on pavements with structural distress, as cracks will quickly reflect through new surface. Service Life: 5 -7 years

*Adapted from the Ontario Hot Mix Producers Associations publication The ABCs of Pavement Preservation. The entire ABC asphalt paving series is available at www.ohmpa.org

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