S.

N
O.
1.
2.
3.
4.

POINTS OF
COMPARISON
Initial cost
Life span
Thickness
Joints

FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT

RIGID PAVEMENT

Initial cost is low

Life span is small
Thickness is more
Joints are not required

5.

Skill &
Supervision

Moderate skill & less

supervision is required

6.

Repair work

7.

Subgrade

8.

Feasibility of
providing
underground
works
Opening To
traffic after
construction

Their repair work is

easy
A reasonably good
subgrade is required
It is easy to locate or
repair underground
pipes below in these
pavements.
They can be opened to
traffic shortly after
construction

Initial cost is high

Life span is long
Thickness is less
Joints are essentially
required.
High degree of skill &
more supervision is
required
Their repair work is
difficult.
A good subgrade is not
required
It is very difficult to
provide or repair
underground pipes
below the pavements
They require cuing
after construction &
thus cause delay in
opening to traffic
They are more durable
Heavy stresses are
induced due to
temperature variation.
They are less resilient
to traffic load
They dont adjust
according to any
deformation of
subgrade without
rupture
They become noisy
under iron wheel
traffic
They do not develop
corrugations
They offer less tractive
resistance
It provides good night
visibility
They tend to act as
beam or cantilever &
resist deformation

9.

10.
11.

Durability
Temperature
effect

12.

Resiliency

13.

Behaviour
with
subgrade
settlement

They are less durable

Stresses are not
induced due to
temperature variation.
They are more resilient
to traffic load
They adjust according
to any deformation of
subgrade without
rupture

14.

Traffic
suitability

They are suitable for all

type of traffic

15.

Corrugations

16.

Tractive
resistance
Night
visibility
Effect of
loading

They develop
corrugations
They offer more
tractive resistance
Black top provides poor
night visibility
They adjust
themselves to normal
loading by
underground elastic
deformation

17.
18.

19.

Maintenance
cost

Maintenance cost is
high

Maintenance cost is
low