Introduction

A brief view of how pavement design, construction and performance has evolved should help provide perspective on present and, possible, future practice. This short view into the past will start with the Romans, then move on to the Macadam and Telford era, then into the first 150 years of asphalt and portland cement concrete pavement. The evolution of pavement design will emphasize the U.S.A. and the U.K. a bit more than for other parts of the world.

Roman Roads
In fairness, the Carthaginians are generally credited with being the first to construct and maintain a road system (about 600 B.C.) according to Tillson [1900]. The Romans eventually decided that their neighbors across the Mediterranean were a bit of a threat to the empire destroying Carthage in 146 B.C. (The Carthage ruins are located in Tunisia (Northern Africa) next door to Algeria (on the left) and Libya (on the right so to speak).) It is suggested that the Romans took up the practice of a military road system from the Carthaginians. It is estimated that the Romans built about 87,000 km of roads within their empire (about equal to the length of the U.S. Interstate system). Apparently, there is no record of traditional roads in the U.K. prior to the Romans [Collins and Hart, 1936]. For the most part, the main Roman roads in the U.K. (total of about 4 100 km) was for military purposes in that they connected camps which were about 30 km apart (or about one days march) [Collins and Hart, 1936; Rose, 1935; Leger, 1875]. Since the primary purpose of these roads was for foot soldiers, the roads were straight, but virtually without regard to grade. They generated high noise levels, were rough and labor intensive (slave and statue labor often used). The Roman design for their primary U.K. roads generally consisted of four layers (top to bottom) as follows [Collins and Hart, 1936]:

Summa Crusta (surfacing): Smooth, polygonal blocks bedded in underlying layer. Nucleus: A kind of base layer composed of gravel and sand with lime cement. Rudus: The third layer was composed of rubble masonry and smaller stones also set in lime mortar. Statumen: Two or three courses of flat stones set in lime mortar.

The total thickness was as much as 0.9 m and road widths of 4.3 m or less. An illustration of Roman pavement structure near Radstock, England, is shown as Figure 1. Roman roads in some countries have been up to 2.4 m thick. These structures had crowned (sloped) surfaces to enhance drainage and often incorporated ditches and/or underground drains. As one might expect, Roman road building was varied to suit local conditions and materials not unlike today actually. The Romans departed the U.K. about AD 406. Road design and construction languished for about 1,200 years thereafter.

Roman road construction was not inexpensive. Updated construction estimates of the Appian Way in Italy are about $2,000,000 per km (updated estimates following Rose [1935] and Leger [1875]). The oldest known road in the U.K. is near the River Brue in southwestern England [Coles, 1989]. Actually, the road is a 6,000 year old walkway which was discovered in 1970 in a peat bog. The construction of the road coincides with the arrival of the first farmers in the U.K. about 4,000 B.C.

Telford and Macadam

Telford
Thomas Telford (born 1757) served his apprenticeship as a building mason [Smiles, 1904]. Because of this, he extended his masonry knowledge to bridge building. During lean times, he carved grave-stones and other ornamental work (about 1780). Eventually, Telford became the Surveyor of Public Works for the county of Salop [Smiles, 1904], thus turning his attention more to roads. Telford attempted, where possible, to build roads on relatively flat grades (no more than 1 in 30) in order to reduce the number of horses needed to haul cargo. Further, the pavement section was about 350 to 450 mm in depth and generally specified in three layers. The bottom layer was comprised of large stones (100 mm) wide and 75 to 180 mm in depth) [Collins and Hart, 1936]. It is this specific layer which makes the Telford design unique [Baker, 1903]. On top of this were placed two layers of stones of 65 mm maximum size (about 150 to 250 mm total thickness) followed by a wearing course of gravel about 40 mm thick (refer to Figure 2). It was estimated that this system would support a load corresponding to 88 N/mm (500 lb per in. of width).

Macadam
John Macadam (born 1756) observed that most of the paved U.K. roads in early 1800s were composed of rounded gravel [Smiles, 1904]. He knew that angular aggregate over a well-compacted subgrade would perform substantially better. He used a sloped subgrade surface to improve drainage (unlike Telford who used a flat subgrade surface) on which he placed angular aggregate (hand-broken, maximum size 75 mm) in two layers for a total depth of about 200 mm [Gillette, 1906]. On top of this, the wearing course was placed (about 50 mm thick with a maximum aggregate size of 25 mm) [Collins, 1936]. Macadams reason for the 25 mm maximum aggregate size was to provide a smooth ride for wagon wheels. Thus, the total depth of a typical Macadam pavement was about 250 mm (refer to Figure 3). An interesting quote attributed to Macadam about allowable maximum aggregate sizes was that no stone larger than will enter a mans mouth should go into a road [Gillette, 1906]. The largest permissible load for this type of design was estimated to be 158 N/mm (900 lb per in. width). In 1815, Macadam was appointed surveyor-general of the Bristol roads and was now able to use his design on numerous projects. It proved successful enough that the term macadamized became a term for this type of pavement design and construction. The term macadam is also used to indicate broken stone pavement [Baker, 1903]. By 1850, about 2,200 km of macadam type pavements were in use in the urban areas of the UK. Macadam realized that the layers of broken stone would eventually become bound together by fines generated by traffic. With the introduction of the rock crusher, large mounds of stone dust and screenings were generated [Gillette, 1906]. This resulted in use of such fines resulting in the more traditional dense graded base materials which in turn produced pavement thicknesses as thin as 100 to 150 mm. The first macadam pavement in the U.S. was constructed in Maryland in 1823.

Early Thickness Trends

Thus, we have seen pavement structures decrease from about 0.9 m (3 feet) for Roman designs to 350 to 450 mm for Telford designs, to about 250 mm for Macadam designs, to 100 mm at about the turn of the century (refer to Figure 4). (Naturally, the thinnest pavements were not always used.) The Massachusetts Highway Commission standard cross-section for macadam construction was 150 mm thick as reported by Gillette in 1906. This thickness was also used on New York state roads at about that time.

Up to the early 1900s, the design emphasis was placed on the use of fixed standards occasionally modified for local soil conditions. Further, the need for more durable pavements was mandated by the changing vehicle fleet. The following partial quote by L. W. Page, Director of U. S. Office of Public Roads (contained in a 1907 report [Judson, 1908]) illustrates the problem: The existence of our macadam roads depends upon the retention of the road-dust formed by the wearing of the surface. But the action of rubber-tire motor-cars moving at high speed soon strips the macadam road of all fine material, the result being that the road soon disintegrates

Early Bituminous Pavement

Tar Macadam
It appears that the first tar macadam pavement was placed outside of Nottingham (Lincoln Road) in 1848 [Collins and Hart, 1936; Hubbard, 1910]. At that time, such pavements were considered suitable only for light traffic (not for urban streets). Coal tar (the binder) had been available in the U.K. from about 1800 as a residue from coal-gas lighting. Possibly this was one of the earliest efforts to recycle waste materials into a pavement! Soon after the Nottingham project, tar macadam projects were built in Paris (1854) and Knoxville, Tennessee (1866) [Hubbard, 1910]. In 1871 in Washington, D.C., a tar concrete was extensively used. Sulfuric acid was used as a hardening agent and various materials such as sawdust, ashes, etc. were used in the mixture [Hubbard, 1910]. Over a seven-year period, 630,000 m2 were placed. In part, due to lack of attention in specifying the tar, most of these streets failed within a few years of construction. This resulted in tar being discredited, thereby boosting the asphalt industry [Hubbard, 1910]. However, some of these tar-bound surface courses in Washington, D.C., survived substantially longer, about 30 years. For these mixes, the tar binder constituted about 6 percent by weight of the total mix (air voids of about 17 percent). Further, the aggregate was crushed with about 20 percent passing the No. 10 sieve. The wearing course was about 50 mm thick. As a side note, the term Tarmac was a proprietary product in the U.K. in the early 1900s [Hubbard, 1910]. Actually it was a plant mixed material, but was applied to the road surface cold. Tarmac consisted of crushed blast furnace slag coated with tar, pitch, portland cement and a resin.

Sheet Asphalt
Sheet asphalt placed on a concrete base (foundation) became popular during the mid-1800s with the first such pavement of this type being built in Paris in 1858. The first such pavement placed in the U.S. was in Newark, New Jersey, in 1870. Baker [1903] describes this pavement system as (1) a wearing course 40 to 50 mm thick composed of asphalt cement and sand, (2) a binder course (about 40 mm thick) composed of broken stone and asphalt cement, and finally, (3) a base layer of hydraulic cement concrete or pavement rubble (old granite blocks, bricks, etc.). Generally, the concrete layer was 100 mm thick for light traffic and 150 mm thick for heavy traffic [Baker, 1903]. The final thickness was based on the weight of the traffic, the strength of the concrete and the soil support.

Bitulithic Pavements
In 1901 and 1903, Frederick J. Warren was issued patents for the early hot mix paving materials. A typical mix contained about 6 percent bituminous cement and graded aggregate proportioned for low air voids. Essentially, the maximum aggregate size was 75 mm ranging down to dust. The concept was to produce a mix which could use a more fluid binder than used for sheet asphalt. This material became known as Bitulithic. More specifically, Warren was issued eight U.S. patents in 1903 which were:

Patent 727,505 Pavement Patent 727,506 Asphaltum and its Manufacture Patent 727,507 Asphalt Composition and its Manufacture

Patent 727,508 Pavement Patent 727,509 Method of Constructing and Laying Street Pavements or Roadways Patent 727,510 Street Sheet Pavement or Roadway Patent 727,511 Street Sheet Pavement or Roadway Patent 727,512 Renewal of Old Street Pavements

All of these patents were filed between May 16, 1901, and April 14, 1902. A review of the associated patent claims reveals that Warren, in effect, patented asphalt concrete, the asphalt binder, the construction of asphalt concrete surfaced streets and roads, and the overlayment of old streets. It seems that he covered all the bases with these patents. Some might argue that Patent 727,504 issued to Edward Walker of Warren, Pennsylvania, was actually just as important the ice cream freezer! Warrens actual patent claim for 727,505 follows [U.S. Patent Office, 1903]: A street-pavement mixture composed of mineral ingredients ranging in grades from three inches down to impalpable powder, from fifty to eight per cent, of such mineral ingredients lying between one-fourth inch and three inches in diameter, in combination with a bituminous binder. In 1910 in Topeka, Kansas, a court ruling stated that asphalt concrete mixes containing 12.5 mm maximum size aggregate did not infringe on Warrens patent (727,505) [Steele, 1986]. Thus, asphalt concrete mixes thereafter were more oriented to the smaller maximum aggregate sizes. (A fine aggregate or modified Topeka asphaltic concrete is mentioned in a 1926 Standard Oil Co. of California publication [Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, 1985]. The mixture consisted of 30 percent graded crushed rock or gravel (all passing 12.5 mm sieve, about 58 to 62 percent sand (material passing 2.0 mm and retained on 75 m), 8 to 12 percent filler (material passing 75 m sieve). This mixture required 7.5 to 9.5 percent asphalt cement.) Warrenite-Bitulithic was invented in 1910 by a retired employee of Warren Brothers. It consisted of a thin, approximately 25 mm thick layer of sheet asphalt placed on top of the hot, uncompacted Bitulithic (Crawford [Crawford]). The advantage of this system is that the large aggregate of the Bitulithic mixes were not exposed directly to heavy, steel rimmed wheels which cracked the aggregate, eventually resulting in mix degradation. By 1920, Warrens original patents had expired in the U.S. [Oglesby, 1962].

U.S. West Coast

A Standard Oil Co. of California publication [1985] noted that the first asphalt concrete pavement on the West Coast was placed in 1894. Further between 1914 and 1926, 95 percent of such pavements were 125 mm or less in total thickness (75 to 87.5 mm of asphalt base and 37.5 to 50 mm of asphalt concrete surfacing). In 1921 for the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Arizona, approximately 770 lane-kilometers (3.6 m lanes) of asphalt concrete pavement were constructed. By 1925, the annual constructed lane-kilometers had increased to 1530. A interesting quote from the 1926 Standard Oil Co. of California publication [1985] seems to be repeated quite often today:

These pavements are today [1926] giving excellent service notwithstanding the fact that these pavements were not originally designed for the severe conditions imposed by the heavy and fast modern motor traffic.