Concrete Roads:

The Way Forward

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Types of Concrete Pavement

1. PCP - Plain Concrete Pavement

a) Doweled
b) Undoweled
2. JRCP - Jointed Reinforced Concrete
Pavement
3. CRCP - Continuously Reinforced
Concrete Pavement
Plain Concrete Pavement (PCP-
Doweled)
Plan

~ 5.0 m

Profile

or
Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement (JRCP)
Plan

~10m-15 m

Profile
Continuously Reinforced Concrete
Pavement (CRCP)
Plan

1.0 m - 2.0 m

Profile
Difference Between a Concrete Road (Rigid Pavement)
and Asphalt Road (Flexible Pavement)
How Pavements Carry Loads
3000 kg. 3000 kg.

Concrete Asphalt

pressure < 0.2 MPa

pressure
 2.0 MPa

Concrete’s rigidness spreads the load over a large area

and keeps pressures on the subgrade low
(thus it is thinner than an asphalt road) 6
The Concrete Pavement Structure

Base (100-250mm thick )

Sub base (100-150mm)

Subgrade
3. Advantages of Concrete Roads
LOW MAINTENANCE
 Savings in Maintenance Cost
 Handle Increased Traffic
and Overloading
 Less Distruption
 Handle Wet weather and
flooding
SAVINGS
 Fuel Savings (less rolling
resistance)
 Save Foreign Exchange
 Fluctuating Oil Prices
SAFETY
 Shorter Braking distance
 Visible at night
PROJECT DELIVERY
 Avoid Stop Work
 Use of Local Product
 Assurance of Cement
Supply
GREEN
 Use of PFA, GGBS
 Use Less Raw Materials
STRATEGIC
 New Niche Industry
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Low Maintenance (1/3)
• Eg. Little or no maintenance on
Kulim Access Road since
construction in 2003.
• A) Savings in maintenance cost
• B) Handle Increased Traffic and
overloading
• C) Engineers can “forget” about the
road and work on other projects.

• We expect Kulim Access Road to

perform well for 40 years.

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Ability to Handle Increased Traffic and
Overloading (2/3)

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Less Disruption (to owners and users) (3/3)
• Once project completed, road builders want to move on to
new roads.

• Complaints by road users during road repairs – TRAFFIC

JAMS
• More Road Accidents during repairs

• Antwerp’s major roundabout repair scenario:

1 time inconvenience = 40 years of convenience

• CONCRETE ROADS = LESS/NO MAINTENANCE

• end

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Savings-Fuel Savings/Less CO2 (1/3)
• 1-7% Fuel Savings (heavy vehicles)
less “rolling resistance”

“If 60% of the US National Highway System were converted

to concrete pavements, the annual savings in diesel is
about US$8.2 billion/year” (G. Voigt, ACPA’s testimony in US
Congress).

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Save on Foreign Exchange (2/3)

Cement is 95% local (5% foreign content)

Bitumen is 0% local (100% foreign content)

We are losing out on foreign exchange!

Better Balance of Trade by using local
products

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Safety (1/2)

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More Visible at Night (2/2)

Safer Driving on Concrete

Concrete

• Increased visibility:
4 X Surface Reflectivity

Safety for both

Pedestrians and
Vehicles

Asphalt

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Green Technology (1/2)

• Reuse Waste Material : Pulverised Fly Ash

(PFA), Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag
(GGBS).

• PFA and GGBS are cement replacement

materials - reduce cement usage

• PFA used in concrete roads

• Note: 1ton cement ≈1 ton CO2 emission

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Savings on Raw Materials Usage (2/2)
• Less consumption of fossil fuel (non-renewable
energy)
• Less emission of CO2
• Consumes 5X less diesel to construct (thinner)

50mm Asphaltic Concrete Wearing Course

60mm Asphaltic Concrete Binder Course
75mm Dense Bituminous Macadam roadbase

300mm Crushed Aggregate roadbase

225mm Crushed Agregate subbase

Cross-Section Detail - Asphaltic Concrete Pavement

200mm Plain Jointed Concrete

150mm Lean Concrete sub-base
Subgrade
Cross-Section Detail - Plain Concrete Pavement

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 4. Common Complaints

A. Higher Initial Cost

B. Difficult and more expensive to repair
C. Noise
D. Wear out Tyres
E. No Trained Crew

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 A. Higher Initial Cost
• Initial Cost (Construction Cost)
• Acquisition
• Concept Planning
• Preliminary Design
• Detail Design
• Construction Cost

• Life Cycle Cost (LCC)

• Initial Cost +Use & Maintain Cost + Disposal/Residual

• Whole of Life Costing (WHOLC)

• WHOLC = LCC + Road User Cost

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B. Difficult & More Expensive to
Repair

Concrete roads if constructed well, no major repair is

needed for 40 years.

If repair is needed, it is similar to normal concrete repair

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C. Noise
• Whisper
(Exposed)
Concrete –
e.g.Belgium and
Holland

• US research on
Grinding and
Grooving
technology.

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 D. Wear Out Tyres

• Safety or Cost of Tyres?

• Concrete road is rougher – more friction and stops vehicle
better (shorter stopping distance)
• Better skid resistance

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