Are you facing pavement maintenance challenges with your county road, local street, urban arterial, parking lot, highway, interstate or airport? If so, there’s most likely a concrete overlay solution available to help you!
You may be asking yourself “How do I get started with a concrete overlay?” The good news is that there are user-friendly tools available with great guidance to go along with them – and they’re available online and FREE to use.
The Bonded Concrete Overlays of Asphalt-Mechanistic Empirical (BCOA-ME) design program was developed with funding from the FHWA. Check out the free web-based software: https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/bcoa-me
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The National Concrete Pavement Technology Center (CP Tech Center) has been developing guidance on concrete overlays for years and has two great documents available to reference – the Guide to Concrete Overlays and the Guide to Concrete Overlays of Asphalt Parking Lots. Those documents and a wealth of additional information are available at: https://cptechcenter.org/concrete-overlays/ |
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The Denver International Airport (DEN) has constructed concrete overlays on several of their parking lots, with the most recent involving the completion of the Pikes Peak Parking Lot. DEN has had great success with 5” concrete overlays, and they’re always happy to welcome visitors to witness the construction, including many who visited the site during an open house in August. |
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From a sustainability perspective, concrete overlays are a great opportunity for reduced GHG emissions during and after initial construction. They efficiently utilize resources and eliminate the need for disposal of existing pavements. Concrete overlays are cost effective and are constructed quickly while simultaneously extending the life of the pavement. Their longevity is inherently a sustainable approach to construction.
Contact Sarah Dalton (sdalton@pavement.com) to learn more about designing and constructing concrete overlays – and visit a concrete overlay near you.
Article published in the Fall 2024 edition of the Colorado Public Works Journal.
