Enhancing Longitudinal Joint Performance in Flexible Pavements

While deterioration due to wear and tear of traffic and aging is inevitable, pavement failure due to premature deterioration associated with the poor construction of joints is preventable. One significant area of premature pavement deterioration is along the centreline joint, typically due to the lower density and poor bond at the cold joint as a result of a delay in paving of adjacent lanes, or because construction practices that lead to better joints were not employed. Paving in echelon or in tandem is the most effective method of eliminating longitudinal cold joints, but sometimes neither option is feasible. In cases where cold joints cannot be eliminated, the quality of the joint can be improved in several ways. This paper documents work carried out since 1997 to investigate the opportunities related to improving the quality and performance of longitudinal joints, including what can be done during the different stages of a project development, materials, methods and other considerations to enable the construction of good joints. This paper also covers the Ministry's findings from trials constructed since 1997 and discusses some of the research completed on non-destructive testing of the joint quality. (A)