Concrete overlay found to be remedy for road rutting

Following a two year trial, the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario has found that “whitetopping” is an effective method for rehabilitating roads that tend to rut and ripple due to heavy loads.
The whitetopping consists of adding a concrete overlay over existing asphalt pavement. It is expected to be an excellent strategy for use at intersections, bus depots and stops, and truck inspection areas.
The trial project was located on a section of Highway 3 in Windsor, just south of Detroit, Michigan, on a major thoroughfare between Canada and the United States. It was applied at an intersection that had been routinely patched to address rutting in the asphalt pavement.
The design of the whitetopping thickness is based on the supporting strength of the existing asphalt, expected traffic loadings, the flexural strength of the concrete and the expected service life of the pavement.
The trials were reported in the Ministry’s publication, “Road Talk,” August 2003.