Texas Asphalt Pavement User Guide
TXAPA and its members have a long history of serving the state, cities, counties, businesses, and people of Texas. This proud legacy has service at its core in providing technical guidance to engineers concerning the design of asphalt mixtures, the design of pavement structures, construction, specifications, applications of asphalt pavements and how to manage, maintain and rehabilitate pavements. TXAPA is proud to announce another tool for engineers in the form of the Texas Asphalt Pavement User Guide, a one-stop shop for asphalt technology.
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Asphalt Is Smooth
A Federal Highway Administration survey showed that a smooth ride is the top priority of the traveling public. Pavement smoothness has the greatest impact on vehicle fuel economy. With this in mind the smoother the pavement, the lower the vehicle’s fuel economy. Smooth pavements also lead to lower vehicle maintenance costs due to lower wear and tear on vehicles when operated on smooth pavements.
Asphalt Is Quiet
Studies show that noise reductions of 3 to 10 db are common. Various pavement technologies, which include open-graded surface mixes such as Permeable Friction Course (PFC), contribute to this noise reduction. On PFC projects the Texas Department of Transportation was able to document noise reductions of 3db to 8db using onboard sound intensity measurements (OBSI) and wayside measurements. Note that a 3db drop is approximately the same as doubling the distance from the road to the listener.
Asphalt Is Durable
Asphalt is truly the Perpetual Pavement. When appropriately designed and constructed the road simply doesn’t wear out. Maintenance is as simple as removing and replacing the top layer of the pavement structure. This can be done quickly during off-peak hours often overnight so that the traveling public is inconvenienced during the business rush hour.
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Asphalt Is Safe
Smooth asphalt roads provide added safety to the traveling public by providing superior contact with the road. Open-graded mixes such as PFC allow water from rain events to drain through the pavement surface away from vehicle tires helping to reduce splash and spray. In Texas, studies have been completed that show reductions in wet weather accidents up to 93% and reductions in fatalities by 75%.
Asphalt Is Sustainable
Asphalt pavements are 100% recyclable and reusable. Asphalt is the most reused and recycled product in America. Asphalt pavements across the United States have been shown to last 30, 40, 50 and 60 years. Asphalt pavements have the lowest carbon footprint of any highway heavy pavement type.
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