Arizona Research Project is Extended with Diamond Grinding

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) had been planning to overlay with asphalt a section of I-10 in southern Arizona, the site of a Long-Term Pavement Performance study that had been constructed in 1993. Overlaying this section would have ended the monitoring and evaluation by FHWA. The test section had been used to calibrate the AASHTO PaveME design procedure and was, until recent diamond grinding, the only exposed concrete pavement in the area.

The International Grooving and Grinding Association (IGGA), a sister association of ACPA, worked with ADOT to find a way to preserve the pavement and its ongoing usefulness as a test section. As ADOT does not currently have a concrete performance model in its pavement management system, this section is the best opportunity to develop performance models. Rather than overlaying the section, ADOT decided to employ pavement preservation techniques, including diamond grinding, dowl bar retrofit, and full and partial depth repairs, to address the pavement’s needs. The LTPP program agreed to continue to monitor the section and will use the implementation of pavement preservation techniques to study the impacts those techniques have. With nearly 30 years as a model section and a useful stretch of road behind it, the I-10 section will remain a concrete road and continue serving southern Arizona for years to come.

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