The Catskill-Cairo experimental rigid pavement: A ten-year progress report

The Catskill-Cairo experimental rigid pavement, open to traffic for over 10 years, shows very little change in condition. Test sections include 60-ft 10-in. slab lengths reinforced with mesh and containing load-transfer devices, 20-ft slab lengths with no mesh reinforcement but both with and without load-transfer devices, and three types of base material. All sections are in good condition, with little added roughness, little faulting, and light cracking. More important, there are no significant differences in performance of the various designs. The lack of distress and performance differences among the various designs is most likely due to the light traffic volumes carried by the test road. This situation led to the conclusion that none of the design alternatives can be eliminated based on performance of this test road after 10 years.