Pavement on a portion of I-76 near Akron, Ohio, was retextured using diamond grinding with transverse grooves replacing longitudinal grooves. Traffic noise measurements showed a noise reduction. The report includes background on mechanisms that make up highway noise, as well as characteristics pertaining to concrete and the effectiveness of tire/road noise abatement through diamond grinding and grooving.

Pavement diamond grooving is a technique by which longitudinal or transverse cuts are introduced on a surface to increase skid resistance and reduce the number of wet-weather accidents. The objective of the research was to determine the effect of pavement grooving on motorist safety by studying the effects of grooving on frictions, braking, and vehicle control by computer simulation and full-scale testing.

An extensive test program was conducted at the Langley landing-loads track to investigate the effect on braking of tire tread pattern and tread materials for a variety of runway surfaces. Some of the tire test results were excerpted from this program and are presented to show the importance of runway surface texture in determining braking friction coefficient levels on wet runways.

This paper evaluates the effect of diamond grinding and grooving on various surface characteristics of concrete pavements. Measurements for texture, friction, and smoothness have been collected on two continuously reinforced concrete pavements at the Virginia Smart Road. One of the sections was diamond grinding and longitudinally diamond grooving while the other section was transversely tinned.

Several different pavements were evaluated for passenger car interior noise level. These included a sample of the original asphalt rubber friction course (ARFC) installed as part of the Phoenix area quiet pavement pilot program (QPPP) and two where the aged ARFC had been milled off to expose the underlying portland cement concrete (PCC) which was then re-textured by diamond grinding.

Seal/No Seal (SNS) Tech Brief: This study was conducted as a result of concerns that backer rod absorption may be a contributing factor in premature joint deterioration. To evaluate this, a limited survey of contractor practices was conducted to determine the types of backer rods in use. A limited backer rod absorption study was then conducted to determine if they absorbed and retained water.