Diamond grinding has been used in California since 1965 to provide a smooth surface on old Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavement. Given the large amount of PCC pavement needing rehabilitation today, increased knowledge of its effectiveness is very much needed. The present study is intended to better quantify the expected longevity or “survival” of a diamond ground PCC pavement, and its overall effectiveness under California conditions and construction practices.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation conducted a field survey to assess the conditions of selected spot diamond ground PCC (Portland Cement Concrete) pavement sites. Spot grinding of new concrete pavements has been found to enhance ride quality, motoring safety and does not cause structural harm to the pavement.

This FHWA Tech Brief describes a recently implemented method for rapid overnight full-depth repairs (FDR) of continuously reinforced concrete (CRC) pavements using precast concrete panels. CRC pavements contain continuous longitudinal steel reinforcement with no transverse contraction or expansion joints, except as required at end-of-day construction, at bridge approaches, and at transitions to other pavement types or structures.

Transverse joints in concrete pavements have been a noise source since the very beginning. Purdue University evaluated three joint related noise effects: faulting induced noise, the effect of joint opening width on noise, and the effect of joint sealant level recess or existence on noise. Although the three attempts at field validation could not successfully validate the Purdue joint sealing effects, they confirmed that sealing of the joints reduced overall noise levels.

Seal/No Seal (SNS) Tech Brief: This tech brief discusses joint sawing, cleaning and material selection and installation traditionally used for sealing joints. Filling of narrow joints in concrete pavements has become more common. With this increased interest, it is important to understand the procedures and materials necessary to provide quality installations and acceptable performance.

The objective of this technical report by Alabama Department of Transportation is to investigate two potential solutions to address the loss of friction in concrete pavements comprising of local carbonate aggregates: (1) blending non-carbonate and carbonate coarse aggregates, and (2) optimizing diamond grinding and grooving textures during pavement rehabilitation.