Concrete Roads
Modern paving methods and design methods have changed the economics of concrete paving so that a well-designed and placed concrete pavement will be cheaper in initial cost and significantly cheaper throughout the life cycle.
Cement-concrete pavement is more reliable, wear-resistant, it is less susceptible to various deformations, in particular, wheel track rutting. Such roads are not afraid of high temperatures in summer.
Concrete roads constitute a profitable investment in the creation of access, storage and logistics routes on an enterprise territory. Given that the rolling stock speed does not exceed 50-60 km/h, the rolled concrete has a long list of advantages.
Here are given some of them:
* cost of installation and operation of a pavement made of rolled concrete is 25-40% lower than that of a pavement made of asphalt concrete (A/C);
* start of movement in 2-3 days after completion of works. For comparison, the opening of traffic on the cast concrete with reinforcement coating does not occur earlier than 14 days later;
* rolled concrete mixture laying shall be carried out by classical road equipment, which is used for the asphalt concrete laying;
* concrete compressive strength is 45-55 MPa, and the tensile strength in bending is up to 7 MPa;
abrasion resistance; and
* high vehicles wheels adherence (braking action).
Another important advantage is that waterproof concrete can be used, which eliminates the need to place storm drains next to the road and reduce the need for a slightly sloped driveway to drain rainwater. Avoiding rainwater discharge by using runoff also means less electricity is needed (otherwise more pumps would be needed in the water distribution system) and rainwater is not polluted because it no longer mixes with polluted water. Rather, it is immediately absorbed by the earth.