Why Concrete Pavement?

1. BEST LONG-TERM VALUE Concrete pavements are by far the best long-term value because of their longer life expectancies, durability and minimal maintenance requirements.
2. CONCRETE STAYS SMOOTHER LONGER The rigidity of concrete pavements allows them to keep their smooth riding surface long after construction. Smoother pavements create safer, more comfortable riding surfaces.
3. CONCRETE IS SAFER Concrete does not rut, so there is no hydroplaning and stress on an automobile's steering system. Concrete reflects 33 to 50 percent more light than asphalt, especially important for driving safely at night.
4. RIGID FOR LIFE Concrete actually gets stronger over time. After its first month in place, concrete continues to slowly gain ten percent strength during its life.
5. CONCRETE ROADS LAST LONGER , ARE MORE DURABLE Concrete can best withstand the heaviest traffic loads. There's no need to worry about ruts, shoving or washboard effects possible with asphalt pavements.
6. BEST TRACTION GRIP Concrete pavements are easily textured during construction to create a surface that provides superior traction and a quiet ride.
7. OUTLASTS FLEXIBLE MATERIALS Depending on the system requirements, concrete pavements can be designed to last 40 years and more, thus making concrete the best long-term pavement solution.
8. EXCEEDS ITS OWN LIFE EXPECTANCY Concrete pavements frequently outlast both their designed life expectancy and traffic loads.
9. EASY TO REPAIR The durability of concrete minimizes the need for extensive repairs or annual maintenance. When repairs are necessary, they are typically smaller in scope than asphalt pavements.
10. RAPID PAVING Surprisingly, concrete pavement can be built and open to traffic in as little as 12 hours.
11. IDEAL FOR DISTRESSED ASPHALT Whitetopping--placing a layer of standard concrete over existing asphalt surfaces, or, Ultra Thin Whitetopping--a process of placing a thin layer of fiber-reinforced concrete over prepared asphalt, are cost-effective, expedient methods of rehabilitating distressed asphalt pavements.
12. BEST CHOICE FOR WORN CONCRETE Restoration techniques can extend the life of concrete pavements up to nine times their original design life.
13. CONCRETE ROADS SAVE FUEL Concrete's rigid surface makes it easier for wheels to roll. Studies have even shown that if all trucks rode on concrete, fuel savings would be about 11 million gallons per day: that's four billion gallons per year!
14. BEST VISIBILITY, SAFETY AND SAVINGS Because concrete reflects light, it increases visibility (thus SAFETY), and can save on street lighting costs. A North Carolina study found the number of street lights could be reduced by one-third when the streets were made of concrete. This saves kilowatts and taxpayer dollars.
15. CONCRETE IS LESS EXPENSIVE Concrete pavements deliver considerable savings for both taxpayers, local and state governments. Consider these documented facts. Concrete pavements:
    * Typically cost 25 to 50 percent less than asphalt to maintain over the years.
    * Have an average life of 30 to 35 years, according to the FHWA (e.g. Wisconsin-25 years; Colorado-27 years; New York-25 years; Minnesota-35).
    * Because of reflectivity, require far less lighting, thereby reducing the costs of installation and maintaining street lighting.
    * Lower maintenance costs for car owners.
    * Require less annual maintenance, therefore, less time is lost in traffic jams caused by road repairs.
    * Make it unnecessary to impose weight restrictions during the spring thaw. The U.S. trucking industry would be more profitable, more efficient and more competitive. Seasonal restrictions now cost approximately $50 million annually.
    * Compared to concrete, asphalt surfaces cost the trucking industry 20 percent more in fuel alone: that's another $50 million a year.
16. CONCRETE IS ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY The useful life of a concrete road is 40 years. When it is replaced, the old surface can be crushed and used in the new road. Modern concrete roads are very smooth-riding, energy-saving, cooler, and quiet.
17. CONCRETE IS THE BEST LIFE-CYCLE-COST CHOICE Life-Cycle Cost Analysis is a tool that brings together all of the information needed to make an educated choice: initial investment, anticipated service life, overlay and maintenance costs over the roadway's life, the value of money saved as well as spent.
18. CONCRETE PAVEMENTS ARE RECYCLABLE Concrete pavements can be reused-both for road surfaces and bases. The entire operation can be accomplished on-site. This keeps the nation's landfills free of highway rubble.
19. CONCRETE PAVEMENTS ARE COOL In urban areas, concrete pavements, together with trees, can reduce summer temperatures by as much as ten degrees! Lessening the need for air conditioning, this means huge energy/dollar savings for towns and cities.
20. GOOD FOR PENNSYLVANIA The concrete and cement industry generates significant dollars annually for the Pennsylvania economy. As the birthplace of the U.S. cement industry, Pennsylvania is virtually tied (with Michigan) as the third largest cement manufacturing state in the country. Therefore, Pennsylvania workers benefit when pavements are built with materials mined and manufactured in-state.
21. GOOD FOR THE TAXPAYER When a fair and balanced pavement program is allowed to exist, competition increases and the unit costs of both concrete and asphalt decrease. Competition means that more of your hard-earned tax dollars are spent on the pavements that you drive on.

Building America: Before the “Model T”

We were driving on concrete pavement 17 years before Henry Ford mass-produced the “Model T” Ford. Today, concrete is the heart of America's surface transportation infrastructure.

In 1889, in the true spirit of American innovation, engineer George W. Bartholomew proposed the idea of concrete pavement to the Bellefontaine, Ohio city officials. Two years later, America's first concrete pavement was laid, an 8-foot-wide strip of Main Street along the side of Bellefontaine's Courthouse Square. Wagons and teams of horses were used to haul the cement, gravel and sand to the paving site.

Today, America's legacy-its greatness-is all about its highways, streets, roads and airports. It's about this nation's surface transportation infra-structure, a hallmark of civilization and a key to this nation's prosperity.

Automobile, truck, bus and airport traffic is growing every year, and the loads are getting heavier. Today's highways often handle two to three times the traffic they were designed to carry. Heavier loads, increased traffic and higher speeds are creating greater demands on America's overcrowded surface transportation network. But there is good news!

Concrete pavements are the only paving solutions able to carry the load. Over a century after Bellefontaine, Ohio, concrete is still building America!

History of Concrete Pavement Highways

The first concrete highway constructed in the United States was a 24-mile long, nine-foot-wide, five-inch-thick strip of concrete pavement built near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in 1913, five years after the introduction of the “Model T”.

By 1914, Portland cement concrete had been used to pave 2,348 miles of roadway in the United States.

Highway construction received a significant push forward two years later when President Woodrow Wilson signed the first Federal Aid Highway Act directing the federal government to help states finance road building.

In 1919, Oregon became the first state to level a fuel tax on gasoline to finance road construction-still, today, the primary method of financing road building and maintenance.

In the 1930s, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, built on a railroad right-of-way, was the first major intercity turnpike, completed in the U.S. and was constructed of concrete.

Significant technical and design developments during the 1930s and 40s made concrete paving faster, less expensive, and increased its durability. Highway departments began to use soil cement-gravel mixed with cement-as a sub-grade for highways. At this time, contractors also changed their method of creating pavement joints. Rather than forming the joints when the concrete was fully plastic by lumping it up to either side of the joint, contractors began sawing the concrete once it was partially hardened to create a smoother joint. This change in procedure helped create more even highway surfaces.

The invention of the slip-form paver in 1949 was another milestone in the development of concrete paving technology, as it allowed road crews to place wide sections of concrete continuously and therefore far more efficiently than before. Slip-forming is now used for highway paving projects in almost every state in America.

Many consider the construction of the Interstate Highway system, during the 1960s and 70s, to be the heyday for concrete paving, and road building in general. But even as thousands of miles of concrete highways were formed, research and development continued improving methods of placing and maintaining concrete.

Editor's Note: (With special thanks) Most of this copy was drawn from Cement and Concrete: Reference Guide, "published by Portland Cement Association, 1997.