Cold Regions Pavement Engineering 0071600884 Ch 01

7 3/8 x 9 1/4 Technical

/ Cold Regions Pavement Engineering/ Dore / 0088-4 / Chapter 1

CHAPTER

1

Cold Regions Pavements

C

old regions pavements are pavement structures exposed to and affected by frost,ice, and snow for significant periods of time. They are located in seasonal orperennial frost areas, often connecting sparse populations spread out over hun-dreds of kilometers. Figure 1-1 illustrates the areas in the northern hemisphere wherepavements are exposed to significant seasonal freezing and perennial frost conditions.The road alignment may cross regions with undesirable soils that are weak at all times,weak during the spring breakup, or experience heave due to frost, causing uneven driv-ing surfaces. Ideal materials for the pavement structural layers may not be available,thus requiring that materials be brought from far away, local materials be modified, orperformance expectations are lowered.Ground movements, thermal stresses and traffic loading, including the use of stud-ded tires, cause pavements to rut and crack more severely in cold regions than in warmregions. Pavement funding in sparse population areas may not cover the capital andoperating costs required for ideal pavement performance. Optimization is needed touse funds wisely so that roads are passable, safe, and meet desired performance levels.For these reasons, pavements in cold regions are considered from a different perspec-tive than pavements in the warmer regions, where the traffic volume often dictates thedesign.

1-1 Road Networks

To show the unique nature of the cold regions road networks, their densities arecollected (in Table 1-1) from selected states and countries. The road density is definedas the ratio of the total length of roads to the total area of the state or country. Theregions with the lowest road network density, namely, Alaska (United States), Yukon(Canada), and Mongolia are all cold regions. Alaska’s road network shown in Fig. 1-2is 440 times less dense than the average road density in the United States. The roadnetwork density in Yukon is 10 times lower than the average density in Canada. Theaverage road network density in Canada is about seven times lower than the averageroad network density in the United States and 20 times lower than that of France. Theroad network densities in Nordic countries (e.g., Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden)are about five times lower than in the United Kingdom or France. Since populations incold regions are lower, the total road length per person is not necessarily lower in coldregions than in warm regions.Low road density does not only mean few roads in a large area, but also long dis-tances between settlements, maintenance stations, paving plants, and other resources.

1

Dore_Ch01_p001-014.indd 1

10/14/08 12:16:54 PM

7 3/8 x 9 1/4 Technical

/ Cold Regions Pavement Engineering/ Dore / 0088-4 / Chapter 1

Total Length of RoadNetwork, kmLand Area, km

2

Road Density,km/100 km

2

Alaska

∗

22,72014,772,6110.15Yukon

†

4,681478,9700.98Mongolia

‡

49,2491,565,0003.15Russia

‡

952,00017,075,2005.58Canada

‡

901,9029,976,1409.04Iceland

‡

12,955103,00012.58Finland

§

78,161338,14523.11Norway

‡

91,180324,22028.12Sweden

‡

210,760449,96446.84United States

‡

6,370,0319,629,09166.15United Kingdom

‡

371,603244,820151.79France

‡

892,900547,030163.23Japan

‡

1,152,207377,835304.95

∗

http://www.dot.state.ak.us/stwdplng/highwaydata/pub/cprm/2002cprm.pdf [certified public road mileagein centerline km as of December 31, 2002: paved roads include asphalt surface treatments (AST)].

†

http://www.gov.yk.ca/facts/#LAND (1990/2000 forecast for maintained road surfaces).

‡

The CIA’s World Fact Book,

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rs.html.

§

http://www.tiehallinto.fi/pls/wwwedit/docs/17702.pdf (length of public roads in 2007).

T

ABLE

1-1

Road Network Densities Ranked in Order from Sparse to Dense for a Few Selected Areas

F