Potholes and Repair Techniques For Local Authorities PDF

Potholes and Repair
Techniques for Local

Highways
Final Report
CSS79-05
Poth
holes and Repa
air Techniq
ques for Local
L
High
hwayss
Repo
ort
CSS7
79-05
5
May 20
010
Notice
This report was
w produce ed by Atkins for ADEPT (Association
( of Directors of Environm
ment, Econom
my, Planning
and Transportation - forrmerly CSS) for the speciific purpose of
o Research Project 79 – Potholes an
nd Repair
Techniquess for Local Highways.
This report may not be used

u by any person other than ADEP PT without the express pe ermission of ADEPT. In
any event, Atkins
A pts no liabilityy for any costts, liabilities or losses arising as a ressult of the us
accep se of or
reliance upo
on the contents of this report by any person
p otherr than ADEPT T (formerly C
CSS).
Documen
nt History
JOB NUMB
BER: 507830
05 DOC
CUMENT RE
EF: CSS79-0
05
05 Final SB JP/S
SL CW AJAT May 2010
0
04 Draft 04 (v11
1) SB SB/J
JP/SL CW May 2010
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03 Draft 03 (v09
9) SB SB/J
JP/SL May 2010
0
02 Draft 03 (v05
5) JP/SB
B SB April 2010
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01 Draft 02 (v04
4) JP/SB
B SB April 2010
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00 Draft 01 JP/SB
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hecked R
Reviewed Authorised Date
5078305/CSS Potholes Final Report.docx

Final Report
Conttents
Section
n Page
e
Executive Summary
S 3
1. Intrroduction 4
2. Forrmation mec
chanisms 6
3. Rep
pair 3
13
4. Maintenance trreatments 21
5. Managing the Asset
A 6
26
List of Tables
Table 1 - Enngineering Performance
P Characteristtics 6
16
Table 2 - Diistress mechhanisms and prospective preventative
e methods 21
Table 3 - Suurface regenneration selecction 3
23
Table 4 - Skkills and matterials matrixx 7
27
ures
List of Figu
Figure 1 - Fragility
F of thin pavementss 8
Figure 2 - Fracture
F poth hole formation n mechanicss (Appendix A,
A Gerke 197 79) 9
Figure 3 - Fracture
F poth hole 9
Figure 4 - Attrition
A potho ole formationn mechanics (Appendix A, A Kringos 20007) 0
10
Figure 5 - Attrition
A potho ole 0
10
Figure 6 - Pothole
P forma ation in freezze-thaw condditions (Appe
endix A, Mich
higan Dept off Transport) 11
Figure 7 - Pothole
P catalyyst process 11
Figure 8 - Pothole
P infill repair
r material selection process 7
17
Figure 9 - Pothole
P repair record proccess 9
19
Figure 10 - Pothole prog gression eva aluation proce
ess 4
24
Appendix A:
A Technica
al Literature Review
Appendix B:
B Enquiry Questionnai
Q ire Respons
ses
Appendix C:
C Practition
ner Worksho
ops
5078305/CSS Potholes Final Report.docx 2

Final Report
Execcutive Sum
mmaryy
The foccus of this study
s is upo
on engineerring issues related
r to potholes with
h the objecttive of
improvving understtanding of th
he key featuures of occu
urrence and d improving
g the processses for
repair.
gh pothole repair is a feature
Althoug f of hiighway maintenance activity
a eachh year, afterr a
sequennce of relatively benignn winter perriods the fra
agility of parrts of the loccal highwayy network
was exxposed during 2008/09 9 and 2009/1 10 when pro olonged sevvere weathe er conditionns
propelled potholess into the sp
potlight.
Many local roads are evolved d structuress and are of thin construction. There is little re
esidual
engineeering capaccity in the loocal highwa ay network which
w aintained in a state of limiting
is ma
equilibrrium. In thiss condition, if catalyst effects
e occu
ur, the netwo
ork is vulne
erable to thee
development of po otholes, which in manyy cases are indicative of o the onsett of more widespread
distress.
Due to the effects of progresssive ageing of the locaal road netw
work pothole es are an ine
evitable
occurre ence. A deg
gree of unprredictability must be exxpected with
h the potential for sponntaneous
formatiion of potho
ole features on more fra agile highw
ways. Two tyypes of pothhole formation
mechanisms have e been identified with water,
w freeze
e-thaw and traffic as th
he key catallysts for
initiatio
on.
Potholees are more e prevalent during, or shortly
s afterr, poor weatther conditio
ons. Thin rooads are
sensitivve to ground condition support and with varie ed geologica al and climaatic conditio
ons
throughhout the couuntry it is un
nsurprising that different approach hes and varrious practicces and
materiaals are usedd for repair.
Engineeering selecction of the repair
r mate o ensure continued
erial and its installation is crucial to
strain compatibility
c y with the surrounding road structure. Care in n the preparation of thee pothole
air is at leasst as importtant as the repair itself and matrix dominated hot-mix as
for repa sphalt has
been id air material owing to itss relative ea
dentified as the preferrred infill repa ase of comppaction
and duurability in-service.
Pothole e incidence
e and constrruction repa air records should
s be held in a maintenance
manag gement systtem to facilittate interrog
gation, iden
ntify potentia
al treatmentt areas and establish
contribbutory causaal factors. This
T will ena
able re-balancing of rea active and p
planned maintenance
activitie
es.
To asssist in a structured apprroach proce
ess charts are
a presente
ed for:
o e formation catalysts
Pothole
o Infill repair materia
al
o ession evalu
Progre uation
Prevenntion is bette
er than cure
e and an ind dividual pothole repair will not resoolve overalll road
ageing which need ds periodic rehabilitatio
on investmeent over a much
m largerr area to res
store a
ductile road surfacce and safe
eguard the asset.
a

Final Report
1. I
Introd
duction
P
Project
1.1 Atkins was co
A ommissioned d by ADEPT (formerly CS
SS) in late 20
008 to underrtake a study
y to gain an
im
mproved undderstanding of
o the mecha
anics of pothole formation
n and determ
mine effective
e repair
p
practice.
1.2 The focus of the study wa
T as upon engineering issuues related to
o potholes. S
Safety related
d aspects
a described
are d in the Code
e of Practice for Highway
y Maintenancce Managem ment, `Well Maintained
H
Highways` puublished by the UK Roads Liaison Grroup (www.ukkroadsliaison ngroup.org)
A
ADEPT Rese
earch
1.3 ADEPT (form
A merly CSS), has
h commisssioned and su upported a programme
p o
of value priorritised
a
applied resea
arch projectss over a perio
od of many years.
1.4 This is the firsst known eng
T gineering stu
udy which ha
as been unde
ertaken in the
e UK focusse
ed upon
p
pothole forma ation processses in highways.
1.5 In
nformation about
a other ADEPT
A resea
arch program
mme projects may be foun
nd at www.cs
ssnet.org.ukk
S
Scope
1.6 This study wa
T as undertake en for ADEPT T Engineerin
ng Committee e, Research Board to exa amine the
m
mechanics off pothole form
mation in the
e highway as key distresss features, to
o develop guiidance for
e
engineering r
repair on locaal roads inclu
uding materials selection
n and risk evaaluation proc
cesses.
1.7 The scope off this study encompassess `potholes` and
T a the engineering deve
elopment and
d impact of
th
hese feature
es on highwa ay serviceability.
1.8 The term `potthole` relatess to a localised feature as
T s an expresssion of failure
e in the highw
way. Initially
itt is limited in extent but can,
c under ce
ertain conditio
ons progresss rapidly to bbecome a larrger scale
feeature. There are variouss definitions for potholes but the common aspect,, within the context of
thhis study, is that they aree surroundedd on all sides
s by existing road paveme ent materials
s.
1.9 The focus is upon
T u pothole
es which occcur in the carrriageway and are contain
ned wholly within
w the
c
carriageway w
width. However some of the findings may be appropriate for p potholes whic ch occur on
fo
ootways or, with
w care, wh here the featture has an unsupported
u edge at the side of the carriageway.
c
1.10 For highway repairs which are of grea
F ater extent th
han discrete potholes
p then practices appropriate
a
fo
or `patching`` should be adopted.
a
1.11 In
n engineering terms the formation
f of a pothole is a complex in nteractive fattigue, deform
mation and
permeability related
p r ess which is difficult to model
proce m and forecast the onset of distresss.
1.12 The study wa
T b a Techniccal Literature Review (Appendix A) an
as informed by nd consideration of
e
enquiry respo
onses from fo
orty-four loca
al authorities
s (Appendix B).
B
1.13 Technical pra
T actitioner worrkshops were e held on twoo occasions in London and Birmingha
am with
in
nvited practiccing highwayy maintenancce engineers s to examine, explore and
d extend som
me of the
fa
acets of the findings
f from
m the enquiryy.
P
Project spon
nsor
1.14 The ADEPT Project
T P Spon
nsor was Ste
ephen Child, Highways Group Manager, Surrey County
C
Council.
1.15 The project was
T w managed d through the
e Soils, Mate
erials, Design
n and Specification Group (Chair,
S
Stephen Child) of the CSS
S Engineerinng Committee.

Final Report
A
Advisory Group
1.16 T project was
The w supporte
ed by the wise counsel off an invited advisory steering group.
1.17 The advisory group was chaired
T c by Sttephen Child
d and met on
n five occasio
ons througho
out the
p
project period
d.
1.18 The group co
T omprised: An ndy Warringtoon (Leicesterrshire Countyy Council), B
Bob Noakes (Norfolk
C
County Counncil), John Th
horp (Lancasshire County Council), Daavid O’Farrell (Cumbria County
C
C
Council (rep)), Patrick Gre
egory (Essexx County Council) and Stteve Pellatt ((Hampshire County
C
C
Council).
P
Project team
m
1.19 The Atkins prroject team comprised
T c members of thhe Highway Asset
A Manag
gement Grou
up; John
P
Paterson, Sue Leckie, Ch hris Walsh, Mike
M Gibb, Alan Taggart and
a Steve Biiczysko.
A
Acknowledg
gements
1.20 The Atkins prroject team are
T a indebted to the adviso ory group annd a wide varriety of collea
agues, too
n
numerous to mention, in the
t highwayss maintenanc ce industry who
w have con ntributed, eitther
k
knowingly or in discussion
n, to the content of this study.
D
Disclaimer
1.21 Whilst every care has bee
W en taken in th he preparatio on of this doccument the a
authors stresss that it is
foor guidance only. The vie ews expresse ed are thosee of the project team and do not necessarily
reepresent thoose of the spo onsoring org ganisation no or individuals or organisattions consultted during
itts preparation. No legal liability is acccepted for its contents annd the documment is not inttended as a
s
substitute for legal or projject-specific technical adv vice.

Final Report
2. F
Forma
ation mech
hanisms
R
Review
2.1 A search of published
p sou
urces of reference for me
echanisms off pothole form
mation was undertaken
u
a is presen
and nted in Appendix A.
2.2 ed that although there ha
Itt was reveale ad been quite
e substantial technical reesearch unde ertaken,
mainly overse
m eas, the published paperrs were berefft of a univerrsal engineerring model exxplaining
a articulatin
and ng in numera ate form the engineering mechanics of o pothole formation at th
he point of
in
nitiation and material disttress.
2.3 To compleme
T ent the store of knowledgge from the teechnical literrature review
w an enquiry
q
questionnaire
e was issuedd to all highway authoritie
es seeking infformation on n both the meechanics of
p
pothole forma
ation and the
e processes used in repa ngs from this enquiry are presented
air. The findin
in
n Appendix B.
B
2.4 Two practition
T ner workshops were undertaken with h UK experts in highway m maintenancee to test
s
some of the hypotheses
h a
arising from both
b the techhnical literatu
ure review an
nd the enquirry
q
questionnaire e. The facilita
ated workshoops were held in London and Birming gham and atttracted a
to
otal of fifty prractitioners representing
r a cross-secttion of twentyy nine urban and rural hig ghway
a
authorities. T workshop
The p programme e is illustrated
d in Appendiix C.
2.5 The content of
T o this report is based upon the techn
nical literature
e review and d expert prac
ctitioner
o
opinion glean
ned through the
t enquiry and
a complem mented by the e findings fro
om the practiitioner
w
workshops.
E
Engineered roads
2.6 Engineered roads are rela
E atively `thick` in construc
ction dimensions. They ha ave been designed to
v
various enginneering stand
dards publish hed since thee mid twentie
eth century a
and as such relate
r to
`new build` ro
oads which span
s a rangee of applicatio
ons from residential roads to motorwa
ays.
2.7 These moderrn engineere
T ed designs arre supported by a series of comprehe
ensive proced
dures and
s
specifications b the Highways Agency.
s produced by
2.8 The surface course
T c thicknness on engineered roads constitutess only a very minor contriibution to
o
overall pavem
ment structurral strength.
2.9 Potholes are relatively rarre in these tyypes of road due to their engineered sstructure from
P m
fo
oundation to surface. The ey are generrally well drained with good shape an nd profile and d
c
constructed w modern materials of appropriate thickness for their design
with n life to ensu
ure
p
performance. . However en ngineered ro oads still requ
uire regular maintenance
m e to keep them m
fu
unctioning effficiently.
2.10 The strategicc road networrk has been the focus of funding due to the significance of its contribution
T
to al economy in providing accessibility
o the nationa a to heavy goo
ods and trade. However strategic
s
ro
oads only coonstitute a minority length
h of the total highway nettwork.
E
Evolved road
ds
2.11 The vast majority of the highway
T h netw
work in terms
s of length co
omprises roads which hav
ve èvolved`
p
progressively
y with time ovver very man
ny years.
2.12 Characteristiccally they are
C e `thin` in terrms of constrruction and have
h been maintained on nly when
th
hey have reaached a criticcal state. This has meantt that any ressidual engine eering capaccity in the
b
bound materiials in the roa
ad structure has largely been
b lost beffore a streng
gthening or re
ehabilitation
s
surface was applied.
a

Final Report
2.13 In
n many case t surface `sskin` of an evolved road the construcction is largelly of
es, beneath the
unbound agg
u gregates whoose binding properties,
p if any ever existed, are no longer active e. This
m
makes the en ehaviour of thin roads sig
ngineering be gnificantly diffferent from tthick roads.
2.14 For thin roadss the surface
F e layer can constitute, in some cases, up to fifty per cent of the e structural
th
hickness. Th
he surface co ourse layer th herefore nee eds to be com mpetent to discharge both h surface
s
safety characcteristics and
d structural sttress distribu
ution propertiies. This diffe
ers markedlyy from the
e
engineered ro
oad where only the safetty requiremen nts are delive
ered by the ssurface coursse. The key
p
performance attribute esssential for thin pavements s is therefore
e `strain com
mpatibility`.
2.15 Occasional and progressive `just-in-time` mainten
O nance over many
m years has resulted in locked-in
s
strains. New, fresh, materrials introducced into the road
r for repa
air or maintennance shouldd be chosen
o the basis of
on o strain com mpatibility oth
herwise they will not perfo
orm in an inteegral fashion
n with the
s
surrounding f
flexing oad pavement structure.
thin ro
2.16 Iff a crack is present,
p or a discontinuityy is introduceed such as a patch or serrvice incursio
on, then the
c
competency o the locked
of d-in strains in
n thin evolvedd roads is co
ompromised. Similar disc continuity
d
distress can also
a occur inn transition sttress transfer between thhe flexing roa
ad structure and
a more
rigid features such as iron nwork in the highway. If these distresssed areas a are not treate
ed in a
tiimely fashionn with approp priate materials they can migrate rapidly into a mu uch larger sc
cale, and
p
potentially exxpensive, reppair features.
2.17 T variabless which influe
The ence the perrformance of a thin pavem
ment are con
nsiderable an
nd include:
• sub-grad
de proximity
• sub-grad
de susceptibility (moisture
e sensitivity))
• drainage
e efficiency
• sub-surfface layer (tyype and cond
dition)
• surface type
t
• surface age
a
• longitudiinal profile
• transverse profile
• pectrum
traffic sp
• haunche
es
• patchwo
ork inconsiste
ency
• utilities in
ncursions
2.18 These feature
T es are comm
mon on evolved roads butt rarely occur in isolation and are freq
quently
in
nteractive.
2.19 Due to the na
D ature of thin roads
r and the variables which
w affect them
t it is unsurprising that potholes
a common in this type of
are o structure. Just
J one catalytic effect can
c result in the extensiv ve
a
appearance o potholes which
of w can occur with little
e or no warning on this type of road pa avement.

Final Report
Figure
e 1 - Fragility of thin pavem
ments
D
Developmen
nt processes
s
2.20 Potholes can form in eithe
P er a `bottom--up` or `top-d
down` directiion and eithe
er mechanism
m is
p
possible on th
hick or thin tyypes of road structure.
2.21 The `top-dow
T wn` mechanissm is principa
ally a functio
on of the charracteristics o
of the surface
e material
c
condition.
2.22 The `bottom-up` mechaniism is precip
T pitated by flex
xural weakne
ess or the bu
uild up of watter pressure
b
between laye
ers in the roa
ad pavement and can result in the sud dden appearrance of a poothole due to
d
dislodgement t of a block of
o material.
2.23 Engineering discriminatio
E d on is requiredd to evaluate the mechan nism as eithe
er `structural` or
`ccosmetic`. However
H due to the thin nature of evolved roads th
his may be difficult in many cases as
th
he pothole foorms swiftly, either top-doown or bottom-up. Only the
t feature itsself may be visible
v and
n how it wa
not as formed. Ho owever local prior knowle edge and exp perience of d
drainage, groound
c
conditions, ettc which could have a be mation process may provide clues to
earing on the pothole form
u
understand th
he engineering mechanissms.
2.24 n an advanced age cond
In dition at discrrete locations
s the formerlyy bound matterials behav ve as
ùnbound` agggregate. The erefore key aspects
a for pavement
p integrity to mitigate the form
mation of
p
pothole features are crosss-fall, longitu d the maintenance of surrface profile shape.
udinal fall and s If
th
hese charactteristics are not in eviden nce and main ntained then dynamic traffic loading will
w be
ncreased and there is a good
in g chance e that the thin
n road pavemment will be aat risk of poth
hole
fo
ormation.
2.25 Time related changes of surface
T s cond
dition parame
eters gleanedd during periiodic routine SCANNER
s
surveys may yield data which
w could be developed as a precursor for local areas of disttress but
c
currently this is not generral practice and
a would req quire applica
ation evaluatiion.
P
Process mig
gration
2.26 Potholes havve been obse
P erved to occu
ur and progre ess at various rates. Therre is no clear indication
a to the com
as mbination of engineering
e v
variables wh hich dictate th
his but to asssist in analys
sis two
d
differing types of pothole have been iddentified – fracture pothooles and attrittion potholess – although
o
observation m not alwa
may ays be clear cut.
c
2.27 The sudden rapidity
T r of poothole formattion was examined in the practitioner workshops with
w expert
o
opinion confirrming that litttle or no advvance warnin
ng of initiation
n and subseq
quent growth
h of the
p
pothole feature was appa arent in severral cases.

Final Report
F
Fracture potthole
2.28 This pothole feature,
T f gene
erally occurss in isolation, and is typified by its circcular or elong
gated
s
shape, near vertical
v es and formation in what appears to be
edge b an otherwise competent material.
Figure 2 - Fra
acture pothole formation mechanics (A
Appendix A, G
Gerke 1979)
2.29 The engineerring mechanics of fracturre potholes are

T a cyclical hyydrostatic up plift pressures caused by
th
he pressure//suction from
m tyres of passsing vehicle
es. The pothoole void is forrmed by the
d
displacement t of a block of
o material annd progressioon thereafterr is usually fa
airly limited. Dependant
D
u
upon the natu
ure of the maaterial benea
ath the dislod
dged block thhe base of the pothole ma ay be
im
mpermeable with standin ng water pressent.
F
Figure 3 - Frac
cture pothole
e
A
Attrition pothole
2.30 The attrition pothole
T p mech hanism is esssentially a to
op-down form
mation. Its occcurrence is dependant
d
u
upon the rela
ative condition and thickness of the bo ound surface gress very rapidly after
e. It can prog
in
nitiation as th
he surface `sskin` of the ro
oad is breachhed.

Final Report
2.31 Attrition potho

A oles can occcur on any typ pe of road bu
ut are prevalent and can develop swiftly to
b
become signiificant featurres, mainly on road pavemments where e the surfacin
ng `skin` is re
elatively
th
hin.
2.32 Beyond a crittical distress point, cause
B ed by binder ageing, particle adhesion
n at the points of
nterlock conttact is comprromised and the formerly
in y bound mate erial degrade
es to unbound particles
w
which can be
e dislodged byb the shear forces
f from passing
p traffiic tyres.
F
Figure 4 - Attrrition pothole
e formation mechanics
m (Appendix A, K
Kringos 2007)
2.33 The attrition pothole

T p has characteristic
c c rounded eddges which area easily abraded and th he base is
g
generally rela
atively permeeable and ea asily dislodgeed by traffic once
o a critica
al size is reac
ched. This
tyype of pothole rarely occcurs in isolatio
on as lengths of paveme milar risk and they occur
ent are at sim
a groups - sometimes merging
as m and jooining up into
o larger featu
ures quite quuickly. Althouugh the
b
base may be permeable the t foundatio a thus thesse potholes ccan become infilled with
on may not and
w
water which further
f acceleerates progre ession.
F
Figure 5 - Attrrition pothole
e
S
Seasonal po
othole forma
ation
2.34 The most com
T mmon time fo or potholes to form is durring the winteer months. In
n a prolonged d period of
c
cold condition ns frost heavve can occur as the zero isotherm pen netrates morre deeply thrrough the
ro
oad structure e and into the underlying ground. In a continental weather envvironment fro ost heave is
n uncommo
not on but in the maritime we U persistentt frost heave is relatively
eather condittions in the UK
are. It is not the heave itsself which ca
ra auses a pothole to form but
b the thaw w which follow
ws with
re
elaxation in the
t road pavvement structture and und derlying ground resulting in the formation of
c
cracks.

0
Final Report
F
Figure 6 - Pothole formatio
on in freeze-thaw conditio
ons (Appendix
x A, Michigan
n Dept of Transport)
2.35 In
n the UK climmate there arre seasonal periods of timme throughout the year w when pothole es are more
likely to form but there aree also extrem
me weather conditions
c su
uch as intensse rainfall, flo
ooding, etc
w
which can occcur at any tim
me and result in localised n of potholes.
d but extensiive formation
2.36 The seasonal cyclical perriods are, win
T nter (Jan/Febb), spring (May) and autu umn (Sept/Oc ct) although
in
n some partss of the coun ocal climate, potholes can
ntry, due to lo n occur at almost any tim me. It is
im e to be speciffic about thesse periods since there arre inherent uncertainties of climate
mpracticable
a the prope
and erties of hydrrocarbon binnders are dicttated by their visco-elastic transition
te
emperaturess.
2.37 The transition
T n temperaturre varies fromm one binderr to another and
a characte erises a phas se change in
b
binder properrties. There is therefore a recovery tim
me lag during
g which poth holes can con ntinue to
fo
orm in the po
ost winter an
nd post springg/autumn pe eriods. Thesee are reflectio
ons of the tim
mes at which
th
he freeze-tha
aw and wate er catalysts are
a likely to be at greatestt prevalence.
2.38 The winter off 2009/10 wa
T as particularlyy distressing for thin aged
d pavementss since freeze-thaw
c
conditions co nduced stressses were a key factor in the extent
ontinued for a lengthy perriod. Traffic in
o local highw
of way damage which subse equently reve ealed pothole ong after the prolonged
es forming lo
frreeze-thaw period
p had ended.
C
Catalyst
2.39 Road paveme
R ent distress which
w manife
ests itself in the
t eventual appearance e of a pothole e generally
s
starts its deve
elopment at a discontinuity. The micrro-crack can be initiated in differing ways
w –
a
ageing (mostt common) – introduced (artificial)
( o foundation weakness.
– or
Figurre 7 - Pothole catalyst proc

cess

Final Report
K conclu
Key usions
F
Fragility of thin evolved
d roads leads to frequen
nt pothole occurrence
o
F
Fracture and
d attrition po
othole mech
hanisms ide
entified
P
Potholes are
e inevitable - the local road
r network is ageing
T principa
The al catalysts for
f pothole formation are
a water, fre
eeze-thaw a
and traffic
U
Unpredictab
bility of occu
urrence – po
otholes can form with liittle or no ad
dvance warn
ning
P
Potholes are
e more likely
y to form du
uring or afte
er poor weatther conditio
ons

2
Final Report
3. R
Repa ir
P
Processes
3.1 The primary engineering
T e objective sho ould be rectiffication of the pothole fea
ature with a strain
s
c
compatible in
nstallation wh hich acts in concert
c with the
t surround ding road stru
ucture. Use of
o a material
w
which is too brittle,
b for exa
ample, in a thin flexing ro
oad structure e may not proovide the moost durable
s
solution.
3.2 Since the rep
S pair will be an
n integral asp
pect of the ro
oad structuree its engineering characteeristics
s
should be sellected to match the existing constructtion as close
ely as possible. Since mo ost thin road
s
structures e flexible by nature the re
are epair medium o reflect this engineering feature.
m will need to
3.3 An array of re
A epair materia
als and proce
esses are av
vailable compprising hot-m
mix and cold-mmix asphalt
to
ogether with proprietary pre-packageed products of
o various typ
pes, injection
n and indirectt heat repair
te
echniques.
3.4 The materialss and processses are used
T d in differing ways by difffering authorrities and serrvice
p
providers for either `temp porary` (make e safe) or `pe ermanent` reepairs. The study did not reveal any
s
structured, co
ontrolled, tria
als which had d been underrtaken to pro ovide an engineering perfformance
e
evaluation of all of the varrious materia als and techn niques. This would be diffficult to undeertake owing
g
to
o the numbe er of variabless in a local rooad situation n. There was some evide ence of installation
c
comparison trials of one material
m or process with another
a in cirrcumstancess which reflec cted local
g
ground conditions and tra affic but little longer term performance e monitoring and evaluatiion with
c
control sectio
ons of standa ard materialss or processe es.
3.5 Hot-mix asph
H halt materialss owe their engineering performance
p allation and compaction
to good insta c
p
practice. It is essential thaat the material be mainta ained above ana appropriaate viscosity temperature
t
a all times prrior to installa
at ation as it will generally be
b used in reelatively smalll quantities throughout
t a
w
working day. To ensure itts suitability for
f compactio on in these circumstance
c es a portable e `hot-box`
p
provides a means to main ntain materia al temperaturre prior to use.
3.6 Some `permanent cold la
S ay surfacing materials`, which
w were developed
d forr utility trench
h
einstatement applications and certificcated by BBA
re A HAPAS ma ay also be ge
enerally suita able for
c
consideration
n as pothole repair materrials.
3.7 Pre-packaged
P d materials are
a available as a range of o products for
f use in loww to high trafffic stress
s
situations. Th
he stiffer mixttures are suited to more highly stresssed situationss or specific
a
applications. Indirect heatt and velocityy injection methods
m are also
a available
e as propriettary
p
processes forr pothole rep
pair.
H
Hot-mix infill repair
3.8 Hot-mix asph
H halt material was
w found to
o be by far th
he most ubiqu
uitous repairr material in use
u by
h
highway auth
horities.
3.9 There are two
T o generic engineering `fa amily` types of
o hot-mix assphalt which can be cons sidered as
nfill material - àggregate
in e dominated` or `matrix dominated`. As A the descriptions indica ate the
e
engineering p
performance of these typ
pes of asphallt is dictated by the respe ective dominaance of the
`g
glue` betwee en the particlles (matrix) or
o the interloccking properrties of the pa
articles (aggrregate). The
b
bitumen binder film thicknness will be greater
g for `m
matrix` domin
nated materia als than for àggregate`
d
dominated materials.
3.10 Iff proprietary or other type
es of infill ma
aterial are to be considered for pothole repair then n their
e
engineering c
characteristic
cs and comp patibility with the strain properties of th
he surrounding
p
pavement should be unde ertaken throu ugh structure ed evaluationn. The bench hmark for eng
gineering
c
consideration n should be a comparison n with the pe erformance properties of hot-mix asph halt and

3
Final Report
evaluation an
e nd use underrtaken as an integral partt of the mana
agement proccess of the highway
h
a
authority.
3.11 Aggregate do
A ominated ma aterials are unlikely to pro
ovide effectivve service life
e unless all edges
e are
s
supported byy existing inta
act surrounding material.
P
Preparation
3.12 The key to a good repair is thorough preparation.
T p The prepara
ation for repa
air is as impo
ortant, if not
m
more so, than
n the repair itself.
3.13 However dura
H able or sophisticated the infill materia
al it is unlikelyy to perform if it is installe
ed in
in
nappropriate
e circumstancces. Local ro oad structures are relativeely thin and ffailure to prepare the
e
excavation beefore infill repair will compromise the strain compatibility which h is so essen ntial for
p
performance o pavement structure.
in this type of
C
Cleanliness of excavatio
on
3.14 The initial keyy aspect of preparation
T p iss removal of all debris an
nd water from m the pothole
e before
c
commencing the repair prrocess. If thiss is not done
e thoroughly then the repair will not fu
unction as a
re
einstated part of the high hway and will soon becom me abraded or dislodged. Sweeping out o is the
m
most frequen ntly reported method of prreparation bu oroughly with appropriate
ut unless thiss is done tho
e
equipment it can be difficu
ult to remove e all debris by
b this processs.
3.15 A clean and dry
d excavatio on is essentia
al for an effe
ective repair and
a all waterr in the potho
ole must be
re
emoved. Th his can be acchieved by a combination n of sweeping g and use of absorbent granules
g or
s
sheets, or in some circummstances, by the use of aira pressure.
E
Edge formattion
3.16 The formation
T n of neat verrtical edges to
t the pothole
e excavation n is considere ed to provide
e cleaner
s
surfaces for bond
b adhesioon and better opportunity
y for infill matterial edge compaction.
3.17 Edge formatio
E on is genera
ally provided by saw cuttin
ng. This proccess avoids ttoo much dissturbance to
th
he surroundiing material which
w could otherwise bee weakened or dislodged d by other me ethods
re
esulting in in
nherent weakkness around d the repair – but this is dependant
d up pon the nature and
c
competency o the surrou
of unding surfacce materials. Saw cutting g of edges prrovides a nea
ater finish to
s
satisfy public road user peerception.
3.18 The ideal rep
T pair shape wo ould be circu
ular as this do oes not result in any corn ners where compaction
c
o the infill ma
of aterial is inhe
erently more difficult. In reality
r the moost common repair shape e is
re
ectangular with
w corner an ngles of nineety degrees. Acute angless should be a avoided as these create
a situation of extreme diffficulty for infill material co
ompaction. Iff the opportun nity exists it is helpful to
fo
orm the recta angle in a `diamond` layo out with a lea t direction of traffic. Th
ad corner in the his
o
orientation avvoids the sud dden transitio
on loading by y traffic from existing road to the poth hole repair
w
which can oth herwise occu ur on an alignnment at righht angles to the
t traffic dire
ection.
B
Bond coat
3.19 To ensure fulll adhesion and
T a continuityy of strain tra
ansfer it is esssential that a bond coat is evenly
a
applied a sides of the excavatiion. The bond coat should be a cation
to botth the base and nic emulsion
c
containing at least sixty per
p cent bitum
men and prefferably applie ed by brush to achieve an even
c
covering.
3.20 Thorough bon
T nd coat application is crittical to obtain
n a sealed jo
oint with the ssurrounding road
m
material and to mitigate fu
uture water ingress.
In
nfill materia
al options
3.21 To provide longevity in se
T ervice the infill material sh
hould be sele
ected on the basis of rela ative ease off
in
nstallation. This
T ensures that air void content is as s low as praccticable in a `difficult to compact`
c
p
pothole repair situation.

4
Final Report
3.22 Typically a po
T othole repairr will have at least four po
otential disco
ontinuities (jo
oints) and theerefore infill
m
material shouuld be chosen which mitig gates crackinng as far as is
i practicablee. Particular selection
s
should focus upon the ea ase, or otherw wise, of comppaction in thee area of thee joint with su
urrounding
m
material and also in the corners.
M
Matrix domin
nated aspha
alt materials
s
3.23 A matrix dom
minated hot-mmix asphalt derives its keyy engineering performance characterristics
th
hrough the properties
p of the `glue` matrix which is
s a blend of fine
f ate (sand), filler
aggrega
(limestone po
owder) and binder
b (petrolleum bitumen of various grades). Matrix dominate ed
b
bituminous m
mixtures are known
k as Hoot Rolled Asp
phalt (HRA).
3.24 The mixture may
T m consist wholly
w atrix material or can have
of ma e a proportion n of single-size coarse
a
aggregate ad
dded. The peercentages off coarse size e aggregate can
c be varied d dependantt upon
p
purpose and for hand lay application this
t is up to around
a 50%.. Beyond 60% % it is imprac
ctical to
p
place and com mpact this material
m by ha
and lay meth hods and so forf pothole re epair applica
ations an
u
upper limit on
n coarse agggregate conteent would be 55%. Lowerr coarse aggregate conte ents of 30%
y
yield a material which is easy
e to comppact but the surface
s is qu
uite smooth a and superimp posed
c
chippings maay be require
ed to ensure an
a adequate e level of resiistance to skkidding.
3.25 The key engineering charracteristic be
T ehaviours of matrix
m dominnated materia
als are their relative
e
ease of installlation and coompaction re
esulting in a virtually
v impe
ermeable ma aterial with co
onsequent
g
good durabilitty propertiess.
3.26 The engineerring behaviou
T ur and load transmission
t is dictated by
b the characcteristics of the
t matrix.
T material is binder `ricch` and thus more toleran
The nt to strain. Itts approach to failure is through
t
p
progressive d
deformation.
3.27 Specimen ma
S atrix dominatted materialss for pothole repair consid
deration could be `HRA 55/10F
5 Surf`
o `HRA 30/14F Surf` with
or h superimpossed chipping gs as detailed
d in technica
al specificatio
ons.
A
Aggregate d
dominated asphalt mate
erials
3.28 Aggregate do
A ominated hott-mix asphaltt derives its key
k engineerring performa ance charactteristics
th
hrough the grain
g packing
g properties and
a interlock king of aggregate particle
es. Traditiona
ally in the
U aggregate
UK e dominated bituminous materials we ere known ass `macadam``. There were e many
d
differing types and sizes of
o macadam materials an onalised and are now
nd these havve been ratio
te
ermed àsph halt concrete`` (AC) in tech
hnical speciffications.
3.29 A broad selecction array off particle size
e distribution
n is possible in aggregatee dominated materials
ra
anging from continuous (dense)
( to single size (op
pen) gradatioons. Single ssize gradation
ns will be
m
more permeaable than con ntinuous grad dations.
3.30 The engineerring behaviou
T ur and load transmission
t is dictated by
b the characcteristics of the
t point-to-
p
point interlockking of the aggregate particles. The more
m continuuous, denserr, gradations require high
le
evels of enerrgy to achievve full compaaction but once installed can
c provide a very efficie ent load
trransfer mediium.
3.31 Binder conten
B nts for aggre
egate domina ated mixtures
s are always less than for matrix dom
minated
m
mixtures as th
he aggregate e surface are
ea to be coatted is less.
3.32 Aggregate do
A ominated ma aterials are seensitive to sttrain moveme ent as applie
ed stresses are
a
trransmitted thhrough the in
nter-particle contact
c pointts. The mixtu oach failure through
ure will appro
faatigue crackiing or unrave
elling attrition
n as the interr-particle bon
nd is broken either througgh induced
c
cracking or environmentaally induced embrittlemen
e nt of the binder.
3.33 For installatio
F on in a pothoole situation as
a small an aggregate
a sizze as is praccticable and
c
commensura te with servicce requiremeents should be
b chosen.
3.34 A specimen aggregate
a do
ominated ma aterial for potthole repair consideration
c n could be À
AC10 Dense
c
close Surf 10
00/150` as de
etailed in technical speciffications.

5
Final Report
E
Engineering selection
3.35 n contrast to matrix domiinated materrials, which are
In a largely im mpermeable aand approach failure
distress throu
d ugh gradual accumulation
a n of permane ent deformattion, the deteerioration pro
ocess for
m
more permea able aggregaate dominated d materials is
s attrition wh
here, once a critical agein
ng point has
b
been reached d there can be
b rapid degrradation over a short time e span.
3.36 A material witth a gradual or progressive approachh to failure prrovides the o opportunity foor a
m
managed d structured approach to maintenance. If an aggre
and egate dominated materia al is
s
selected therefore it is pe
erhaps best only
o to consid nstallation in situations where a
der this for in
fu
uture surface
e regeneratio on programmme is plannedd. This will obbviate the poossibility of distress in
th
he repair maaterial through provision of
o a re-energ
gised surface e over the wh hole road are ea to better
re
esist environ
nmental ageing and embrrittlement.
T
Table 1 - Engineering Perfformance Characteristics
Repair Relative
e Failure Prog
gress Compactioon
Relative
R Service
e life
material binder distre
ess of
o energy
perm
meability durability
type contentt mod de disttress required
Matrix Longe
er
Higherr Deforma
ation Slo
ower Lower Lower
dominatedd (5-10 ye
ears)
Aggregate
e Me
edium or Shorte
er
Lower Attritio
on Quicker Higher
dominated
d h
higher (1-4 yea
ars)
Note. Serrvice life is an esstimated range only and may be
b extended if co
ombined with tim
mely surface arrea regeneration
n
In
nfill materia
al selection
3.37 The selection
T n of the mostt appropriate type of infill repair materrial should be e based upon the
fo
ormation me t pothole, its structural or superficia
echanism of the al significancce and the thickness of
e
exposed remaining bound d material. For relative ea ase of installation compa action matrix dominated
a
asphalt is the
e preferred hoot-mix infill material
m for pothole repairr.
3.38 Aggregate do
A ominated maaterials should be an optio deration onlyy if there is a planned
on for consid
s
surface neration works programm
regen me on the surrounding hig ghway shortlly after the pothole
re
epair is unde
ertaken.
3.39 Specialist guiidance should be soughtt where requiired from an experienced
S d materials engineer
w is familia
who ar with grounnd conditionss and road structure to de efine the mosst appropriate e grades of
b
binder and mixtures
m to usse for pothole
e repair related to the loccal climatic an
nd traffic con
nditions.

6
Final Report

Figure 8 - Potho
ole infill repair material sellection proce
ess
C
Compaction
3.40 All types of in
A nfill repair ma
aterials, whetther matrix or
o aggregate dominated, must be fully
y compacted
iff their engine
eering purposse is to be fu
ulfilled.
3.41 Compaction should
C s be un ndertaken un
ntil refusal co
onditions are reached. If ffull compactio
on is not
a
achieved then
n this will lea
ad to prematu
ure distress of
o the repair through watter ingress.
3.42 Compaction in
C i the confine es of a pothoole must be undertaken
u w either a vibrating plate or
with
ta
amper. The corners
c he repair are the most vullnerable to distress and p
of th particular carre must be
ta
aken to achie
eve full comp paction in the
ese areas.
3.43 Attempts at compaction
A c b means oth
by her than the use
u of equipment and pla ant designed d for the
p
purpose are unlikely
u to be
e successful and can lead to rapid de
egradation off the repair in
n early life.
3.44 Itt is essential that hot-mixx asphalt matterial is main
ntained above an appropriate tempera ature to
e
enable compaction to be executed fully. This temp perature is a function of tthe grade of binder used
in
n the mixture e but generallly compactio
on should be e completed before
b the te
emperature ofo the
m
material falls below 850C.. The use of a mobile `ho ot-box` to ma
aintain the assphalt at an appropriate
a
teemperature is i recommen nded.
3.45 A matrix dom
minated hot-m mix asphalt re
equires relatiively lesser energy
e input than aggreggate
d
dominated material to rea
ach a state of full compac
ction and it iss this factor w
which is the overriding
o
d
determinant in materials selection
s for pothole repa
air.

7
Final Report
Q
Quality of po
othole repair
3.46 Various, diffe
V ering, arrange ements are in place for pothole
p repairr works depeendant upon works
p
procurement. . Full time client supervission of the repair works iss impracticab
ble for this typ
pe of
p
peripatetic acctivity.
3.47 To provide asssurance tha
T at the potholees have been n repaired in the manner specified by y the client a
d
degree of installer self-ce
ertification is necessary. A documente ed record of rrepair at various stages
d
during the wo orks will provvide confiden nce that the repair
r has be
een conducteed as require ed. At the
lo
ocation of ea
ach pothole repair
r a seriees of electron
nic images, ta
aken by the installer at fo
our key
s
stages of the repair, provides construcction assurance.
3.48 The images, together with
T h location refferencing of the pothole, can be uploaaded throughh internet
c
connectivity, or other meaans, to the clients` mainteenance database or similar recordingg system.
T
This providess a record of the integrity of the repairr which can be
b a useful a
aspect of high
hway asset
c
condition during subsequent in-service review.
3.49 Electronic images capture
E ed at key sta
ages during the pothole reepair process provide a record
r of
c
construction a
assurance. Image recordds of this type
e are require
ed by some a authorities fo
or
m
measuremen nt purposes or
o maintainedd as proof of pothole repaair for future retrieval and
d scrutiny.

8
Final Report
Figure 9 - Pothole repair record process

p
L
Link with ma
aintenance managemen
m nt system
3.50 The location coordinates, times and dates
T d for each pothole rep
pair should b
be recorded and
a
g
gathered into
o a highway maintenance
m e management system.
3.51 Review and interrogation of the repairr data held in
R n the manageement system m provides a valuable
m
means of exa
amination of repair longevvity and estaablishing whe
ether or not m
more pothole
es are
o
occurring on a sequential basis over time
t in the sa
ame, or assoociated, area
as of highway
y.

9
Final Report
K conclu
Key usions
P
Preparation for repair is
s at least as important, if not more so, than the
e repair itself
M
Matrix domin
nated hot-m
mix asphalt is the preferrred infill rep
pair materia
al
S
Specialist gu
uidance may
y be require
ed to ensure
e repair spec
cifications rreflect local conditions
C
Construction
n quality rec
cord provide
es assuranc
ce of repair installation
R
Repair recorrds should be
b gathered to enable engineering
e analysis

0
Final Report
4. M tenance tre
Maint eatme
ents
D
Durable and ductile surf
rface
4.1 A surface with good elasttic propertiess is essential for effective performance of thin evo
olved roads.
4.2 H
Hydrocarbon binder aging arts as soon as materialss are manufa
g process sta actured and installed.
4.3 To mitigate hydrocarbon embrittlemen
T e nt and thereb
by minimise the
t risk of sw
wift degradattion through
frragility of the
e surface suff
fficient ductility must be preserved
p thrroughout the full service life.
l
L
Localised re
epair
4.4 The repair of an individua
T al pothole will not, in itselff, restore the
e overall perfformance of an
a aged thin
p
pavement.
4.5 Iff the pothole is isolated in
n a road of otherwise
o sou
und condition
n then the disscrete repairr may be all
thhat is require
ed.
4.6 In
n many case es, however, potholes do not occur inn isolation. Th
hey may be tthe precursoor of
potentially mo
p ore widespre a in these circumstancces the repaiir of the potholes will
ead distress and
o
only be satisffactory if cou
upled with a subsequent,
s ideally concurrent, progrramme of surface
re
egeneration works to saffeguard the overall
o highw
way.
4.7 geing embritttlement can be reduced by selecting materials an
The rate of ag
T nd processes s which age
a the slowesst rate but it iss not possiblle to arrest th
at his process entirely
e periodically the surface
and p
m
must be regeenerated to ensure
e contin
nued useful service
s life off the road.
R
Relation to failure
f condition
4.8 Iff the road su
urface is allow
wed to degra
ade to a critic
cal point just prior to failure then all off the
reesidual beneefit of previou
us maintenan
nce may be lost.
l
4.9 T appearan
The nce of potho
oles is often a precursor fo
or wider distress.
4.10 For effective life cycle pavvement management it is
F s a much wisser investment to treat the
e road prior
to
o the onset of
o this criticall symptom to ngineering performance.
o preserve en
Table 2 - Distress
D mech
hanisms and prospective preventative methods
Pavemennt Prev
ventative methods
distress
s
mechanissm
Ageing • The visco--elastic binde
ers used in highway engineering are all
a
nowadays derived from m petroleum bitumen which is a refine
ed hydro-
carbon maaterial.
• The perforrmance chara acteristics off bitumen cha ange with timme as it
becomes more
m aged upon exposurre to air and water. The aging a
process sttarts during manufacture
m and continue es in service
e resulting
in embrittle
ement and thhe initiation of
o micro-craccks. Dependa ant upon
the start po
oint grade off the bitumenn and the thicckness of the e bitumen
film the pro
ocess will be
e either slowe er or quickerr. If access to
o air and
water is exxcluded then the processs is slowed siignificantly.
• The ageing g process is inevitable bu ut full compa
action of bitumminous
mixtures will
w ameliorate e the rate of progress and provide a much
m
longer servvice life. In itts ultimate distress state the binder will
w perish
and becom me stripped fromf the aggregate particcles yielding,
effectively,, an unbound d material wh hich will degrrade rapidly.
• The surfacce of a road will
w always beb exposed to o the agencie
es of air
and water and will therrefore age att a greater ra
ate. Restoratiion of a
Final Report
Pavemennt Prev
ventative methods
distress
s
mechanissm
vibrant andd effective en
ngineering surface can oonly be achieved by
on of a fresh bitumen bind
the additio der layer. This can be in the
t form
of a veneeer dressing, or
o veneer surrface or a thicker overlay
y.
• Unless a surface
s `rege
eneration` pro ocedure is planned for thhe future
in the area
a of pothole occurrence
o th
hen a matrixx dominated asphalt
a
should be selected for pothole repa an an aggregate
air rather tha
dominated d asphalt as this
t will provide a greaterr chance of durability
d
performance longevity.
Profile • Effective cross-fall
c and
d longitudinall profile are e
essential for efficient
removal off surface watter from the road.
r
• If the surfa
ace is misshaapen resultinng in pondingg of water the
en these
areas will be
b at greaterr risk of pothole developmment through h the
accelerate ed influence of
o surface wa arbon binder ageing
ater, hydroca
and conce entrated dynaamic loading imparted byy road traffic tyres.
t
• Restoration of profile can
c be addre essed through
h selection of
o a
suitable su
urface rehabiilitation proce
ess.
Local • Where local foundationn weakness becomes

b apparent through
foundation deformatio
on and depre equires repair at the earlie
ession this re est
weakness practicable
e opportunity
y before it pro
ogresses.
• Timely preeventative acction will resto
ore profile, fo
or drainage
effectiveneess and prevvent a situatioon of `standing water` wh hich will
further acccelerate the risk
r of potholle developme ent if left untreated.
• Periodic innspection immmediately aftter rainfall maay assist in
identificatio
on of areas potentially
p att risk but the repair treatm
ment will
vary depen ndant upon local conditioons.
Water • Effective drainage
d is es
ssential to prreserve both surface and
d
structural integrity.
i
• Standing water
w will be forced into the surface th
hrough any
discontinuities or areass of higher mass
m permea ability by the cyclical
pressure and
a suction created
c by the passage o of vehicle tyre
es.
Freeze-thaw
w • Cyclical low
w temperatu ure environmental conditio ons such as freeze-
thaw are best
b resisted by a crack frree, ductile, low permeabbility
surface ma aterial.
Cracking • Cracking can
c develop in a number of ways. If th he road surfaace
appears crrazed with nu
umerous sup perficial cracks of limited depth
but otherw
wise in good repair
r then veneer
v dressing, veneer surfacing
s
or overlay may be costt effective.
• If cracks and potholes occur over a local area tthen patch in
nsert may
be appropriate.
• Discrete well
w defined in ndividual cra
acks may be in-filled to re
eseal or
have over--band sealingg applied but for thin pavvements, whiich are
constantly flexing, thes
se treatmentss may have llimited life un
nless
formed witth strain com
mpatible mateerials.
4.11 The most ubiquitous prevventative mea

T asure for reg
generation off aged surfaccing is venee
er dressing
(ssurface dresssing). This process
p is in essence a sprayed film of
o fresh bitummen on the rooad surface

2
Final Report
to
ogether with a superimpo
osed applica
ation of chipp
pings to proviide appropria
ate skid resis
stance
c
characteristic
cs.
4.12 Veneer (surfa
V ace) dressing g however ca an be consid dered in a number of form ms. To mitiga ate age
e
embrittlemen t the fresh binder film shoould be as th hick as practicable and fo or this reasonn it may be
thhat more sopphisticated multi-layer
m ve
eneer dressin ng such as th he `racked-in n` procedure could offer
g
good whole liife value inveestment. Ven neer dressing g however will
w not correcct road surfac ce profile
n add signifficant structu
nor ural thicknesss. If the existting surface is extensively crazed and d distressed
thhis may requuire pre-treattment for connsistency of support.
s Connsideration co ould also be given to
reeinforced bin
nders or for a geo-textile strengthened veneer dre essing to pro ovide a very thick
t binder
fiilm and creatte a full width
h surface `baandage` whic ch has the po otential abilitty to span cra
acks.
4.13 Some veneerr surface dre
S essing binderrs contain a degree
d of poolymer modifiication. The principal
p
purpose of th
his modificatio
on is to imprrove adhesion and tenaciity between tthe binder an
nd chippings
a not necessarily to enhance the elasticity of the
and e binder for strain
s compa
atibility.
4.14 The choice and selection of veneer su
T urface dressiing must con
nsider the po
otential risk of `softening`
o this material in the warrmer periods of the year dependant
of d upon ambientt temperature e, substrate
c
condition, trafffic and the nature
n of the binder formulation.
Table 3 - Surface reg
generation se
election
Servicce
Re
egeneration Layer Strength
S Permeabilitty Profile life No
otes
t
treatment (mm) i
increase reduction improv
ved (Yearss
Note 1
1)
Veneer Various
s types of
0-5 No Yes No 7-10
0
dressing surface
e dressing
V
Veneer layer 5-15 No Perhaps Margina
ally 5-7
Vaarious
`T
Thin` surface 15-35 Perhaps Perhaps Yes 5-10
0 proc
cesses.
(Note 2 and 3)
Thicker layer 40-70 Yes Yes Yes 15-20

0
Notes: 1 Service liife range is an estimate
e only ass there are a number of factors which may influuence this. 2 Guuidance
upo on selection of appropriate
a surffaces may be fo
ound in `Best Prractice Guideline
es for specificattion of modern negative
n
texxture surfaces on local authorityy highways` (ww
ww.roadscodes.org). 3 May also require a bind der course suppport layer
P
Progression
n and risk fo
orecasting
4.15 Iff potholes do
o occur there
e is value in a mechanistic process for forecasting
g their progre
ession once
itt has been in
nitiated.
4.16 Although no generic
A g models have bee en revealed in
i either the literature revview or the practitioner
w
workshops th om this studyy have been analysed to identify the key aspects for
he findings fro
c
consideration
n.
4.17 Itt has not pro
oven possible e to produce an absolute progressionn basis owing
g to the numb
bers of
b considered. A structurred methodollogy has, how
vvariables to be wever, been developed for
f relative
s
subjective priioritisation evvaluation as a red-amberr-green outco
ome for pothole progress
sion risk.
4.18 A local discon ntinuity meanns that a crack is in existtence having been cause ed by some aspect
a of
h
highway ormance, or has been inttroduced thro
perfo er incursion ssuch as a utility trench,
ough a forme
trraffic signal loop,
l etc or as
a a construcction joint between adjoin ning materials or ironworkk in the
h
highway. In all
a cases once it has form med the local discontinuityy acts as a fo
ocus for stres
ss
c
concentration n and potentiial subseque ent pothole innitiation.

3
Final Report
Figure 10 - Poth
hole progression evaluation process
s
50783
305/CSS Potholes Fin
nal Report.docx 24
Final Report
K conclu
Key usions
P
Prevention is
s better than cure
L
Localised po
othole repair will not so
olve an overrall highway
y ageing pro
oblem
In
ncreased us
se of surfac
ce dressing and
a veneer treatments as regenera
ation proces
sses
Im
mproved an
nd enhanced
d drainage
R
Risk evaluattion process
s to categorrise potentia
al pothole prrogression

5
Final Report
5. M aging the Asset

Mana A
‘S
Sweating’ th
he local road asset
5.1 The significan
T nt increase in
n potholes ha
as illustrated
d that the local road asseet has been stretched
s to
th
he limit as evvidenced by the conditionns experienc ced during an winters of 2008/09 and
nd after the w
2
2009/10.
5.2 A
Asset investm
ment in local roads has been limited historically
h to
o a `just in tim
me` approach
h.
5.3 This reactive approach ne
T eeds to be ree-balanced with
w investme ent in more p planned rege eneration
m
maintenance to offset the
e risk of potho
oles and other near failurre indicator ffeatures befo
ore they
o
occur.
5.4 Most thin loca
M al roads are operating in a state of `limiting equilib
brium` where e only one ch hange, in a
m
multiplicity off variables, ca
an adverselyy and dramattically affect service perfo ormance. Fo or example if
d
drainage efficciency becommes comprom mised then th his can havee a direct and d rapid effectt on the
e
engineering p
properties of the road and
d if not corre w increase the risk of pothole
ected swiftly will
o
occurrence on what may previously have been a stable,
s thouggh flexing, thiin road struc
cture.
5.5 The fragility of
T o the networrk has been described
d prreviously and
d the best ap
pproach to as
sset
c
condition preservation is to
t invest in tiimely treatment to ensuree that residual engineerin
ng capacity
iss not comproomised.
S
Skills develo
opment and knowledge
e transfer
5.6 In
nvestment inn practical traaining and skkills developm
ment of both highway clieent inspectorrs, who
id
dentify and schedule
s pothole repairs, and also co onstruction se
ervice providders, who unddertake the
epair works, will yield divvidends in qu
re uality throughh pothole rep
pairs with enhhanced in-se
ervice
lo
ongevity
5.7 The process for delivery of
T o these skillss developmeents is beyon
nd the scope of this study
y but the
c
content and findings
f i compiling a frameworkk structure.
in this report mayy be helpful in
5.8 For highway inspectors an improved understandin
F u ng of local road fragility a
and the mechhanics of
p
pothole forma aterials could lead to less reactive ma
ation in differring road ma aintenance an
nd more
p
programmed repair work scheduling.
5.9 For constructtion service providers
F p an effective ballance betwee en operator sskills and maaterials
s n could yield an improved
sophistication d performanc ce pothole reepair based u upon an averrage
in
nvestment coost to optimisse life cycle service
s value
e. If operatorr skills and m
materials commbinations
a intermixed in ways tha
are an overall avverage cost then
t the desiired outcome e will not be the
t most
e
effective.
5.10 Authorities an
A nd service prroviders deploy various operations
o su
uch as single
e or two-stage repairs,
fiind and fix, etc.
e Howeverr, irrespective e of the operrational meth
hod, investme
ents in skills
d
development will bring be
enefit for all through enha anced durability and imprrove the publlic image of
p
pothole repair works.
5.11 The best who
T ole life value is delivered when the repair works are undertake en by a fully competent
c
w
workforce operating with well
w maintain ned plant and using a we ell structured supply of ho
ot-mix
a
asphalt material. This und derlines the benefit
b to be gained by in
nvestment in skills develoopment and
p
practical know
wledge transsfer.

6
Final Report
Table 4 - Skills and

d materials matrix
m
Combiined skill lev

vel Prrospective repair
r Benefit
B
O
Overall cost
and materrial sophistic
cation service liffe (Whole life value)
Skill (L)) + Material (H) Ill defined
d Average Unclear
U
Skill (M) + Material (M) 4 years Average Average
A
Skill (H
H) + Material (L) 10 years
s Average Good
Key:
el
Skill leve
L = largely inexperiencced with initial level of trainin
ng
M = trained operativess with reasonable operationa
al plant and machinery
m
H = fully trained and qu
ualified workfo
orce with apprropriate well maintained
m ded
dicated plant and
a machineryy
Material sophisticatio
on
L = tradittional hot-mix asphalt materrial with well sttructured supp
ply (e.g. mobile hot-boxes)
M = cold lay materials or basic proprrietary processes
H = comp
plex proprietarry processes.
T
Thinking wid
der than just the single pothole
5.12 Localised pottholes or recurrence of po
L otholes and other related d features in a highway section have
b
been shown tot be potential precursorss for a widerr area of distrress.
5.13 Scrutiny of th
S he maintenannce managem ment system m enables con ncentrations of potholes to
t be
d
determined a an early allert and apprropriate reac
as ctive, but plan
nned, repair programmes s to be
d
developed.
5.14 Additionally, examination
A e of pothole in
ncidence rec
cords can pro ovide the bassis for a subs
sequent
p
planned surfaace regenera ation programmme of workk in the netwoork sector to combat the
re
eoccurrence eatures and assist in worrks forecast planning.
e of pothole fe
5.15 Study of the pothole
S p repa
air occurrencee over time may
m enable other
o linkagees to be revealed such
a drainage, ground cond
as ditions, time since
s generation trreatment, etcc for various parts of the
last reg
h
highway netw
work which again will info
orm targeted planned maiintenance.
5.16 Asset manag
A gement of pothole occurre
ence data shhould result in
n the re-shap
ping of local road asset
in
nvestment prrogrammes and
a re-balan ncing of plann
ned maintenance and rea active responnse.
K conclu
Key usions
In
nvestment in
i skills and
d knowledge
e transfer wiill repay div
vidends in en
nhanced rep
pair quality
A
Areas of potthole concen
ntration can
n be identifie
ed using rep
pair data
S
Spatial pothole incidenc
ce records can
c be used
d to examine
e causal fac
ctors
R
Re-balance p
planned and
d reactive maintenance
m e

7
Final Report
Appe
endix A :
Tech
hnical Litera
ature Review
5078305/CSS Potholes Final Report.docx A

CSS Project 79 – Potholes and Repair
Techniques for Local Highways
Technical Literature Review – Report
CSS79-01
CSS Proje
ect 79
9 – Potho
P les and Re
epairr
Tech
hniqu
ues fo
or Loccal Highw
ways
Tech
hnical Lite
eraturre Rev
view – Re
eport
CSS779-01
1
June 2009
Notice
This report was
w produce ed by Atkins for the Coun
nty Surveyors
s’ Society (C
CSS) for the sspecific purpose of
Research Project
P 79 – Potholes
P andd Repair Techniques for Local
L Highwa ays.

u by any person other than the Co ounty Surveyyors’ Societyy without the County
Surveyors’ Society’s
S exp
press permisssion. In anyy event, Atkinns accepts no liability for any costs, liiabilities or
losses arisin
ng as a result of the use of or reliance
e upon the contents
c of th
his report by any person other
o than
the County Surveyors’ Society.
S
Documen
nt History
JOB NUMB
BER: 507830
05 DOC
CUMENT RE
EF: CSS79-0
01
0 First Draft SL SB May 09
1 Final Draft SL SB/S

SL JP
P SB July 09
2 Final Draft (w
with client ob
bs) SL SB/S
SL JP
P SB Aug 09

nated Ch
hecked R
5078305/CSS Potholes Litera

ature Review Re
eport.docx
Technical Literrature Review
Conttents
Section
n Page
e
Executive Summary
S 3
1. Intrroduction 4
2. Purrpose: Whatt is a Potholle 5
3. Potthole Forma
ation: Initiatiion 6
4. Potthole Forma
ation: Mecha
anisms and Distress Fe
eatures 10
0
5. Con
nclusions 17
7
6. Refferences 18
8
List of Figu
ures
Figures 1 – 4: The Birtth of a Potho
ole
Figure 5: Separaation of wateer damage in
nto physica
al and mecha
anical proce
esses
Figure 6: Layer Separation
S a Pothole
and e Formationss

ature Review Re
eport.docx 2
Execcutive Sum
mmaryy
Local Authhorities acro
oss the coun ntry must en nsure that roads
r are maintained
m in
n a safe conndition.
Where potthole defectts occur, the e reasons to o understan nd their form
mation shou uld be known (in the
legal intere
ests of defence of claim
ms), and suitable rectifiication is ap pplied (to ennsure that safety
s is
not compro omised). Inccreasing suums are bein ng expende ed on potho ole repairs. T
To provide value
v for
money in this
t essentia
al function it is necessa ary to understand the fundamenta
f al engineerin ng
behavioura al mechanissms which result
r in potthole initiatio
on and proggression. Th his will enabble a more
cost-effecttive methodology to be developed for pothole e repair whillst keeping the roads safe.
s
Potholes are
a becomin ng an increa asingly dom
minant featurre of road networks
n witthin the UK, and
worldwide,, presenting g themselve es as a prosspective hazzard to roadd users and durable repair
challenge for
f highwayy maintenan nce. Winter weather with low road surface tem mperatures and
repeated frreeze-thaw or wet-dry cycles com mbined with the loading effect of tra affic and the
e
pressure/ssuction of ve ehicle tyres subject roa
ad networks s to increasiing distresss. The occurrrence of
potholes iss unlikely to diminish with
w the pred dictions of more
m frequent èxtreme e` weather events
e in
the future as
a a conseq quence of climate
c chan
nge.
The review w study has revealed th hat whilst re
esearch hass been undeertaken to e
examine the e extent of
damage which
w potholes cause an nd routine maintenanc
m ce which can
n be used to o repair the
e defects
there has been
b little fu
undamentall work which h addresses the engineering distrress mechanics of
their initial formation. Potholes were
w found to
o occur in all
a environmmental condiitions, but are
a of
greater inte ensity in climmates of grreatest tempperature variation.
Studies witthin the UK
K addressing g pavementt faults reve ealed that po otholes are the end res
sult of a
number of defects, bu ut provided very
v little in
nformation on
o the mech hanics of poothole forma
ation. A
‘hydraulic wedge’
w proccess appea ars to initiatee the potholle mode of failure.
f ‘Top
p-down’ pottholes were
found to bee associated with all tyypes (thin orr thick) roadds, whilst ‘bottom-up’ ppotholes are
e more
common on o ‘thin’ road
d constructions.
The techniical literaturre review study has dettermined th
hat there is currently
c no
o specific re
esearch
directed to
owards unde erstanding the
t principle
es of potholle formation
n and progreession and only a veryy
limited occcurrence of published technical wo ork which adddresses thhis importannt highway
engineerinng issue.

ature Review Re
eport.docx 3
1. I
Introd
duction
1.1 Potholes are
P e a significa
ant feature of
o many parrts of highw
way networkks worldwidee and are
a irritation and nuisance to road users
an u and highway
h ma
aintenance tteams alike.
1.2 Potholes can pose a se
P erious issue e for road sa
afety standa
ards and caan cause ex xtensive
d
damage and
d repair cosst to vehicles through foorce of impaact. Road a
agencies, off
p
predominan tly non-national routess, expended d substantia
al sums annnually dealin
ng with
r
reactive pothole repairss on local ro
oad network ks.
1.3 Continued progress
C p is being
b madee towards deeveloping varied
v pothoole patchingg
te
echniques, with these techniques being prommoted as lonng-term pavvement inve estments.
T Strateg
The gic Highwayy Research Program
P H--106 project, which carrried out exttensive
e
evaluations of pavemen ance experiments and has continu
nt maintena ued under thhe FHWA
(Federal Hig
ghway Administration) Long-Term m Pavement Performance Program m, focus
h included
has d examination and und derstanding of performaance and co ost-effective
eness of
v
various cold
d-mix materials and pro
ocedures for repairing potholes
p in asphalt conncrete
p
pavements.
1.4 This does no
T ot include all
a aspects regarding
r poothole patch
hing. Their significant finding
f was
that quality of
o material is the largesst variable in
i patching techniquess, with method or
m
machine comming secon nd to this. Th gs compliment the main consensu
hese finding us amongstt
p
pavement engineers that the best solution to solving pothole problems is to inv vest more
m
money on thhe initial pavvement con nstruction, providing
p a high
h perform
mance, well-built and
w drained
well d, pavementt, so that po otholes do not
n appear (Kuennen,
( 2
2004).
1.5 Routine maiintenance of
R o potholes is
i considereed essential to the servviceability of
o a road
p
pavement, w road ag
with gencies buddgeting for such
s costs. However itt is necessa ary to
r
research whhether this cost
c could be
b reduced through inccreased kno owledge of the
t key
fa
actors that influence th
he formation
n of pothole
es which ma ay lead to so
olutions tha
at are
p
proactive annd treat pote
ential potho
oles during their
t initiatio
on phase.
1.6 This review report dete
T ermines the research which
w has beeen conduccted in the
in
nvestigation
n of pothole
e initiation and formatio
on and identtifies the ke
ey distress features
w a view to
with t an impro oved undersstanding of the
t mechan nics of potho ole formatio
on.

ature Review Re
eport.docx 4
2. P ose
Purpo
W
What is a pothole?
p
2.1 The fundam

T mental questtion that nee
eds to be assked is “what is a pothhole?” Pothooles are
m
most likely to arise on local highwa
ay networkss, which rep present 95%% of the tota
al highway
n
network in th
he country, as these ro
oads constittute thinly paved
p asphaalt pavemennt designs.
T
This questioon is therefo
ore most pru
udent to the
e Local Auth hority road a
agencies.
2.2 Paterson (19
P 987) describes pothole es as being the result of
o the breakk up and los
ss of
s
surface material, whichh in turn lead
ds to the we
eakening off base mateerial. Paters
son
d
distinguishe
es this from ravelling byy stating:
“A
A pothole iss a cavity in
n the road surface whic
ch is 150mm
m or more in
n average diameter
d
a 25mm or more in depth”.
and d
2.3 These figure
T es have beeen taken ass the minimuum dimensions to whicch the motio on of a car
w
wheel is affe
ected, and that
t any deppths less than this wou
uld constitutte ravelling.
2.4 B contrast Roberts et al. (1996) defines
By d poth
holes as:
Small, bowl-shaped de
“S epressions in the pavem ment surfacce that peneetrate all the
e way
hrough the HMA layer down to the
th e base courrse. They generally
g haave sharp ed dges and
vertical sidess near the top of the ho
ole. Potholees are most likely to occcur on roads with
th
hin HMA surfaces (25 to t 50 mm (1 1 to 2 inche
es)) and seld
dom occur o on roads wiith 100 mm
(4
4 inch) or deeeper HMA A surfaces”
2.5 The FHWA (2003) repo
T ort Distress Identificatio
on Manual for
f the Long g-term Pave ement
P
Performance e Program further state es that low severity potholes are a approximate ely less
than 1 inch deep,
d mode erate are 1 – 2 inches deep
d and high
h severityy greater tha
an 2
in
nches deepp, all with a minimum width
w of 6 incches.
2.6 From these definitions we can asssume that a pothole is a deep hole
F e produced in a road
s
surface nt structure and transport safety and
that affects the integrity off a pavemen a
r
requires esssential main
ntenance.
2.7 To overcome the severre financial implications
T s and legal disputes that result fro
om pothole
foormation it is prudent to
t understannd the theories and principles behhind pothole e initiation
a progresssion in an attempt
and a to promote
p pro
oactive rathe
er than reacctive pothole
trreatment.

ature Review Re
eport.docx 5
3. P ole Fo
Potho ormation
P
Pothole Initiation
3.1 Potholes are

P e the least predictable,
p , but most severe,
s form
m of paveme ent distress. However,
d
despite this fact and theeir high maintenance costs,
c there are very lim
mited publis
shed
r
resources on pothole foormation with the bulk of pothole research
r invvestigating repair and
m
maintenance e treatmentts. The mosst robust res
search has been condu ucted by Miichigan
D
Department t of Transpoort, the FHW
WA and HDM M-4which shall be disccussed belo ow.
3.2 M
Michigan De
epartment of
o Transportt
The Michiga
T an Departme ent of Transsport propos se that pothholes are a result of waater
seeping throough crackss in a pavem ment’s surfaace into the road base o or pavemen nt
oundation, as
fo a shown in n Figure 1 – 4, “the birth of the potthole”. The cracks are formed
th
hrough fatig
gue of the pavement su urface as a result of an n aged pave ement and traffic
t
lo
oading. Whe en water en nters the pa
avement it can become e trapped du ue to insuffic
cient
drainage and d as the pavvement tem mperature co ools, typically at night, the water freezes and
e
expands formming ice beelow the pavvement surfface. The pa avement su urface is forced to
a
accommoda ate this froze
en water annd rises dispplacing the pavement ssurface. Wh hen the
p
pavement te
emperature rises above e freezing again,
a the water
w melts leaving voidds beneath
th
he road surfface and through continued traffic c loading thee pavementt fails formin ng a
shallow divoot under the surface of the paveme ent. A potho ole is formed.
3.3 F
FHWA
The FHWA report
T r `Distrress Identifiication Man nual for the Long-term P Pavement
P
Performance e Program` describes pothole
p form
mation very similar to th hat of the Michigan
M
D
Department of Transport, with poth holes formin ng in late wiinter or early spring an nd their
severity dependant on weather
w con
nditions and d a successsion of freezze-thaw cyc cles. This
reeport furtheer states thaat pothole fo ormation is always
a asso h asphalt fatigue
ociated with
damage, thro ough the ag geing of a pavement,
p causing
c o be susceptible to crac
it to cks and
o
other flaws resulting
r in a more poro ous paveme ent. In addittion to this, dependantt on the
geometry of the paveme ent, water may
m enter th he road basse or founda ation layer via
v the
sides of the road. A serries of freeze-thaw cyclles will wea aken the pavvement, and d with
continued tra affic loading
g over an un nsupported pavement structure, th he pavemen nt will fail.
W
When the po
othole has been
b formed d it will increease in size e and severrity due to continued
c
trraffic stress as this will remove unstable parts s of the pavvement surfa ace. Continnued water
in
ntake to the e pothole will accelerate e severity asa this will wash
w away a any loose pavement
p
particles und
der repeated d traffic loadding.
3.4 H
HDM-4
HDM-4 (Odo
H oki and Keraali, no date;; Odoki et al.,
a no date) set up inveestigations into
p
prediction modelling of potholes an nd their imppacts upon vehicles
v to p
provide an economic

ature Review Re
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evaluation to
e ool to establish the results of deferred or neglected main ntenance. The
T model
w
works on thee basis of po
otholes beinng formed due
d to disintegration an nd wear of a
p
pavement suurface mateerial and connsequently the base material.
m Thee model use es
P
Paterson’s (1987) definition of a poothole to dis
stinguish it from
f other fforms of pav
vement
distress, succh as ravelling.
Figure 1: Sno
F eps through cracks
ow or rain see Figure 2: Moisturee freezes and expandss
w
within the pavvement surfa
ace when th
he surface te
emperature drops,
d
causing the pavemment to rise up
Figure 3: As the
F t temperatures rises, th he Figure 4: When ttraffic passe es over thiss
ground return
ns to normal level
l but the cavity, the paveme ent surface cracks and d
pavement ofteen remains raised,
r creating a nder traffic loading creatin
fails un ng a pothole
e
gap between the pavemen nt and grounnd below it
Figures 1 -4: The Birth

B of a Po
othole (Mich
higan Deparrtment of Trransport)
3.5 The report explains

T e thaat when considering surface treatmments, potho oles are a result
r of
p
pavement defects that expose the road base or foundatio on layer, through proce esses such
a ravelling or extensivve cracking that has either spalled or displayss typical spa
as acing of
b
between 50 to 100mm and materia al fragments can be ea asily displacced.
3.6 When considering asph
W halt paveme ent surfacings, the repo ort details th
hat potholes are a
r
result of exte ypical spaciing of 50 to 300mm. It further
ensive craccking and/orr spalling, ty
s
states that potholes
p are
e the “ultima
ate form of distress”
d resulting from
m severe cra acking or
r
ravelling andd deferred maintenanc
m ce.

ature Review Re
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3.7 As given by the MDT and FHWA, potholing is

A s likely to arrise in wet cclimates andd/or where
the pavement base com mprises of poor
p quality material. The
T following g conditions
s have
b
been identified as influe
encing the initiation,
i prrogression and
a severityy of pothole es within
the HDM-4 report:
r
• Pavem ment structure – materia als and con
nstruction prroperties
o Surface coondition
o Base type
o etween laye
Interlocking effects be ers
o Ageing of pavement
• Moisture damage,, climate an nd weather conditions
c
• Traffic intensity
3.8 The HDM-4 report note

T es that of pa
articular influ
uence to the e formation, shape and d size of a
p
pothole, is th
he bond between the surface
s and the base, with
w the pro operties of th he base
h
having the greatest
g influence. It alsso states th
hat if the prime or tack coat has a good
p
penetration and bond to o the base then
t the like
elihood of potholing,
p evven if crack
king occurs,
iss delayed oro minimised d. The repo ort identifiess bituminouss base mate erials as be
eing non-
s
susceptible to disintegrration, except in cases where strip pping is app
parent and/o or where
the binder film is brittle or thin. Proocesses or properties
p that promotee the initiation and
r
rate of potho ole progresssion have been
b identifiied as:
• Fines present
p at th
he top of th
he base (duue to processses such a as slushing of crushedd
stone base)
b that enable easie er separatio
on of the surrface after ccracking
• Untreatted base materials
m commprising of highly com mpacted, de ensely-grade ed crushed
stone or
o self-ceme ented grave els, which easily
e disin
ntegrate und der traffic lo
oading and
are induced by wa ater content
3.9 Severity of a pothole ha

S as been exa amined as being
b determined by th he condition n of
s
surrounding surface ma i ability to withstand abrasion.
aterial and its a Potholes arising in
P
a
asphalt surfaacings have e been desccribed as be eing subjecct to the inte
ensity of spaalled
c
cracking andd likely to be sharp-edg ged. Depth is depende ent on the leevel of traffic striking
the pothole and the pre esence of water,
w as thiss increases the ability oof the pavement
s
surface to sccour.
3.10 The report details
T d potho ole formatio
on as the re esult of “dive
erse” factorss and being g “highly
d
dependent u
upon speciffic material and
a constru uction propeerties”. As ssuch, it is difficult to
m
model and predict
p the initiation andd progression of potho oles using such parame eters. The
m
most approppriate param meters to usse for estimating potho ole formation n are identiffied as
b
being the su
urface condition, base type,
t traffic and climate e data, but due to insufficient
a
available daata sets estimation usin ng these fac ctors is not possible. Sttatistical moodelling
w therefore carried out
was o using ca ase study da ata from thee Caribbean n, Ghana, Kenya
K and
B
Brazil. Resuults from the ese studiess are detaileed in the repport, but a ssummary of the
findings are given below w:
• Pothole es develop in a surface e that is eith
her cracked, ravelled or both
• In crackked surface es, crack wiidth increas ses until the
e material sspalls from the
t edge off
the cracck due to trraffic loading
g and enviro onmental co onditions
• Ravellinng is most common in surface tre eatments, and
a exposess the base as materiall
is lost vertically
v to form a pothhole

ature Review Re
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• Severity and prog gression of a pothole is depende ent upon m material prop perties and
d
their abbility to ressist disinteg
gration due
e to traffic loading on a formed pothole orr
spalled crack
• Thin assphalt surfaccings will poothole more
e easily thann thicker assphalt surfac
cings
• The prresence of water acce elerates po
othole formation throu ugh weaken ning of the
e
paveme ent structu ure and lowering th he resistan nce of the base materialm to
o
disinteg
gration
• Progresssion of po otholes is affected byy the time lapse betw ween occurrrence and
patchinng of a potho ole
3.11 The HDM-4 model wass developed

T d to predict the
t initiation
n and progrression of po
otholes
r
resulting from wide craccking and/o
or ravelling, and to moddel the pred
dicted enlarg
gement of
a pothole if no patching
g were carried out. For more informmation on thhe computaational
p
process, seee HDM-4 reeport.

ature Review Re
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4. P ole Fo
Potho ormation
P
Pothole Mechanism
ms and Dis
stress Features
4.1 Pothole form

P mation is larrgely associated with asphalt
a fatigue damage e and increa ased
p
pavement porosity due to paveme ent defects and
a deforma ations. The initiation off potholes
a their pro
and ogression have
h many variables,
v tw
wo of whichh are fundam mental to
u
understandi ng and estimating whe ere and whe en a potholee may occur. Cracking, which is
d
determined by paveme ent materialss and consttruction propperties, toge
ether with moisture
m
c
content havee been wide ely recognizzed as the main
m causees and contrributors to premature
p
d
degradation of asphaltic pavements, and as such
s we sha all focus on studies relating to
p
pavement sttructure andd moisture damage.
d
4.2 C
Cracking
Asphalt pave
A ements are exposed to o many varia ables which h can lead tto pavemen nt
deterioration n. Cracking, ravelling, settlement,
s base failuree and agein ng are all pro
ocesses in
w
which pavem ment fatigue e results, bu
ut the fundaamental con nsideration w when studying
p
potholes is that they aree primarily formed
f due to water se eeping into tthe paveme ent base
a weakening it, causiing the pave
and ement surfa ace to be un nsupported above. Tra affic
lo
oading even ntually causses this unsupported pa avement su urface to bre eak up and fail
fo
orming the pothole.
p Mooisture damage is undo oubtedly a factor
f in asssessing pothhole
in
nitiation andd progressio on, and this will be disc
cussed laterr, but also o of concern is
p
pavement sttructure, con
nstruction tyype, materia nd how well it has been
al quality an n
compacted or o sealed in identifying how water is able to in nfiltrate the pavement surface.
s
4.3 Asphaltic pa
A avements are typically multi-layere ed systems comprising g of a subgrrade, base
c
course and surfacing, with
w the prim mary functioon of supporting and tra ansmitting loads
l from
the surface to the subgrade. Poorr geotechnic cal propertiees will thereefore acceleerate
fa
ailure of a pavement.
p F
Fatigue craccking, which
h is relevannt to potholee formation, is a two
s
stage process; crack fo ormation followed by crrack progresssion (Rodrrigues, 1999 9). Crack
fo
ormation is also a resu ult of two forrms of cracking in an asphalt
a laye
er; top-downn or
b
bottom-up c
cracking. Toop-down cra acking can occur
o in the
e form of lonngitudinal, trransverse,
in
n blocks or as alligatorr cracking and is found either within or outside e of the whe eel path
(Freitas et al.,
a 2006). Top-down crracking is ob bserved on a variety off roads, with h different
thicknesses, pavementt ages and climate
c conditions, the majority of which are exposed
e to
s
significant cyclic vehiclee loadings and
a depend dent upon asphalt
a mixture stiffnesss and
fa
atigue charracteristics. Cracks pro ogress perpe endicular too the princippal stressess with short
c
cracks beingg initiated solely by ten
nsion and drriven vertica ally into the pavement; at
in
ntermediate e crack depths direction of the cra ack is subjecct to the pavvement stru ucture
(asphalt layeer change) with stresse es varying with
w depth and a materia al propertiess (Freitas
e al., no date). Speed of crack prropagation and
et a progresssion is also o dependen nt upon
a
asphalt laye
er thickness and initial crack
c length
h.
4.4 Emery (2005
E 5) notes tha
at top-down
n cracking does not significantly afffect the stru
uctural
c
capacity of an
a asphalt pavement
p d
during early stages of propagation
p n (in most ca ases
lo
ongitudinal surface cra
acking) how
wever, as moore cracks occur
o throug gh intense traffic
t
lo
oading, rave
elling and moisture
m damage pavement distre ess is acceleerated and thet

ature Review Re
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0
sserviceability of the pavvement redu uces, with ultimate

u failu
ure occurrin
ng in the forrm of
p
potholing. This processs is further accelerated
a by poor paavement con nstruction, notably
n
m
material commposition an nd mix design. For thinn asphalt paavements crracking can n also be
innitiated at th
he bottom of
o the aspha alt layer, wh
here tensile stress is grreatest and
p
propagates to the surfa
ace forming, in most cirrcumstance es, longitudinal cracks. Crack
p
propagation is therefore
e an extrem
mely importa ant factor th
hat needs too be addressed, as it
iss crack prop pagation thaat causes th
he weakening of pavem ment structuure (Read, 1999).
4.5 T four ma
The ain attributess to crackin
ng are as follows:
• Therma al expansio on
o Cracking due to therm mal expansio on (and con ntraction) iss created by y horizontall
movementss in the pa avement ba ase. When coupled w with forces from trafficc
loading craacks in the base
b will pro
ogress into the asphaltt pavement surface.
• Traffic loading
o Cracking is i predominantly in the form of longitud dinal cracking. Shearr
horizontal forces
f inducced in the wheel
w pathss cause high tensile sttresses and d
strains at the pavem ment surface, perpend dicular to the direction of trafficc
loading. Strrains are mainly
m obserrved along the
t edges o of the wheel paths and
propagate in the longittudinal direc ction of the pavement.
• Materiaal fatigue
o Alligator crracking is primarily
p sociated with material fatigue (failure of the
ass e
HMA). Cracking is see en as a serries of interrconnected cracks and d is created d
by high tennsile stressees and strain ns which prropagate to the pavement surface e
in the form
m of longitud dinal or trannsverse craacking. Craccks which are a initiated
top-down area associa ated with the bending and shearing of motio on of trafficc
loading and d an aged pavement (weakened d asphalt bbinder). Afte er repeated
loading thee cracks con nnect and fo orm patterne ed crackingg.
• Moisture damage
o Failure of a pavementt is induced, accelerate ed or both, by moisture e infiltration
n
weakening and deteriorating th he pavement structure e. Infiltratio
on is mostt
notably thro ough crackks in a pave ement surfaace and thiss is a leadin ng factor to o
examining pavement failure.
f
4.6 M
Moisture Damage, Clim
mate and We
eather Cond
ditions
Moisture is widely
M w recoggnised as th he leading factor
f behinnd the premature deterioration of
a
asphalt paveement strucctures (Kring gos and Scaarpas, 2007 7). From thee limited res search
re
egarding po otholes as given
g by Micchigan Depa artment of Transport,
T tthe FHWA anda HDM-
4, it is reasonable to assume that moisture
m da
amage consstitutes the b basis for pa
avement
distress and pothole forrmation. Strripping and//or ravelling are two pro ocesses associated
w asphaltiic pavemen
with nts subject to
t excess water
w conten nt and weakkening of the e
p
pavement sttructure. Co
ombined with continued d traffic load
ding aggreg gate is displaced from
th
he pavemen nt surface and
a this ‘stripping’ of ag ggregate ca an result in a more seve ere form of
distress know wn as ‘rave
elling’ which in turn can
n lead to mo ore serious fforms of pa avement
distress. Carro et al. (20008a) recognise the imp portance off moisture d damage in re elation to
a
asphalt mixtures and state that mo ost of the ressearch relevant to moisture dama age
a
assumes the
e presence of water in the paveme ent material. As such the three ma ain forms
o “moisture transport” (the
of ( processs by which moisture (liquid or vap pour) infiltrattes the

ature Review Re
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asphalt pave
a ement struccture) are given below with
w infiltrattion of surfa
ace water be eing the
m
main cause of moisture
e within a paavement strructure, as a direct resuult of rainfalll, drainage
a materiall properties:
and
• Infiltrattion of surfa
ace water (w
water permeeability)
• Capilla ary rise of suubsurface water
w
• Permeation or difffusion of wa ater vapour
4.7 Much research has bee

M en conducte ed on analyysing moistuure damage e and its effe
ect on
a
asphalt mixttures as the
e relationshiip regardingg this conce
ept and pave ement distrress is
h
highly comp
plex. We sha all therefore
e aim to highlight the ke which influence
ey factors w
p
pavement distress whe en considering moisture e damage, focusing
f onn permeability.
4.8 Moisture damage in asphalt mixtures is regarrded as the loss of mecchanical pro
M operties
(strength annd durabilityy) of a material due to the presencce of water, with the level and
e
extent of mo oisture damage, moistu ure suscepttibility, depeendant on external facttors such
a environm
as ment and internal factorrs such as pavement
p design, quality and typee of
m
materials (Jaahrom, 20008). Moisture e damage is described d by Kiggundu and Rob berts
(1988) as pa avement de eterioration through the e loss of adhhesion and bond betwe een the
a
asphalt layeers and the aggregate
a s
surface and d/or cohesivve resistancce within the
e asphalt
la
ayer, with th
hese functioons regarde ed as the las avement failure due to moisture
st step in pa
d
damage cauuse by moissture transp port. This in turn leads to
t alteration
ns to the internal
p
pavement sttructure andd its ability to
t carry trafffic loads (C
Carlos et al.,, 2008a).
4.9 Asphalt mixttures comprise of aggrregates and
A d bituminouss cement. T The bitumino ous
c
cement (mastic) is a co ombination ofo bitumen, sand and fine
f filler particles and could
c
in
nclude mod difiers, for exxample polyymers, phossphoric acidd or hydrate ed lime (Krin
ngos and
S
Scarpas, 20007). When an asphalt pavement is i subject too moisture infiltration, the
t
a
aggregate c be sepa
can arated from the mix cauusing weake ening of the e pavement structure
a displace
and ement of the e aggregatees through a combination of the m moisture dam mage and
trraffic loadinng. Kringos and Scarpa as (2007) fuurther state that this forrm of mecha anical
d
damage is the predominant factor in pavemen nt failure su
uch as stripp ping or rave
elling which
c
contributes t the weakkening of the
to e mastic an
nd aggregatte-mastic bo ond. This in
nitial failure
c rapidly lead
can l onto a more severe form of deterioration
d n if left untreeated, and the
t
foormation off a pothole.
4.10 Thin asphaltt pavements, as used on
T o local higghway netwo orks, are suubject to permanent
d
deformation when unbo ound granular layers and subgrade are expossed to high stresses.
C
Charlier et al.
a (2008) sttate that the ese unbound d layers and d subgrade e are ‘sensittive’ to
w
water intakee and perforrmance of th hese pavem ments is dep pendent on moisture content. As
s
such imperm meability of the paveme ent course and
a drainag ge are impo ortant factorrs when
c
considering pavement performancce. Kringos et al. (2008 8) examine tthe permea ability of
a
asphaltic mixtures, and d through evvaluation sta ate that perrmeability iss controlled by “the
s
size and inteerconnectio on of the voiid space”. The
T conclussion to this sstudy is thatt larger
v
void spacess are associated with greater perm meability values and tha at “large voiids are
foound both in fine-grain ned mixturess having hig gh in-situ air void conte ents or in cooarser
g
grained mixttures at low wer void conntents”. How wever, as Caro et al. (2 2008b) show w, despite
m
maximum aiir-void limitss being accepted to pro ovide suitabble permeab bility of matterials (8%
inn-place air void
v contennt for dense graded mix xtures), otheer studies hhave shown n that these
liimits canno ot be genera alised for alll mixtures and
a there arre “significant differences

ature Review Re
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2
between voiid size distrribution and connectivitty in mixture

b es with the ssame perce
ent of air
v
voids”.
4.11 Itt is important to undersstand the reelationship between
b assphalt materrial behavio
our, air
v
voids, perme eability and
d pavement degradation, but it is also
a importa
ant to note that
t
m
moisture damage is a result
r of botth mechanic cal and physical properties. Moistu ure
d
damage is dictated
d by the
t perform mance of the e aggregate e, the masticc, the bond between
the aggrega ates and ma astic and vooid space, with
w significa ant moisturee damage weakening
w
these mecha anical propeerties. How
wever, the ph hysical proccesses that effect moissture
d
damage, as noted by Kringos
K (200
07), are alsoo important contributingg factors to pavement
s
susceptibility y. As Kringoos (2007) illustrates in,, important physical pro
ocesses to water
d
damage include:
• The mo olecular diffusion of waater through the mixture
e componen nts and
• The advective tran nsport, i.e. ‘washing aw e mastic due to the mo
way’, of the oving waterr
flow thrrough the coonnected macro-pores
m s.
4.12 Excessive water

E w pressu ed by continual traffic lo
ures, cause oading, as oobserved inside the
a
asphaltic mixture, are a significantt contributorr to moisture e damage. This proces ss, known
a the “pumping action”, interacts with the alrready prese
as ent ‘mechan nical damage’ resulting
in
n an increassed “water--mechanical damage” within
w the pavement sttructure (Kriingos,
2
2007). This pumping action
a accele
erates the deterioration
d n of a pavement by ‘tra
ansporting’,
o ‘pumping’, fines and soil particle
or es as waterr infiltrates through the pavement, causing
e
erosion or th
he ‘stripping
g’ of bitumen from the aggregate
a leading to p
pothole form
mation.
4.13 Charlier et al.
C a (2008) ca ategorise pa avement da amage, related to water, as being either
‘mmoisture-ca aused distre esses’ (thosse that are primarily
p inittiated by mo
oisture) or ‘moisture
a
accelerated distresses’ (those thatt are initiate ed by differeent factors). Reduced service
s life
o a paveme
of ent is depen ndent on wa ater entering g the pavem ment course es/subgrade e and
trraffic loadin
ng, resulting g in excess moisture/stresses and reduced sttrength and
e
elastic/plast ic stiffness, as discusssed above, and a the free eze-thaw cyycle as disccussed
p
previously. F
Figure 6, ass given in Charlier
C et all. (2008) (orriginally pub
blished in Gerke
G
(1979) cited by Lay (19 986) and rep produced in n Charlier ett al. (2008) by permission)
illlustrates an
n alternative e theory forr the formatiion of potho oles from that given by Michigan
D
Department of Transpo ort, the FHWWA and HDM M-4, but ma aintains the concept of moisture
c
content and pavement distress/deformation being b the caause of poth hole formation.

ature Review Re
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3
Figure 5:
5 Separation of water damage
d into
o physical and
a mechan
nical processses (Kringo
os, 2007)
4.14 Itt is further discussed

d in
n Charlier et
e al. (2008)) that for disstressed pa avements in nfiltration off
water is largely through
w h cracks, with four facto
ors influenccing infiltration rate (this has been n
taaken from Ridgeway,
R 1
1976):
• The waater-carryingg capacity of

o the crackk or joint
• The ammount of craacking prese ent
• The areea that draiins to each crack, and
• Intensity and dura
ation of rainffall
4.15 To understa
T and and min nimise the pavement
p deefects it is therefore
t ne
ecessary to identify
h
how water in
nfiltrates the
e pavementt structure. Joints, craccks and deffects and
d
deformation s in pavements and lateral water movement from the sh houlders and side
d
ditches of pa
avements are a significaant infiltration routes, an nd it is there
efore imporrtant to
u
understand their origin..
4.16 Cracking in asphaltic pa
C avement layyers can bee initiated via a ‘bottom m-up’ or ‘top--down’
a
approach. C
Cracking tha
at occurs fro
om the top of
o a paveme ent structurre downward ds is
u
usually the result
r of pavvement age eing, thermaal effects orr traffic load
ding on the asphaltic
a
la
ayers. Craccking in thatt occurs from m the bottom up can be associate ed with the tensile
t
s
strain at the bottom of the
t bitumino ous layer. Pavement
P design regarrding cracking
therefore ussually correlates to the elastic calc culations, material prop perties and design
d
trraffic. Charlier et al. (2008) further states that a thick, weell constructed paveme ent is less
s
susceptible to direct wa
ater damage e than thinn
ner paveme ents, with ma aterial stiffn
ness
r
reducing and pavement distress occurring over time.
4.17 Kringos et al.
K a (2008) ad dd a differen
nt dimensioon to moisture damage in bitumino ous
p
pavements, and resulta
ant crackingg, by discusssing the diffferences be etween a pa avement’s
a
asphaltic mixture comp position and material chharacteristiccs as pre-de etermined in n
la
aboratory teesting and those
t obserrved in-situ. Kringos et al. (2008) sstate that as sphaltic
m
mixtures aree commonlyy exposed to o water beffore they are e laid in connstruction, and
a as
s
such are sussceptible to
o reduced sttiffness. Whhen these mixtures
m are
e laid perform mance of
the wearing surface is automatical
a lly reduced,, and hencee the service e life of the material is
a
also reduced d. This causse of reduced paveme ent performa ance can be e overcome e by
p
proactive thinking, and would limit the need foor repair and maintena ance of a hig ghway, and

ature Review Re
eport.docx 14
4
associated costs
a c throug
gh the closu ure of the neetwork. How wever as Krringos et al. (2008)
g
goes on to explain,
e one w this situation is that designers do not hav
e problem with ve
k
knowledge o the engin
of neering prop perties of th
he material prior
p to purcchase. Evalluations
a carried out
are o to deterrmine moisture sensitiv vity of mixtures through
h mechanica al testing to
o
d
determine moisture sensitivity ratios’ of the material’s
‘m m enngineering p
properties on
o dry and
m
moisture indduced samp ples, howevver:
4.18 ““...such ratios can onlyy be used too compare case-specif
c ic mixtures under a sett of pre-
d
determined conditions, but give no
o insight into mage phenomena, nor
o the actuall water dam
leead to any fundamenta
f eason, in recent years, theses
al remediess. For this re
p
phenomeno ological studdies are giving way to more
m fundammental studdies in which
h both
e
experimenta al and analyytical investigations on water-induced damage in asphaltic
m
mixtures e combined. Researche
are ers at Delft University of
o Technolo ogy in the Netherlands
N
h
have focusssed on deve eloping a coomputationa h allows a study of the interaction
al tool which
b
between phyysical and mechanical
m water damage inducin ng processe es. The tool developed
iss named Ro oAM (Ravellling of Asphaltic Mixes s) (Kringos and Scarpa as, 2005) annd Kringos,
2
2007) and operates
o as a sub-syste em of the fin
nite elemennt system deeveloped att TU Delft,
C
CAPA-3D” (
(Scarpas, 20005).
Stage 1 Water is forced

d into a crackked
pavement
Stage 2 Water travels along

a the
interface between the asphalt
a (AC) and
the compacted aggrega ate base
Stage 3 Assphalt lifts to allow pressu

ure to
dissipate, but
b also allow ws more water to
be pumped d into the craack
Stage 4 Assphalt is dislo

odged due to
o
traffic actio
on and water pressure
paration and
Fig. 6: Layer sep d pothole form
mation (from Gerke, R.J. (1979), cited d by Lay (198
86)).
R
Reproduced by permissioon of M. G. Lay in Charlie
er et al. (2008
8)
4.19 From the ab

F bove discussions it hass been show wn that moissture damag ge is fundamental to
the performa ance of a pa
avement an nd its (in) ab
bility to withstand pave
ement fatiguue and
fa
ailures such
h as crackinng, which arre contributing factors to pothole fformation. ‘M
Moisture
ature Review Re
eport.docx 15
5
trransport’ annd drainage e are therefo

ore very imp
portant consideration tto prevent pavement
p
faailure. The potential foor moisture transport
t an
nd rising wa
ater-tables m
must be exaamined in
o
order to prevvent moistuure damage e of a pavemment (primarily the subggrade), and
d reduced
p
pavement sttiffness (CB
BR) on whicch the pavemment was originally
o dessigned.
4.20 Other factorrs that should also be considered,
O c but have not been disscussed, tha at influence
p y of asphalt mixtures arre deemed as construcction factorss such as lifft
permeability
thickness, compaction and densityy homogene eity.
4.21 Lastly, it is important to
L o note that environmen
e ns also havve an impac
tal condition ct upon the
m
mechanics o pothole fo
of ormation through mois sture damag ge. It was prreviously sttated that
h
high humiditty, rainfall and
a freeze-thaw cycles accelerate the rate of pothole forrmation as
this is due to o an increasse of moistuure content that has the potential to penetrate e through,
a damage
and e, a paveme ent’s structu
ure.
4.22 T
Traffic Intenssity
Research co
R onducted intto pothole formation,
f mechanical
m properties o
of pavemen nts and
m
moisture dammage all coonsider one final contrib butor to influ
uencing pavvement failu ure, and
th
hat is in-serrvice conditiions such as
a traffic loading and pa avement aggeing. Although
e
external facttors may initiate distresss features such as cra acking and rravelling, tra
affic
in
ntensity cann acceleratee or induce these
t features if they are
a not treatted on occu urrence,
a the leve
and els and inten
nsity of trafffic over such
h areas must be assesssed to dete ermine the
e
extent of pottential damaage if treatm
ment is not a viable opttion.
4.23 D
Distress Fea
atures
The following
T g distress fe
eatures resulting from the above ‘damage
‘ meechanisms’ are
o
observed ass being the most
m comm mon and mus st be addre
essed to pre
event irreverrsible
p
pavement da amage.
• Crackinng
• Ravelling
• Shelling
• Hydrauulic Scour
• Strippin
ng

ature Review Re
eport.docx 16
6
5. C
Concl
lusion
ns
5.1 The formatio
T on of potholes has bee en revealed to be a com mbination of both ‘dammage
m
mechanisms s’ and ‘distrress feature
es’. Pothole formation has
h been fo ound to cons sist of a
n
number of variables
v relating to pavvement struucture, air vo
oid content and pavem ment age,
a environmental factors such ass rainfall and
and d freeze-thaaw cycles w
with traffic lo
oading as
the catalyst for potentia
al engineering failure.
5.2 Technical sttudies have
T e been unde ertaken into the mechanics of pave ement damage, which
c relate to
can o pothole fo
ormation in some
s casess, but they do
d not proviide a rationa al
e
engineering process deescription off the causes s and development of pavement distress.
d
A
Asphaltic paavement strructures are e a mix of co
omponent materials,
m w
which have a range of
s
structural annd material properties anda varying g methods ofo compactio on, resulting g in each
a
asphaltic mix having itss own variab ble propertie
es. To undeerstand andd identify thee specific
b
behaviour fo
or generic pothole
p form
mation, a series of interractive pave
ement mech hanisms
a distresss features would
and w requirre examination to yield information n on the dicttating
p
pavement parameters which
w dictatte propensity for engineering failuure of the
a
aggregate/b binder interfaace in the material.
m Unnfortunately, perhaps aas this is diffficult and
c
complex to model
m and achieve,
a it has
h not bee en uncovere ed in any tecchnical enggineering
p
publicationss.
5.3 Cracking in pavement structure
C s an
nd moisture damage ha ave been id dentified as the
p
primary factors in potho
ole formatioon. Both of these
t are co
omplex and d interactive
e
e
engineering factors which require analysis to determine a comprehe ensive list of
o influence
fa
actors whicch could preedict specificc types of pavement
p diistress. The
e overall meechanical
p
properties o a paveme
of ent structure
e also have an important effect on n distress
m
mechanisms s. Researchh has been undertaken n to examine e repair maaterials and processes
r
related to pootholes but is beyond the scope of this review w study.
5.4 No specific research ha
N as been revvealed which concludess that pothoole formation is a
r
result from tyre/pressur
t re suction in
n isolation and
a thus thiss process iss considere
ed to be a
c
contributing factor to already defecctive pavemments.
5.5 Low temperrature conditions are a key catalys
L st to pothole
e formation, with the fre
eeze-thaw
c
cycles g a contributing factor to
being mation, particularly in co
t their form ountries of highly
v
variable clim
mate. Pavem ment defects, such as cracking,
c avelling etc. are considered to be
ra
the primary factors whicch lead to pothole
p mation as they permittin
form ng water tra
ansport
w
within the sttructure thereby accele
erating the failure
f proce
ess.
5.6 There is verry little speccific researcch within the
T e UK (or sim
milar maritim
me environm
ment
c
countries) directly relating to potho
ole formatioon and the distress
d mecchanics whiich result
in
n their initia
ation and pro ogression.
5.7 The study illlustrates tha
T at pavemennt defects re
evealed as potholes in the UK are
e the end
r
result from a combination of a num mber of internal and external paveement damaage
m
mechanisms s and distreess featuress but the published tech
hnical know
wledge base
e to
s
support this is limited in
n extent.

ature Review Re
eport.docx 17
7
6. R rences
Refer
Caro, S. Masaad, E. Bhasiin, A. Little, D. 2008a. Moisture su
usceptibility of asphalt mixtures,
Parrt 1: mechanisms. International Jo ournal of Pa
avement En ngineering, VVol. 9, No. 2,
2 P. 81–
98
Caro, S. Masa ad, E. Bhasiin, A. Little, D. 2008b. Moisture su usceptibility of asphalt mixtures,
Parrt 2: characcterisation and modellin ng. Internatiional Journa
al of Pavem ment Engine eering, Vol.
9, No.
N 2, P.99– –114
Chaarlier, R. Ho
ornych, P. Srsˇen, M. Hermansso on, A. Bjarnason, G. Errlingsson, S.
S Pavˇsiˇc,
P. 2008.
2 Wateer Influence on Bearing
g Capacity and
a Paveme ent Perform
mance: Fieldd
Observations. Chapter 8, taken from m Water in Road
R Structu
ures.
mery, J. 2005
Em 5. Evaluatio
on and Mitig
gation of As
sphalt Pavement Top-D Down Crack king. Paper
pre
esented at th
he 2006 Annnual Confeerence of thee Transporttation Assocciation of Canada.
Fedderal Highw
way Adminisstration (FH
HWA). 2003. Distress Id n Manual for the Long-
dentification
term
m Pavemen nt Performaance Prograam.
http ement/ltpp/reports/0303
p://www.tfhrrc.gov/pave 31/03031.pd
df
Fre
eitas, E. Perreira, P. Piccado-Santoss, L. No da
ate. Assessm
ment of Top
p-Down Cra
acking
Causes in Asp phalt Pavem ments
eitas, E. Perreira, P. Piccado-Santo,, L. Papagia
Fre annakis, T. 2006. Effecct of Constru
uction
Quality, Temperature, and d Rutting on
n Initiation of
o Top-Dow wn Cracking. Transportation
Ressearch Reccord: Journa al of the Tra
ansportationn Research Board. Vol 1929.
Gerke, R.J. 19
979. Subsurrface Draina
age: Progre
ess Report. Australian Road Rese
earch
Boa
ard. Interna
al Report, AIR 317-1
Jah
hrom, SG. 2008.
2 Estim
mation of ressistance to moisture
m de n asphalt mixtures.
estruction in
Construction and
a Buildingg Materials. Elsevier Lttd.
ggundu, B.M
Kig M. and Robe erts, F.L., 1988. Strippiing in HMA mixtures: sstate-of-the--art and
crittical review of test meth
hods. Repo ort 88-02, Na
ational Cen
nter for Asphhalt Techno ology.
Ala
abama: Aub burn Universsity
Krin
ngos, N. 20
007. Modelliing of comb
bined physic cal–mechan ure induced damage in
nical moistu
asp
phaltic mixe
es. Ph.D. Dissertation, Delft University of Tecchnology
Krin
ngos, N. Sccarpas, A. 2005.
2 haltic mixes: computational identiffication of
Ravelling of asph
ntrolling parrameters. Transportatio
con on Researc ch Record: Journal
J he Transportation
of th
Ressearch Boa ard, No. 192
29, Bituminoous Paving Mixtures, 79–87
7
Krin
ngos, N. Sccarpas, A. 2007.
2 Physiccal and mec chanical mooisture suscceptibility off asphaltic
mixxtures. Interrnational Jo
ournal of Solids and Strructures, Vo
ol. 45
Krin
ngos, N. Sccarpas, A. Copeland,
C A Youtchefff, J. 2008. Modelling
A. M off combined physical-
me
echanical mo oisture-indu
uced damag ge in aspha P 2: moisture suscep
altic mixes Part ptibility
parrameters. In
nternational Journal of Pavement Engineering g, Vol. 9, Noo. 2, P.129–
–151
Krin
ngos, N. Sccarpas, T. Dawson,
D A. Pavˇsiˇc, P. 2008. Watter in the Pa
avement Su
urfacing.
Chaapter 5, takken from Wa
ater in Road
ds Structurees

ature Review Re
eport.docx 18
8
Kueennen, T. 2004.
2 Betterr Road – forr the Govern
nment / Con
ntractor Pro
oject Team.
http
p://obr.gcnp
publishing.ccom/articles//feb04e.htm
m
Layy, MG. 1986
6. Handboo
ok of Road Technology
T y, Volume 1: Planning a
and Paveme
ents.
Gordon & Breaach Science
e Publisherrs.
Micchigan Depaartment of Transport.
T T Birth off a Pothole.
The
http
p://www.micchigan.gov//documents/MDOT_birrthofPOTHO OLE_91772_7.pdf
Odoki, JB. Kerrali, HGR. Highways
H D
Developmen
nt and Mana eries, HDM – 4.
agement Se
Vollume 4. Ana
alytical Fram
mework and
d Model Des
scriptions. Part
P C.
Odoki, JB. Kerrali, HGR. Highways
H D
Developmen
nt and Mana eries, HDM – 4.
agement Se
Vollume 4. Ana
alytical Fram
mework and
d Model Des
scriptions. Part
P D.
Patterson W D O. 1987. Road
R Deterio
oration and nce Effects. Models for Planning
d Maintenan
and
d Managem ment. John Hopkins
H Pre
ess, Baltimo
ore, USA.
Rea
ad, J. 1999. New Methhod for Meaasuring Crac
ck Propagattion in Asph
halts. Intern
national
Jou
urnal of Pavvement Eng
gineering, Vol.
V 1 P. 15-34
dgeway, H. 1976. Infiltrration of water through the pavement surface
Rid e, Transporttation
Ressearch Reccord 616, P.. 98–101
Robert, FL 199
96. Hot Mixx asphalt Maaterials, Mix
xture Design
n and Consstruction. Na
ational
Asp
phalt Pavemment Assocciation. 2nd Edition
E
Roddrigues, RM
M. 1999. A Model
M for Fatigue Craccking Predicction of Asp
phalt Pavem
ments
Bassed on Mixtture Bondin
ng Energy. Internationa
al Journal off Pavementt Engineerin
ng, Vol.
1(2
2) P. 133-14
49
Sca
arpas, A., 2005.
2 Mecha anics basedd Computattional Platfo ement Engineering.
orm for Pave
PhD
D Thesis. Delft
D Universsity of Tech
hnology.

ature Review Re
eport.docx 19
9
Atkins
Axis Building
10 Holliday Street
Birmingham
B1 1TF
Tel: 0121 483 5000

Fax: 0121 483 5252
info@atkinsglobal.com
www.atkinsglobal.com
Final Report
Appe
endix B :
Enqu
uiry Questionnaire
Q Re
espon
nses
5078305/CSS Potholes Final Report.docx B

CSS Project 79 – Potholes
and Repair Techniques for
Local Highways
Enquiry Questionnaire Responses
CSS79-02
CSS Proje
ect 79
9 – Potho
P les and Re
epairr
Tech
hniqu
ues fo
or Loccal Highw
ways
Enqu
uiry Quest
Q tionn
naire Resp
R ponse
es
CSS7
79-022
Januarry 2010
Notice
This report was
w produce ed by Atkins for the Coun
nty Surveyors
s’ Society (C
CSS) for the sspecific purpose of
Research Project
P 79 – Potholes
P andd Repair Techniques for Local
L Highwa ays.

u by any person other than the Co ounty Surveyyors’ Societyy without the County
Surveyors’ Society’s
S exp
press permisssion. In anyy event, Atkinns accepts no liability for any costs, liiabilities or
losses arisin
ng as a result of the use of or reliance
e upon the contents
c of th
his report by any person other
o than
the County Surveyors’ Society.
S
Documen
nt History
JOB NUMB
BER: 507830
05 DOC
CUMENT RE
EF: CSS79-0
02
01 Final JP/SB
B SB/J
JP SB
B Jan 2010
00 Draft 01 JP SB SB
B Jan 2010

nated Ch
hecked R
5078305/CSS Potholes Enquiry Questionnairre Responses.d

docx
Conttents
Section
n Page
e
Executive Summary
S 3
1. Intrroduction 4
2. Metthodology 5
3. Res
sults 7
Appendix A : CSS Pothole Enquirry Questionn

naire Respo
onses – Ana
alysis 8

docx 2
Execcutive Sum
mmaryy
Local Authhorities acro
oss the counntry have a duty to ens sure that roa
ads are maiintained in a safe
condition. Where
W poth
hole defectss occur, the reasons for their formation should d be known n, in the
legal intere
ests of defence of claim cation applied, to ensure safety is not
ms, and suittable rectific
compromissed.
Increasing sums are being
b expen
nded on potthole repairrs. To providde value forr money in this
t
essential re
epair function the funddamental enngineering behavioural
b mechanism ms which result in
pothole inittiation and progression
n need to bee clearly un
nderstood. This
T enabless a more coost-
effective methodology
m y to be deve
eloped for pothole
p repa
air whilst keeping roadss safe.
Potholes are
a becomin ng an increa
asingly visib
ble feature of
o road netwworks and ppresent them
mselves as
a prospecttive hazard to road use
ers and a duurable repaiir challenge
e for highwa
ay maintenaance
engineers.
Winter weaather with lo
ow road surrface tempe eratures and d repeated freeze-thaw
f w or wetting and
drying cyclles combineed with the loading effe
ect of traffic
c and pressuure/suction of vehicle tyres are
compounding distresss. The occurrence of po otholes is unlikely
u h the predictions of
to diiminish with
more frequuent èxtrem
me` weatherr events in the
t future as a a consequence of climate change.
To provide
e the first ste
eps in undeerstanding th
he engineering processes which rresult in potthole
formation and
a to determine repaiir technique es in use an
n enquiry quuestionnaire
e was issued d to all UK
highway Authorities
A in
n the spring of 2009. Many
M highwaay maintena ance practittioners resp
ponded to
the enquiryy and this re
eport provid
des a consoolidated reco
ord of the re
esponses wwhich were received.
r

docx 3
1. I
Introd
duction
1.1 Potholes ha
P ave been a feature
f of highway netwwork mainte
enance eveer since the advent of
m
motor trafficc (and beforre) but little is known ab echanics of their formation and
bout the me
the catalystss which triggger this.
1.2 Reactive rep
R pair techniq
ques involvinng replacem
ment patching are the ttraditional solution.
s
H
However, in the climate
e of minimum highway occupancyy of the netw work and co ongestion
r
reduction there may be e innovative solutions which
w eitherr prevent or delay the fo
ormation
o potholes. Alternative
of ely `non intru
usive` meth
hods of repa
air of the po
othole after iti has
fo
ormed mayy offer good life cycle in
nvestment.
1.3 Potholes can swiftly extend into a significant highway
P h deefect especia
ally if the su
urface
c
course is of an àggreggate dominaated` type of material and
a highwayy inspectors s have to
m
make significant judgem ments on th
he likely rate
e of develop
pment of thee defect and d manage
a
appropriate repair techniques.
1.4 Substantial sums of mo
S oney are exxpended ann nually, partiicularly on tthe non-national route
n
network, on èmergenccy` pothole repairs
r for reasons
r of immediate ssafety and
s
subsequent ly a ‘permanent’ repairr, usually byy inset patch
hing.
1.5 Atkins Highw
A ways and Transportatio
T on has been commissioned by the e CSS to un ndertake a
s
study to yield Best Pracctice Guidance for proc
cesses and repair tech hniques for potholes
p
o Local Authority road
on ds. An enquiry questionnnaire was issued to alll local highw
way
A
Authorities a part of th
as he research. The purpo ose was to identify the scale of pothole
fo
ormation on n the highway network and to examine a fram mework of ccurrent prac ctice and
this report provides
p the
e consolidate
ed responses to the quuestions in tthe Enquiryy
Q
Questionnai ire.

docx 4
2. M odology
Metho
2.1 The enquiryy questionna
T aire was designed to be interactive e and easy to use. It was
w
c
composed n Microsoft Excel so th
in hat the results could bee processed d more efficiently.
D
Drop-down menus of answers werre incorpora ated into the
e questionn naire docum ment to
m
make it straightforward to complete. This prev vented too much
m variattion in the re
esponses
s trends an
so nd common features co ould be morre readily iddentified.
2.2 Q
Questions w
were compiled on the fo
ollowing the
emes:
1 Pothole scale and costs
c
2 Pothole definitions and

a dimenssions
3 Distress mechanism
ms (why do potholes oc
ccur?)
4 Repair te
echniques and
a strategies
5 Deteriora ession and forecasting

ation progre g
6 Interest in Pothole Repair

R and Forecasting
g workshop
ps
7 Visions for
f the futurre
2.3 The questionnaire conttent and styyle was cons

T sidered and
d reviewed b
by the CSS
S Project
S
Steering Gro
oup in sprin
ng 2009.
2.4 The final edition of the Questionna
T aire (Figure 1) was issu
ued to local highway Authorities
through the CSS netwo ork in late March
M 2009 and distribu
uted to CSSS members in
E
England, kin
ndred assocciations in Scotland,
S Wales
W and Northern Irelaand, TAG and
a TfL.

docx 5
Figure 1 – Qu
uestionnaire

docx 6
3. R
Resul
lts
3.1 Forty three Local
F L Autho
orities respo
onded with a completedd questionn
naire. For an
nalysis
p
purposes the responsees were divid
ded into fou
ur groups:
• Shire Counties (En
ngland) – 17
7No
• Urban (Metropolita
an England)) – 9No
• Others (England an
nd Wales) – 6No
• Scotland Councils – 11No
3.2 The responsses in the completed questionnairres were pro
T ocessed, with numerica al answers
e
expressed in
n bar chart form and `yyes/no` and `category` answers ass pie charts
s. Question
7 was free teext open-ennded and thhe responsees received were accummulated intoo broad
g
group listing
gs.
3.3 For each of the questio
F ons the resu
ults are disp
played for ea
ach of the fo
our Authoritty
g
groupings in
n 3.1 together with an overall
o resp
ponse from all
a Authoritiees. The con
nsolidated
r
responses to
o the enquiry questionnaire are prresented in Appendix AA.

docx 7
Appe
endix A : CSS
C P
Pothole Enqquiry
Quesstionn
naire Resp
R onses
s – Analyssis

docx 8
Pothole enquiry
ANALYSIS
Questionnaire analysis
Question 1
Pothole scale and costs

Pothole repair expenditure each year
Local highway authority network length (km).
Pothole repair cost per km
Possibility of `breakdown` into differing parts
off road
d hierarchy?
hi h ?
England & Wales Shire Counties Metropolitan Overall
Yes
England & Wales Others Scotland
No
Question 2
Pothole definitions
Are potholes defined in dimensional terms,
i policy,
in li iinspection
ti or operational
ti l
documents?
Yes
No
Defined pothole depth dimension (mm).
England and Wales Shire Counties Metropolitan

10 6
8 5
4
Number
Number
6
3
4
2
2 1 Overall
0 0 25
20mm 40mm 50mm 20mm 25mm 40mm 20
mber
Depth Depth 15
Num
10
England and Wales Others Scotland
4 5 5
4 0
3
20mm 25mm 40mm 45mm 50mm
Numberr
Numberr
3
2 Depth
2
1
1
0 0
40mm 50mm 20mm 40mm 45mm 50mm
Depth Depth
Defined pothole width/length dimension (mm).
England and Wales Shire Counties Metropolitan

5 2
4
Number
Number
3
1
2
1 Overall
0 0 8
7
75mm 100mm 150mm 300mm 100mm 200mm 1000mm 6
umber
5
Length / width Length / width 4
Nu
3
2
England and Wales Others Scotland 1
0
3 2
2
Number
Number
1 Length / width
1
0 0
300mm 150mm 300mm
Length / width Length / width

Are there differing pothole definitions for
diff i parts
differing t off the
th roadd hierarchy?
hi h ?
England & Wales Others Scotland Yes

No
Have definition dimensions been changed in
th llastt th
the three years?
?
Yes
No
Question 3
Distress mechanisms
Why do potholes occur?
Fundamental mechanism for pothole
f
formation?
ti ?
Combination
Traffic intensity
England & Wales Others Scotland Wearing course

condition
Weather
Backlog of repairs
Principal factors in pothole formation.
O
Overall
ll analysis
l i - Internal
I t l (direct
(di t influence)
i fl )
External (less easy to influence)
Internal
External

Principal factors in pothole formation
I t
Internal
l (direct
(di t influence)
i fl )
Type of road
surface material
Binder
embrittlement
Joints and
discontinuities
E t
Externall (aspects
( t which
hi h could
ld b
be iinfluenced)
fl d)
Road surface
g y
irregularity
Surface water
Traffic intensity
Traffic spectrum
E t
Externall ((aspects
t which
hi h cannott be
b
influenced)
Tyre contact
pressure
Tyre suction
Frost/low
temperature
Road thickness
Ground conditions
Are there differing distress mechanisms for
diff i categories
differing t i off road
d hi
hierarchy?
h ?
Yes
No
Are potholes a purely `random` occurrence
on the
th highway
hi h network?
t k?
Yes
No
If not random occurrences are there any
`pattern
tt situations
it ti ` or `common occurrence`
factors?
Yes
No
If potholes are not random occurrences -
what
h t are th
the patterns
tt or factors?
f t ?
Overall – internal (influence) or external (more difficult to influence)
Internal
External

Potholes are not random occurrences – what
are the
th patterns
tt or factors?
f t ?
Internal aspects – can be influenced
Surface type
Construction
None reported by
respondents
are the
th patterns
tt or factors?
f t ?
External aspects (could be influenced)
Drainage
Traffic intensity
HGVs / buses
Edges
Lack of
maintenance
England & Wales Others Scotland Road type /

layout
Utilities
None reported by
respondents
are the
th patterns
tt or factors?
f t ?
External (cannot be influenced)
Ground
condition
Material age
Weather
Foundations

Prevention better than cure?
H
Have novell preventative
t ti processes b been
used to defer the onset of potholes?
Yes
No
Question 4
Repair techniques
Single visit or two-stage repair strategy?
Single
England & Wales Others Scotland Two-stage
Both single &

two stage
two-stage
Is a `standard` repair technique used
th
throughout
h t network?
t k?
Yes
No
Service life experienced from the `standard`
repair
i ttechnique?
h i ?
0 - 2 years
2 - 5 years
5 - 10 years
10+ years
Pothole repair.
F
Formation
ti off edge
d faces.
f
Sawn
edges
Milled
edges
Hammer
edges
Other
(state)
Pothole repair
C ti off edge
Coating d ffaces.
Edges
uncoated
d
England & Wales Others Scotland Edges

coated
Other
(state)
Pothole repair
P
Preparation
ti off base
b
Base swept
outt
England & Wales Others Scotland Base hot air
Other (state)
Controlled trials of alternative repair methods
compared d with
ith usuall practice?
ti ?
Yes
No
Question 5
Deterioration progression
Time related pothole progression forecasting
process??
Yes
No
Does the pothole progression forecasting
process vary with
ith road
d hi
hierarchy?
h ?
Yes
No
Question 7
Vision
What could be done on present day

works to prevent the incidence of
potholes occurring in the future?
Internal (direct
( influence)
f )
External (less easy to influence)
Internal (direct influence) factors
• Correct material choice & correct laying practice
• Surface dressing & drainage
• Better edge seals, more impermeable materials
• IImprove specification
ifi ti (especially
( i ll bi
binder)
d ) and
d
workmanship. Avoid laying in poor weather.
• Over banding joints and cracks
Over-banding
• Increase size of repair to include all adjacent failed
areas.
areas
• Increased use of hot material repair.
• Appropriate plant for good compaction
compaction.
Cont …
Internal (direct influence) factors
• Quality control of repair
• Greater use of alternative repair methods
• Good programming of works
• I
Increased
d use off hot
h t boxes
b
• Programme rather than reactive
• Fast setting self levelling flowing material
• Better preparation or better laying materials
• Consider alternative road surface at design stage
• Vertical edge
g coating
g and over-band sealing
g
• Effective single visit long term repair
• Strengthening / kerbing of carriageway edges
External (less easy to influence) factors
Subdivided into -
E t
External
l (cannot
( t be
b influenced)
i fl d)
• Asset management
• I
Investment in
i planned
l d maintenance
i
• Increase preventative maintenance
• Improve road quality
• Limit or control utility openings
• Resurface at regular intervals
• Consider proprietary treatment method
• Faster processes that aid health and safety.
External (cannot be influenced)
• Reduce the 44 tonne weight limit
• Deal with the backlog
• Substantial further investment
• Improved maintenance funding
• Simplified traffic management
• Reduced need for expensive traffic management
Atkins
Axis Building
10 Holliday Street
Birmingham
B1 1TF
Tel: 0121 483 5000

Fax: 0121 483 5252
Final Report
Appe
endix C :
Practtitione
er Wo
orksho
ops
5078305/CSS Potholes Final Report.docx C

Final Report
Potholes
POT
THOLES AN
ND REPAIR TECHNIQUE
T ES FOR LOC
CAL HIGHW
WAYS
PRACTITIONER WOR RKSHOPS

Lon
ndon 20th Oc
ctober 2009
9 and Birmin
ngham 19th November 2
2009
Indicative Programme
P
10.15. Registration and coffee.

10.30. Workkshop openss.
Welccome, introdu
uction and ob bjectives
10.45. Prooject progresss to date.
Techhnical Review
w and Enquirry Questionn naire
11.30. Wo orkshop Sesssion 1 Ùnific cation`
Themmes – Standardised defin nitions?
12.00. Wo orkshop Sesssion 2 `Distre ess mechan nisms`
Themmes – Engine eering proceesses and ge eometrical fac
ctors.
12.45. Buffe
et lunch and networking
13.45. Workkshop Sessioon 3 `Good practice
p in repair`
r
Themmes – Repair preparation n, joints/edgees and basal bond, materrials selectio
on
14.30. Workkshop Sessioon 4 `Progre ession forec casting`
Themmes – Practiccalities and value
v in pracctice
15.00. Workkshop Sessioon 5 `Proces ss improvem ment`
Themmes –Three key factors forf Best Pracctice success s.
15.30. Plenary session - Route map p for way forw ward.
16.00. Workkshop closess
hop focus will be principally be engine

The worksh eering factors
s, causes an
nd mechanism ms
Each theme
e will be disccussed in inte
eractive para
allel groups with
w facilitatorr and recorde
er.
5078305/CSS Potholes Final Report.docx i

Final Report
Workshop
p Session 1 - Definitions Workkshop Sessioon 2 – Distresss mechanissms
Why is 40mm
4 the most frequ
uently used depth de
efinition?
Engin
neering proccesses
What actually causes a pothole to
o be initiated?
W might other dep
Why pths be appropriate?
?
After debate and identificcation of the enginee
ering processes - ple
ease
Is there a case for consistenccy of pothole depth definition? consider under two broad headings:-
England and Wale
es Shire Counties M
Metropolitan Internal mechanissms – that can directtly be influenced.
10 6
8 5 nal mechanisms - th
Extern hat are less easy (orr impossible) to influence
4
Number
Number
6
3
4
2 Interrnal aspects (direct influence)
i comprise such things such ass …
2 Overall
0
1
0 25
`type
e of the surface mate erial` (do potholes occcur more commonlyy on
20mm 40mm 50mm 20mm 25mm 40mm 20 one typpe of surface compa ared with another?), àge of surface` (is there
Depth
Number
Depth 15
10
an elapsed period ofo time before potholes appear?) , etc.
England and Wales
W Others Scotland
5
4 5
0
Extern
nal aspects (which could
c be influenced) comprise things succh as
4
3
mm
20m 25mm 40mm 45mm 50mm … cro
oss-fall and longitudinal geometry (do pootholes occur on all types
t
Number
Number
3
2 Depth
2 of road surface geoometry?), surface waater drainage, etc
1
1
0 0 Exterrnal aspects (which are impossible to inffluence) comprise such

s
40mm 50mm 20mm 40mm 45mm 50mm
Depth Depth things as `w

weather`, `road thickkness`, etc
Workshop
p Session 3 – Good repair practice Work
kshop Sessio
on 4 – Foreca
asting
Ho
ow should edges of excavation
e be formed
d?
How quickly do you think a pothole could
c form?
ow should base of exxcavation be prepared?
Ho
Wha
at are you doing to re
educe your reactive maintenance
m costs?
Should edges be coated? – if so what with and
d how?
How does this relate
e to Highways Asset Management?
Should the base
b have a bond coa
at? – if so what and how
h applied?
How do you establish tho
ose parts of your netw
work which are more
e
How should the
t replacement infill material be selected
d? – is there a susceptibble to pothole formation?
`rational` decision making process?
e there periods in the
Are e year when pothole occurrence
o is more
Should the selection
s process incllude both hot and colld materials? prevalent?
What should th
he nature and type off the replacement inffill material be? Are potholes more prevalent on A,B or C class roads?
– matrix dom
minated? (HRA) or agggregate dominated? (macadam).
Are po
otholes more probab
ble in the `red` SCAN
NNER condition secto
or
How is installation compaction meeasured or assured – especially at than the àmber` condition sec
ctor?
the edgess/corners?
pectancy in-service should
What life exp s be provided byy the repair?
Workshop
p Session 5 – Process imp
provement
List three aspe

ects/actions/aspirations which could resultt in an overall
improvement in the incidence of `p potholes` on you highwway network.
(
(Please list more - bu
ut identify `top three`)
(Please be
b realistic about likelihood of increased fu
unding!)
uthorities rep
Highway Au presented at the practition
ner workshop
ps:
Angus Coun ncil Hampshire CCC Oxfordshire C

O CC
Buckingham mshire CC LB of Brent P
Perth nross Council
and Kin
Caerphilly CBC
C LB of Hackney S
Somerset CCC
Cambridgesshire CC LB of Hamm mersmith and Fulham S
Staffordshire CC
Cheshire West
W and Che
ester LB of Lambe eth S
Stirling Counccil
Council LB of Redbriidge S
Suffolk CC
Derbyshire CC Leicestershirre CC S
Surrey CC
Essex CC Lincolnshire CC T
Transport for London
Fife Council Norfolk CC W
West Sussexx CC
Gloucestersshire CC Nottinghamsshire CC W
Wiltshire CC
5078305/CSS Potholes Final Report.docx iii

Atkins
Axis Building
10 Holliday Street
Birmingham
B1 1TF
Tel: 0121 483 5000

Fax: 0121 483 5252

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Revision Purpose Description Origin

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2.29 The engineerring mechanics of fracturre potholes are

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2.31 Attrition potho

2.33 The attrition pothole

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Figurre 7 - Pothole catalyst proc

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Figure 9 - Pothole repair record process

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Local • Where local foundationn weakness becomes

4.11 The most ubiquitous prevventative mea

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Thicker layer 40-70 Yes Yes Yes 15-20

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5. M aging the Asset

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Table 4 - Skills and

Combiined skill lev

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5078305/CSS Potholes Final Report.docx A

This report may not be used

0 First Draft SL SB May 09

1 Final Draft SL SB/S

Revision Purpose Description Origin

5078305/CSS Potholes Litera

5078305/CSS Potholes Litera

5078305/CSS Potholes Litera

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2.1 The fundam

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3.1 Potholes are

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Figures 1 -4: The Birth

3.5 The report explains

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3.7 As given by the MDT and FHWA, potholing is

3.8 The HDM-4 report note

3.9 Severity of a pothole ha

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3.11 The HDM-4 model wass developed

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4.1 Pothole form