CHAPTER 2

SURFACES AND
GUIDEWAYS
CE 51|Highway and Railway Engineering
 Introduction

 Surfaces provide supports for vehicles traveling on transportation facilities

 Guideways, in addition to providing support, also provide lateral guidance. These
includes monorail, concrete guideways for rubber-tired vehicles, and conventional
duorail steel-on-steel railroad track.
 Roadway surface types include treated soil, gravel or other aggregate surfaces, and
asphalt concrete and Portland cement concrete pavements. In addition, many low-volume
roads are completely unsurfaced.
 Airport surfaces include asphalt concrete and Portland cement concrete pavements, as
well as turf or aggregate-turf surfaces for low volume airports used by light aircraft.
5.1 HIGHWAY PAVEMENTS

5.1.1 Components

a) Surface coarse
b) Base coarse
c) Sub-base coarse
5.1 HIGHWAY PAVEMENTS

5.1.1 Components
Surface coarses usually consist of Asphalt or Portland cement concrete.
Concrete refers to any material consisting of a mixture of aggregates, such as sand, gravel or crushed
stone, fastened together by cement.
 Asphalt concrete consists of asphalt cement and aggregate. A variety of asphalt-bound materials
are used to surface roadways. Asphalt concrete usually refers to high-quality premixed material
using in paving high-type roadways.
 Portland cement concrete consists of Portland cement and aggregate, usually sand and gravel or
stone. Portland cement concrete pavements may be either unreinforced or continuously reinforced
with conventional rebar.
5.1.1 Components

 Base courses normally consist of aggregates such as gravel or crushed rock.

These may be simply compacted (in which case they are known as aggregate
bases) or stabilized by means of lime, Portland cement, or asphalt.
 Subbases are usually local aggregate materials. They may consist of either
unstabilized compacted aggregate.
 In addition, geotextiles are sometimes used in constructing pavements. These are
to add strength, control moisture, and prevent the movement of fine materials in
drainage layers.
5.1.2 Pavement Maintenance and Rehabilitation
Asphalt concrete pavements are subject to a variety of types of
pavements distress or failure. These include:

 Alligator cracking
 Block cracking
 Transverse cracking
 Ravelling
 Drip track ravelling
 Bleeding or flushing
Asphalt concrete pavements distress or failure

Fatigue (Alligator) Cracking Block Cracking

Asphalt concrete pavements distress or failure

Edge Cracks Longitudinal (Linear) & Transverse Cracking

Asphalt concrete pavements distress or failure

Reflection Cracking Slippage Cracks

Asphalt concrete pavements distress or failure

Corrugations & Shoving Upheavel/Swell

Asphalt concrete pavements distress or failure

Pothole Bleeding
Asphalt concrete pavements distress or failure

Polished Aggregate Loss of Aggregate on Surface Treatments

Maintenance and rehabilitation actions for
asphalt concrete pavements include

 bituminous seal coats of various types which are intended

to seal cracks and restore skid resistance
 asphalt concrete overlays, and
 recycling of asphalt concrete pavements.
 In addition, failures confined to small areas, such as isolated
potholes, may be patched.
Types of pavement distress affecting Portland
cement concrete pavements include the
following:
 Faulting
 Settlement
 Blow ups
 Joint or crack spalling
 Surface attrition or surface abrasion
 Surface polish
Faulting. Elevation differences between adjacent slabs at transverse
joints. Faulting is usually the result of pumping, and is a major source
of Portland concrete pavement failure.
Settlement. Local sagging in the pavement caused by
differential settlement, consolidation, or movement of the
underlying earth mass
Blow ups

Localized upward buckling and

shattering of the slabs at transverse
joints or cracks. Blow ups can
occur when traverse joints are
filled with incompressible solid
materials. They are especially
common where pavement is
sanded in winter to counteract icy
conditions and in areas subject to
large temperature changes.
Joint or crack spalling. The breakdown or disintegration of slab
edges at joints or cracks, usually resulting in the loss of sound
concrete and the progressive widening of the joint or crack.
Surface attrition or surface abrasion. Abnormal
surface wear, usually resulting from poor-quality
surface mortar or coarse aggregate.
Maintenance and rehabilitation actions for
Portland cement concrete pavements

 installation of edge drains to reduce pumping

 grinding of slabs to correct faulting
 replacement of badly cracked or deteriorated slabs
 asphalt concrete overlays, grooving to reduce hydroplaning, and
 use of special thin concrete surface treatments.
5.2 RAILROAD TRACK
5.2.1 Overall Track Structure

 The ballast rests on the subgrade,

 The ties are embedded in the ballast
 The rails usually rest on tie plates and are fastened to the ties by spikes
 Other track fastening include joint bars, which are used to fasten rails
together longitudinally;
 Gage bars, which are steel bars used to maintain gage at critical locations
such as curve and switches
 Rail anchors, which are used to resist the longitudinal motion of rails
relative to ties.
5.2.2 Major Track Component: Ballast

• Ballast consists of a layer of crushed stone, crushed slag,

gravel, or similar material which is placed on top of the
subgrade and in which the ties are embedded.

• Ballast is not universally used; it is rarely used on bridges

or in tunnels, for instance, and in these cases the track is
usually anchored directly to the bridge structure or the
floor of the tunnel
Functions of Ballast

 Distributing tie loads to the subgrade

 Anchoring track against lateral, vertical and longitudinal movement
 Providing for drainage of water away from rails and ties
 In cold climates, reducing frost heave by preventing capillary action and
providing insulation for the subgrade
 Facilitating maintenance, especially maintenance of track grade and replacement
of ties
 Retarding growth of vegetation in the immediate vicinity of the track structure
 Providing some resilience to help absorb dynamic loads
5.2.3 Major Track Components: Ties
Ties are used to maintain gage and to transmit wheel
loads from the rails to the ballast

• Tie dimensions are usually as follows: depth, 7 inches

(180mm); width, 8 to 9 inches (200 to 230 mm); length, 8 to 9
ft (2.4 to 2.7 m) for ordinary track, but up to 22 ft (6.7 m) for
ties used in turnouts and crossovers.
• Ties must be spaced a minimum of 10 inches (255 mm) face-
to-face to allow tamping of ballast under them; this means
that for 8-in (200 mm) ties a center-to-center spacing of 18 in
(455 mm) is the minimum possible.
5.2.4 Major Track Components: Rails
Rails support and provide guidance for the flanged wheels
on rail vehicles and transmit wheel load to the ties

Rail weights in common use range from approximately

85 lb/yd (42kg/m) to 150 lb/yd (75 kg/m), with weights
of 110 lb/yd (55 kg/m) or greater recommended for
lines used by 100-ton cars
5.2.5 Track Maintenance

Common maintenance tasks include

• restoration of horizontal and vertical alignment,
• replacement of worn or defective ties or rails, and
• cleaning or restoration of ballast.
When possible, these are combined into a single operation, often
referred to as track resurfacing. This operation consists of
• jacking rails up to the desired elevation,
• removing and cleaning dirty ballast, and
• replacing defective ties and rails.