Concrete road surface question

They are dowel pin retrofits, and are for the latter of the things you guessed - locking the slabs together so they don't sink separately.

And they are done on old pavements, not new ones. It's to extend the service life of the pavement. It seems like it's new because these retrofits are always followed by a diamond grind, which makes the road very smooth and gives it somewhat of a 'new' appearance.

 

Oklahoma built a bunch of slabbed stretches that in a truck, at each joint, to cause a terrible "slap and pitch" due to the slab pitch change right at each joint (US-69 near Durant for instance). It was a bad engineering and construction technique but they invested millions of dollars in those roads.

So, 5 years or so they tried grinding a series of small channels at each joint in the tire travel section to help "smooth out" the joint section. It helped quite a bit actually.

 

I believe they do it on the new slabs too. I have watched them lay those dowels down all tied together with rebar then do a monolithic pour over the whole mess. Love driving on the surface.

 

They have those in Nebraska along 80 also. I was always told they were supposed to help against hydroplaning.who knew...

 

US 69 is the roughest road in the US. I 20 through MS and LA are running close behind. My truck is 265 in and I don't feel the bumps like some do but hate it in my pickup.

 

I wonder (and I'm not baiting a political issue) that if folks that don't travel the various road conditions we do and see the various stages of road and bridge construction and the substrata (what's below) the way we do; they would have been so quick to slam all the States for the "delays" in starting all the "shovel ready" infrastructure improvements from the "great bailout" money they got. Building and improving a road isn't as simple as throwing a grade on some dirt and ordering a couple yards of 3,000 psi ready mix concrete to pour over some sticks of rebar or welded wire like a driveway.

They have been working on the bridge improvements on I-40 over The French Broad River SE of Knoxville FOREVER. Some folks say graft, corruption, greed milking the Federal Highway money teat.

I say; Take all the time you need Lads. Just get it right. That's a long drop and sudden stop into a shallow, watery grave for me if you don't. A hundred smoke breaks, triple overtime, years over time projected to complete and 10 guys to do the job one PROBABLY could is just fine by me . . . as long as it's built right. Lotta weight ridin' on it being right. My skinny little arse in a 40 ton truck among it. OP didn't suggest it, nobody has went there and it may be a side bar, but:

So many complain about all the road construction. Then complain about road conditions. Make up my mind for me please. You want one - you gotta put up with the other. Either way. Crappy roads that may slough you off into the trees, the side of a mountain, a road below, or the bottom of a long drop . . . or road construction and everything that goes with it; including (maybe "eventually") more time, money, hassle and inconvenience than originally thought.

Life on the highway. It's that or: "AAAAAAAaaaaaahhh . . ." SPLAT!

Me? I'll take construction any day.

 

Crashes happen on bad roads, crashes happen on the best, state of the art roads. Lot's of crashes happen in/near construction zones. I'm of the mindset, if you're going to begin "repairs", do them right and do them in a timely manner or don't do them at all, and we'll deal with it. Nothing I hate worse then an entire of section of interstate takes 3 years to finally complete, and a year after completion, they have to go in and "fix it" or some part of it.

And another thing I hate is the idea some roads that are perfectly fine, they decide to tear up and re-do. And other sections that are in desperate need of repair, go left alone for years .. decades. It's all a matter of whether some connected contractor wants to work here or there and what wheels get greased.