Design and Construction of Ultra-Thin Continuously Reinforced Concrete (UTCRC) on N1 near Hugenote Tunnell

In 2009, the National Route 1 Section 1 between km 56.1 and km 61.5, located North East of Paarl in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, was rehabilitated and widened. As part of the rehabilitation and widening contract the downhill truck crawler lane was constructed as an experimental pavement section. This experimental pavement section was constructed with a 50 mm thick Ultra-Thin Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (UTCRCP). Early in 2010 sections of the experimental UTCRCP started to fail and consequently necessitated repair. In October 2014 a service provider was appointed for the special maintenance of the truck crawler lane on the National Route 1 Section 1. The project called for the reinstatement of the failed experimental UTCRCP with a re-engineered UTCRCP and a Enrobe a Module Eleve (EME) asphalt base layer with an Ultra-Thin Friction Course (UTFC), at various locations along the southbound (downhill) truck crawler lane. The project objective was specifically formulated to enable a long term performance comparison of both the re-engineered UTCRCP and the EME with UTFC under repeated traffic loading. The focus of this paper is the documentation and assessment of the initial pavement (structural analysis) and material design process, the construction of the UTCRCP, with cognizance of the challenges experienced during construction as well as the initial performance comparison. EME will not be discussed in this paper.