NEW SOFTWARE PROMISES TO PUT WHITETOPPING ON THE MAP

Mending deteriorated asphalt pavements with portland cement concrete (PCC) is a familiar technology. Highway engineers used whitetopping--concrete overlays placed on top of asphalt--as early as 1918. Offering benefits that include long life and superior bonding to underlying material, whitetopping overlays grew in popularity through the mid-1970s, and ultra-thin whitetopping emerged on the scene in the early 1990s. However, until recently, pavement engineers had no one clear resource or set of guidelines that they could refer to in determining where, when, or how to use whitetopping as a pavement option. In 2001, the Transtec Group developed design, construction, and rehabilitation guidelines for whitetopping. This article provides current information on a recently developed and related software product designed to help highway agencies analyze and compare different whitetopping strategies.