Five-Year Performance of Quiet Asphalt Pavement Test Sections on Highway 405, Ontario

摘要

Growing traffic volumes have led to increased noise generated from the tire-pavement contact of vehicles travelling at high speeds. Traditionally noise barrier walls have been used to mitigate highway noise; however, there is a growing interest in more economical methods. One alternative is to build quiet pavements. The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) constructed five quiet pavement test sections including two different types of open-graded friction course asphalt, stone mastic asphalt, open-graded rubberized asphaltic concrete, and standard Superpave™ dense-graded asphalt mix. Construction was completed in 2009 and the On-Board Sound Intensity method was used to measure the pavement noise levels. Pavement permeability was also measured. Analysis of pavement condition data showed the quiet pavement sections have performed well structurally in comparison to the standard Superpave dense-graded asphalt, especially in terms of cracking. However, their noise mitigation properties were found to diminish over time. In an attempt to reinstate pavement noise reduction properties, MTO carried out an experiment wherein pavement noise levels were measured before and after vacuum sweeping. This paper presents pavement condition data of the various quiet pavement test sections along with the tire-pavement noise levels and pavement permeability collected since construction.