Short-Term Skid Improvements by Light Texturing With a Milling Machine

Skid problems on roads can result from flushing and bleeding where excessive road-mix binder can accumulate on a road’s surface as well as general wear of the surface by traffic. This may result in a polished surface that may increase the chances of accidents due to the reduced skid resistance. Strategies to address this problem include mill and fill or overlay rehabilitation but another cost effective solution is to remove only the top portion of the surface course using light-texturing or micro-milling. Unlike a typical mill-and-fill operation, there is not an additional step in laying a new wearing course after milling has been completed. Instead, the newly exposed surface will already have the desired final texture and noise properties, and can be opened to traffic sooner. Some Texas districts have already implemented this technology and have achieved substantially improved skid resistance and reduced rutting with no detrimental effects to the existing pavement. However, these texturing improvements have not been studied to determine how well they improve skid and how long that skid improvement lasts. In this research, light texturing of pavement had been conducted at thirty one sections across Texas. The research team visited each test section during the milling and used different configurations of milling depths and machine forward speeds. While Sand Patch Test, Circular Track Meter and 3D laser scanner were used to obtain the pavement surface texture, British pendulum and skid truck were used to obtain the skid resistance before the milling and at 0, 3, 6, 12 and 18 months after the milling. The tests are repeated 3 times at every test section for better accuracy. The Mean profile depth value is measured for left wheel path, right wheel path and middle wheel path. Based on the statistical analysis of the skid resistance and macrotexture data measured on the seal coat and hot mix asphalt (HMA) sections evaluated as part of the study, the following light texturing guidelines are recommended: (1) Finer milling drums are recommended over standard milling drums if the sections have higher initial skid resistance (above 25 SN); (2) A forward milling speed of 70 – 80 feet per minute is recommended; (3) A depth of milling cut between 0.25 and 0.5 inches may be used on both seal coat and HMA sections.

• Record URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/hostedpdfs/uh/0-6752-1.pdf
• Summary URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/Presto/catalogid=37805
• Summary URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/Presto/catalogid=37806
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/56090
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Report date August 2014; published June 2020.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Houston

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 4800 Calhoun Road
  Houston, TX  United States  77204-4003

  University of Texas, Austin

  Center for Transportation Research, 1616 Guadalupe Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-1255

  Texas Department of Transportation

  Research and Technology Implementation Office, P.O. Box 5080
  Austin, TX  United States  78763-5080

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Gao, Lu
  • Smit, André de Fortier
  • Prozzi, Jorge A
  • Buddhavarapu, Prasad
  • Murphy, Mike
  • Song, Lingguang
• Publication Date: 2020-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 69p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Hot mix asphalt; Macrotexture; Milling; Recommendations; Seal coats; Skid resistance; Statistical analysis; Test sections
• Geographic Terms: Texas
• Subject Areas: Construction; Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01745511
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/TX-20/0-6752-1, 0-6752-1
• Contract Numbers: 0-6752
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jul 17 2020 5:05PM