At the FPA meeting this past Wednesday Mr. Adil Godiwalla, P.E., of the City of Houston gave a presentation to about 30 people entitled, "Distress of Asphalt and Concrete Pavements." His presentation consisted of many slides showing examples of distress in both Asphalt and Portland Cement concrete pavements.

The slides for the asphalt concrete distress photos were taken from the "FAA Manual on Pavement Condition Survey Procedures." The slides for Portland Cement concrete distress were taken from, "Distress for Pavements with Jointed Portland Cement Concrete Surfaces." The latter may be viewed at: http://www.ets.uidaho.edu/ce475/Distress/JPC-Distress/

Some interesting points he made in his presentation were:

1) Portland Cement concrete was preferable over Asphalt from a safety standpoint (i.e., better traction).

2) Sometimes Asphaltic Concrete is reinforced with either welded wire fabric or something similar made from fiberglas.

3) One loaded 18-wheeler does more damage than 10,000 cars.

4) Pavements in the US are designed for only a 20 year life and contractor warranties are only one year.

Adil, thanks for speaking to our group.

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