Transverse Cracking Study of Asphalt Pavement, HR-1020, 1981

At a pavement management study meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, September 12 and 13, 1979, the states of Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska agreed on the need for an in-depth engineering study of thermal cracking of bituminous pavement. In addition, the states of Oklahoma and North Dakota agreed to participate in the study. The scope of the study was to analyze all functions relating to the thermal cracking problem to determine how different uses of preventative materials, mix design measures, maintenance repairs, and design of bituminous pavements and overlays might be contributing to the problem and to determine what improvements might be made in these procedures to reduce the problem of thermal cracking. This publication describes the study and its conclusions. One of the conclusions is that the study did not address what the authors believe to be the major contributor to transverse cracking - the subgrade and subbase.