Or that asphalt and concrete perform completely differently, depending on the weather conditions? Tom Yager, a senior research scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center, detailed the reasons why as he recently explained the science behind highway design.
Water will build up when roads don’t have sufficient drainage, which may make vehicles hydroplane or slide off the roadway. But by merely adding sloping to the road edges and grooves to the pavement’s surface, precipitation is safely directed off the road.
To add grooved texture to the road’s surface, there are two common approaches used. The “Diamond grooving” technique employs a diamond-tipped saw blade to cut quarter-inch slices into the pavement, which improves friction. With “longitudinal tining,” road workers will make shallow channels in wet concrete with a rake. Both methods involve placing the grooves no more than 1½ inches apart, since closely spaced grooves increase drainage and enhance traction.
Concrete is both harder to apply and stiffer than asphalt, which is why road crews usually are seen rolling out asphalt to repair potholes in the winter. However, asphalt deteriorates more rapidly than concrete -- and that deterioration process is worsened by moisture and temperature changes.
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