Using Precast Super-Slab® for Rapid Repair of Concrete Pavements

Abstract

The need for rapidly repairing and replacing concrete pavement has reached near crisis proportions on portions of our most heavily traveled highways. Increasingly heavy traffic flows demand shorter and shorter repair work windows putting more and more pressure on DOT’s to repair such highways invisibly. The practice of using “short term” repairs materials, just because they can be installed rapidly, compounds the problem because repairs made from such materials will themselves need to be repaired in just a few years – in addition to all of the “new” repairs that will need to be made. The use of precast slabs as a material for making rapid repairs has long been entertained because of the durable qualities inherent in concrete slabs manufactured under controlled conditions. The impediment to their use has been the lack of a good way to rapidly and efficiently install them as fully bedded and interlocked precast pavement. This paper will present an overview of the Super- Slab® System that was developed specifically to accomplish that. Specific references will be made to projects that have been successfully completed using the System.