Possibility of Using Concrete Roads in Turkey

Axle loads are increasing all over the world including Turkey. Asphalt pavements are not able to carry this heavy traffic safely and economically. Using asphalt pavement for heavy traffic cause early deterioration of the pavement and higher cost of pavement maintenance. As an alternative, concrete pavements may be used instead of asphalt pavements. There are many reasons not being used of concrete pavements in highway network in Turkey. One of the main reason is lack of experience about concrete pavement construction in Turkey. However, there are many airports having concrete runways in good performance constructed by Turkish contractors. Therefore, experience does not seem a big problem for Turkey. Turkey may be one of the country producing granular material and cement in her land. Therefore, economic crisis may not affect concrete pavement construction in Turkey. Perhaps the most difficult problem to overcome is to persuade highway authorities in Turkey. For this reason, advantages of using concrete pavement in Turkey will discussed in detail. Another difficulty is quality control of concrete pavements since it may not tolerate as much as asphalt pavements.