A Long-Life Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement in Service Since 1976 in Spain. Widening and Future

A 43 km long continuously reinforced concrete pavement was opened to traffic 34 years ago connecting three important cities in an industrial region in the North of Spain. Each carriageway has two lanes 3.75 m wide, an outer shoulder 3.00 m wide and an inner shoulder 1.50 m wide. A length of 5.14 km was widened with an additional climbing lane in 1990. Pavement layers are, from bottom to top, 20 cm of selected granular soil, 16 cm of cement treated base and a continuously reinforced concrete pavement, 22 cm thick. Longitudinal reinforcement consists of Ø18 mm steel bars, 14 cm apart, in the pavement built in 1976 and Ø 16 mm, 11 cm apart, in the additional climbing lane built later. Transverse reinforcement is placed with Ø 12 mm steel bars separated 70 cm. Concrete had a modulus of rupture of 6,0 MPa at 28 days. Currently, a new widening is been studied. This paper summarizes the good performance and reduced maintenance operations of this pavement.