Heated Transportation Infrastructure Systems Existing and Emerging Technologies

Ice and snow on pavement surfaces cost the U.S. national economy in snow removal, damaged pavement and lost man-hours due to travel delay. Common practices for removing ice and snow from pavement surfaces include spraying anti-ice chemicals on the ground and deploying snowplowing vehicles. These methods are labor-intensive, occasionally ineffective at extremely low temperatures and have associated environmental concerns with possible contamination of nearby water bodies. Heated pavement systems (i.e., the concept of supplying heat to the pavement through an external or internal source) melt snow and ice without the need for anti-ice chemicals and snowplowing vehicles. A vast majority of the existing heated pavement systems utilize electrical or geothermal (hydronic) heating technologies. The use of anti-icing coatings and mix designs to deter ice formation is a closely related, but distinct concept. The objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the current state of practice and research of existing heated transportation infrastructure systems (highway pavement, bridges and airport pavement) as well as provide an overview of the emerging technologies.