Princess Highway Sydney A 40-Year Performance Review (Jul 1992)

As part of the planning and design of a road pavement it is allocated a ’design-life’. This is the period over which traffic loads are estimated for use in structural design. Usually expressed in years the typical range of design lives is 20—40 years. Concrete road pavements are frequently designed for 30-40 year design lives. A question which follows is — how successfully do pavements meet these design life expectations? Among other concrete roads built in the post- World War II period, a 5.2-km length of concrete pavement on the Princes Highway (State Highway J) in the southern suburbs of Sydney is now 40 years old. After this time, it remains in very sound condition. This article reviews the current condition of this pavement and contrasts the design standards in use in the early 1950s with current standards. The long-term performance characteristics of this and other similar-age roads have contributed to a progressive development of road engineering. technology and have been incorporated in current design procedures