Bituminous Pavement and Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP) on a Motorway in Walloon Region (Belgium) Economical Comparative Study

and safety levels for very many years. The Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Facilities of the Walloon Region conducted a comparative study of the motorway in 2000 between a continuously reinforced concrete pavement and a bituminous pavement. Very many factors obviously come into play for an objective comparison and they must be in keeping with an analysis throughout the entire service duration of the pavement, from the origin of the raw materials used to the recycling and reuse of these materials at the end of the pavement’s life. This study is intended to help planners and decision-makers make an optimal choice of pavement. This choice depends not only on the economic conditions and financial management strategies but also on the period granted. Two sections of the Wallonia motorway (E42), each 20 km long, commissioned at the beginning of the 1970s, considered sufficiently comparable in terms of traffic and weather conditions, were chosen and analysed in detail. The approach has consisted of comparing different structures with the same thickness of hydrocarbonated and continuously reinforced concrete pavements, taking into account not only what was done but also what should have been done to offer an optimal service level to the users. The investment costs are higher for CRCP with surfacing support and foundation in lean concrete, but this structure requires low maintenance. Coated structures require quite extensive maintenance because thee is a structural adjustment to the accumulated traffic and rutting defects under heavy and aggressive traffic. Finally, after 50 years and in view of the selected hypotheses, the global costs are clearly in favour of the CRCP structure.