Developments in concrete road construction – European survey

A survey of European concrete road construction is presented on the occasion of the fifth International Symposium on Concrete Roads. The Synoptic Table 1986 c~nta~ns in tabul~r form the principal data and guidel~ nes for the des~gn and construction of motorways and other roads of con~rete in 15 European countries. The first of such surveys was presented by R. Dutron (Belgium), G. Streit (Federal Republic of Germany) and A.J.P. van den Burgh (Netherlands) at the International Congress on Concrete Roads, Rome, 1957. At the S~p~sium held in London in 1982, the fourth summar~z~ng overview of this kind was presented by R. Sharp (Great Britain). The 1986 edition of the ~urvey i~ based o~ that compilation and on up-to-date ~nformat~on suppl~ed by the members of the Technical Committee for Concrete Roads of the Permanent International Association for Road Congresses (PlARC/AIPeR). The first directives for the design and construction of interregional roads date back to engineers of ancient Ro~an. times. Two thousand years ago, they were already b~ld~ng road pavements of layered construction up to about 1 m thickness, many of which still exist. Some of these major roads comprise cement-bound layers of gravel or crushed stone up to 50 em thick. The binding agent employed is comparable to our presentday cem~mt. The "s 1ab" a7 tion achieved in this way was an ~mportant factor ~n ensuring the long service life of those roads. The first concrete road was built in Scotland in 1865. In Germany. the first known concrete roads, called "cement macadam", were built just under a hundred years ago. The concrete roads built around the turn of the century had slabs about 20 cm thick and lasted for up to 50 years.