Structural Concrete Highway Shoulders. A Half Century of Successful Experience in Asset Management**
John Hodgkinson1
1 ASCP Honorary Member, AM RFD B.E
ABSTRACT
Structural concrete shoulders have been in use on Australian highways and urban motorways since the mid-1960s. They have become effectively standardised over 40 years, a commonly used design life, since the early 1980s. Constructed as part of a concrete pavement they are one of the best long term asset management investments a transport agency can make. This paper sets out the structural requirements, pavement thickness design, materials, longitudinal jointing and construction issues for concrete shoulders. The role of the shoulder in the context of a widened slow lane and the overall pavement system and carriageway cross section are presented. Experience has shown that a concrete shoulder pavement rarely or never requires maintenance. The width of the shoulder as a safety feature as a breakdown lane is discussed.
(**) For the purpose of this paper “asset management“ will be defined as
“a systematic process of developing, operating, maintaining and upgrading assets in the most cost-effective manner”
