PAVEMENT TEXTURE: ITS SIGNIFICANCE AND DEVELOPMENT

This paper discusses the influence of roadway surface textures on skid resistance, the skid resistance-speed gradient, accident rates on wet pavements, pavement wear, and the noise generated by tire-road interaction. The tendency of a vehicle to hydroplane is reduced by increasing the depth of the pavement texture. Appropriate textures are developed by using open-graded asphalt friction surface courses and by finishing Portland cement concrete with steel tines or a vibrating float while the concrete is plastic. Hardened pavements can be textured by grooving with a diamond saw or br resurfacing with an overlay. More development is needed in techniques of texture measurement, especially in automating the stereophotographic interpretation method. /Author/