Noise Characteristics of Pavement Surface Texture in Wisconsin

Abstract

Twelve portland cement concrete pavement (PCCP) test sections were constructed to compare with standard PCCP and asphaltic concrete pavement (ACP) to quantify the effects of the pavement surface texture on noise, safety, and winter maintenance. Asphalt pavements studied included a Strategic Highway Research Program asphalt, stone matrix asphalt (SMA), and Wisconsin standard asphalt. A dependency between the pavement textures and their noise characteristics was observed. Noise measurements indicated that uniformly transverse tined PCCP created dominant noise frequencies that were audible adjacent to the road and inside the test vehicles. Careful design and construction of transversely tined PCCP can reduce tire-road noise. No significant acoustical advantages of open-graded asphalts over the standard dense asphalt were found. The results of this research are preliminary and have not yet been approved by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation Council on Research.