This paper was presented at the session titled `Innovative pavement design and evaluation techniques'. Grain transportation rationalisation, economic diversification and value added initiatives within the Saskatchewan economy has increased commercial truck traffic on many Saskatchewan roads and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. These increases in commercial truck traffic hold significant and often-immediate implications for Saskatchewan secondary roads (roads traditionally with ESALs of between 100 and 1000) because many of these roads were not designed to accommodate significant numbers of heavily loaded commercial trucks. Of particular concern, is the approximately 8600 km of thin membrane surfaced (TMS) roads of which many are experiencing accelerated and at times, catastrophic damage. TMS roads are of particular concern because they are expensive to repair once surface breaks occur and TMS roads can be particularly sensitive to truck loading when subgrades are thaw-weakened. As a result, increasing commercial truck traffic has translated into a clear need to strengthen many Saskatchewan TMS and other secondary highways. Although preserving the Saskatchewan secondary road network using conventional methods is both technically feasible and economically tenable in some situations, conventional methods are not economically feasible for many low volume roads in the time frame required to provide an sustainable level of service that serves the immediate needs of the commercial road transport industry across the entire secondary road network. As a result, alternative and innovative road strengthening solutions are required. This paper presents the technical and economic case study of pilot test sections constructed by the Preservation and Operations Branch of Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation to evaluate alternative full-depth cold in-place recycling and strengthening techniques on Control Section 19-06. (A)
Abstract