Concrete and asphalt are the two competitive materials for a highway. In Sweden, the predominant material for the highway system is asphalt. But under certain conditions, concrete pavements are competitive alternatives. For example, concrete pavements are suitable for high-traffic volume roads, roads in tunnels, concentrated loads (e.g., bus stops and industrial pavement). Besides the load-carrying capacity, the concrete pavement has many advantages such as durability (wear resistance), resistance against frost heave, environment (pollution, recycling, and low rolling resistance leading to fuel savings), fire resistance, noise limitations, brightness, evenness and aesthetics. Concrete pavements are long-lasting but need final repair. Single slabs may crack in the jointed concrete pavement due to various structural and non-structural factors. Repair and maintenance operations are, therefore, necessary to increase the service life of the structures. To avoid extended lane closures, prevent traffic congestions, and expedite the pavement construction process, precast concrete technology is a recent innovative construction method that can meet the requirement of rapid construction and rehabilitation of the pavement. This paper evaluates rapid repair techniques of concrete pavement using precast concrete technology by analysing three case studies on jointed precast concrete pavements. The study showed that the required amount of time to re-open the pavement to traffic is dramatically reduced with jointed precast concrete panels.

Steel fibre reinforcement in homogenous, intact, wet-mix shotcrete show an excellent durability against corrosion. The alkaline concrete environment gives good protection but the relatively thin shotcrete layers may crack due to shrinkage and other deformations. Durability requirements today often demands service-life of more than 100 years, which is not realistic with a maintained load-bearing capacity. Special measures must therefore be taken in the design of shotcrete rock support, such as addition of extra amount of fibres if the shotcrete is cracked or increased structural thickness, which is here demonstrated with examples. Due to the complex situation with requirements on service-life, climate impact and cost-efficiency, the design of future shotcrete supports will be optimized based on life cycle and life cycle cost analyses.

espite the new Swedish client requirement to reduce the climate impact from the construction of roads, there has been relatively little research so far on how the optimization measures regarding the environmental impact of road pavements can be integrated in the traditional design. An increase in axle weights, changes of the traditional ways of travel, e.g. the use of automated and guided vehicles, and stricter customer requirements on reducing the climate impact require new approaches to steer the road and pavement industry towards more climate neutral solutions. This paper analyzes the latest standards for sustainability assessment of engineering works in an attempt to adjust these standards for assessing various road design options in a comparable and fair way, also when various materials are included.

This article proposes the use of current European standards and verification rules for EPDs (environmental product declarations) as a basis for evaluating the climate impact of contractors’ alternative designs of infrastructural projects. The proposed conceptual framework for verified climate calculations is based on the Swedish-based, the International EPD^® System. Several Swedish and Norwegian stakeholders were engaged in this joint project to understand driving forces and obstacles and provide key insights for the successful implementation of the framework for a transparent and comparable assessment of climate impact from alternative design options. In order to perform a sharp test of some main hypothesizes, the project participants tested the proposed framework in bridge and roads projects.