New Concrete Pavement Design Guide to Help Florida Cities

The Florida Concrete & Products Association (FC&PA) recently released the Florida Rigid Pavement Streets & Local Roads Design Guide; this first-ever industry resource provides the state's counties and cities with in-depth instruction and best practices for the design, construction and maintenance of concrete pavement for lower volume street and road paving projects.

“Concrete roads made with a suitable design and sound construction practices can lead to long-term environmental and financial benefits for Florida,” said FC&PA President Matt Sitter. “This comprehensive guide takes practitioners through this design process to ensure their next road paving project can achieve these goals.”

Highlights of the design process covered in the material include:

• The factors that can impact pavement design, including traffic conditions, concrete strength, soil conditions, joint spacing and edge support;
• How resiliency and sustainability planning can mitigate environmental issues such as the urban heat island effect; and
• Maintenance, preservation and rehabilitation treatments to extend a road’s life.

The design principles laid out in the guide are based on the industry’s innovative web-based tool, www.PavementDesigner.org. This user-friendly tool, accessible through the guide, simplifies the design process by eliminating the need to perform multiple computer reiterations and analyzing the results to determine a feasible design. Information in the guide is also supported by links to instructional and technical industry reference materials.

The Florida Rigid Pavement Streets & Local Roads Design Guide was created in partnership with FC&PA, NRMCA, the American Concrete Paving Association and the Portland Cement Association.

You may download a copy of the guide here and a recent presentation on the guide here. If you have any questions, contact Amanda Hult at ahult@nrmca.org or FC&PA’s Amy Wedel at awedel@fcpa.org.