Surface Characteristics of Flexible Pavements

Pavement surface characteristics include ride quality, frictional resistance, hydroplaning potential, texture, sound absorption properties, and overall pavement performance. Growing interest in pavement surface characteristics and concerns about safety, traffic noise and performance has resulted in focused pavement research. Research shows that porous pavements absorb more traffic noise than normal pavements. There is an optimal porosity for durability and sound attenuation characteristics. In general, pavements with smaller aggregates and more open surface textures provide more noise reduction than a typical dense-graded Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) mixture. How they perform over time depends on their ability to maintain porosity.