Category:550 Portland Cement Concrete Pavement Design: Difference between revisions

550.1 Safety Edge^SM

Vehicles may leave the roadway for various reasons, ranging from distracted driver errors to the presence of an animal on the road. Safety Edge^SM provides the opportunity for an errant vehicle to return to the roadway.

Shaping the edge of pavement to a 30° bevel is an effective strategy for mitigating the negative effects associated with vertical edge drop-off. The finished shape of the Safety Edge^SM shall conform to Std. Plan 401.00.

As with conventional paving, the graded material adjacent to the Safety Edge^SM should be brought flush with the top of the pavement following paving. If this material should settle or be otherwise displaced in the future, however, the Safety Edge^SM would continue to provide a durable height transition to smoothly control vehicles back to the paved road.

Safety edge must be included in all concrete projects when the finished surface will be 24 ft. wide or greater. The Safety Edge^SM shall be constructed monolithically with the pavement. This includes shoulder paving unless the paved width of each shoulder exceeds 4 ft. When using the Safety Edge^SM, the quantity of concrete will increase by approximately 2 percent.

Prior to placing concrete pavement, prepare the shoulder material where the Safety Edge^SM will be placed to provide a foundation that will support the placement of the Safety Edge^SM in accordance with the standard practice.

Furnish, place and compact shoulder backing material to the top of the Safety Edge^SM, in accordance with agency specifications.