Distress and wear of flexible road pavements

Roads are essential to the economy, ensuring the movement of people and goods. Over the past few decades, the growth in truck transport of raw materials and finished products has put increasing strain on road networks in European countries. Against this backdrop, these countries are obliged to invest more and more in maintaining and improving their road networks.

With over 21,000 km, mainland France has one of the largest national road networks in Europe. It is made up of national roads and freeways with and without concessions. This road network is heavily used, with 78% of heavy goods vehicles circulating in France. Overall, it is in good condition and very well maintained. On the other hand, we often forget to mention the departmental and communal roads, which alone total over a million kilometers, not counting the 600,000 km of rural roads. This secondary road network is generally much less developed and maintained than the national network, and requires more attention. Most of the photos of pavement deterioration presented in this article were taken on this secondary network in the Rhône-Alpes region.

This article presents an overview of the different ways in which flexible pavements deteriorate. The aim is to understand the various phenomena that impact the quality of a road surface, so that they can be taken into consideration during the design, construction and maintenance phases of the pavement during its service life. However, maintenance techniques are not covered in this article.