Evaluation of pervious concrete pavement performance in cold weather climates

Pervious concrete pavement is a sustainable and environmentally conscious paving material. Use of pervious concrete pavement in freeze–thaw climates in Canada has been minimal to date. This paper describes the performance to date of five field sites in Canada. The test areas are monitored continually, starting at the construction stage, to understand the behaviour of pervious concrete in climates in Canada. Testing involves surface distress evaluations, permeability monitoring and evaluation of cast and cored samples. Winter and rehabilitative maintenance options are being performed and evaluated. Test areas are instrumented to track moisture movement through the pavement structure. The findings to date of this work indicate that freeze–thaw cycles are in general not the cause of distress development or failure. The areas that require the most attention to achieve success are the site design, mix design and construction stages.