Concrete Roads Provide Savings in Fuel

Heavy vehicles cause more deformation on asphalt surfaces as compared to concrete ones. This deformation of the coating absorbs a part of the vehicle energy. That is why the fuel consumption will be higher as the flexible surface requires more energy for driving. 

Concrete Roads have Better Night Vision

As the concrete roads are lighter in colour, they absorb less light of vehicles or road street lamps as compared to asphalt coatings. Thus the night vision is increased. Even in wet weathers, it will not lead to dangerous headlight reflections. This issue is an important matter for safety in traffic.

Driving Comfort is High on Concrete Roads

According to the results of a survey carried out in Canada, concrete roads are better than asphalt roads from the point of driving comfort and surface evenness. Within the frame of this survey the surface evenness index of concrete and asphalt roads are determined. The loss of evenness in concrete roads increase from 4mm to 7 mm in 5 years while the figure for asphalt roads is as high as 16 mm. This result shows us that concrete preserves the surface evenness for longer period.
Here we do not defend that all our highways should be made from concrete, the important issue is to choose the most convenient option suitable for the environment and conditions, from the point of economy and productivity. At this stage intracity and inter city roads that especially carry the heavy vehicle traffic and have to face frequent maintenance-repair would be a suitable starting point for concrete roads.

The first concrete roads we meet in history are the cobblestone roads of the Roman age and in the modern sense the first applications are the coatings made from the concrete of Portland cement. As from 19th century, this started to be used in various countries such as Scotland, Australia and USA. The first concrete road was made in 1880 in Sydney, Australia and was in service for at least 50 years. The first concrete road was constructed in USA in 1891 in the city of Bellefontaine in the state of Ohio as a small intracity road, which is still in service.

Proliferation of concrete roads gained speed in the middle of 20th Century.  

In brief, Turkey has been very late in concrete road building. In the world, the use of concrete road started to widespread as of the beginning of the former century. Alongside asphalt roads concrete roads were built as an alternative. Transition from asphalt to concrete roads lean back 1920's in France and Belgium, 1930's in Germany and the length of concrete highways have reached 400 km. In Belgium even the village roads are made from concrete.

According to the data of the World Road Association (PIARC) 60 % of the highways (total 1,800 km) and 30 % of the 14,000 km main road in Belgium is concrete. Over 50,000 vehicles circulate daily on the roads of Belgium that are 40 years old. In USA 60 % of the highways and 70 % of the airports were built by using the concrete road technology. When the interstate highway System was completed in USA in 1957 an important portion, a total of 67,200 km, were made of concrete together with the belt highways of the metropolises.
In addition to Belgium, France, Germany and Australia within the last 50 years concrete roads were made in Spain, Austria, England, Canada and South Africa. During the recent years great concrete road projects were started in India and China.  

Nevertheless, the concrete road technology that we have not seen in out highways exists in all our airports that have been built at the world standards. The runways where aircrafts safely land and take-off, having tens of years of useful economic lives, are built with concrete road technology. According to the statistical data of the Turkish Ready Mixed Concrete Association, more than 90 % of the airports are built with this technology.