Progress with DOT Acceptance of PICP as a Resilient Pavement

Using full-scale load testing by the University of California Pavement Research Center in 2014 and resulting Caltrans 2016 permeable pavement guidance, ICPI technical staff and consultant Peter Loughlin recently proposed development of PICP design guidance per ASCE 68-18 national standard to the North Carolina and New Jersey DOTs. These proposals have been met with interest and tentative acceptance. While most states and provincial stormwater agencies provide permeable pavement guidelines for private sector projects, municipalities often rely on the technical expertise within state DOTs and provincial transportation ministries to review and publish pavement design guidelines for local public roads, as well as construction specifications and maintenance practices. Not surprisingly, PICP guidance is new territory.

Coastal communities are especially interested in ways to mitigate road damage from rising seas and storms. Many own roads plus have some under state DOT responsibility. This presents the opportunity to propose PICP as an alternative for more resilient pavements. In addition, some municipalities (coastal or not) in highly urbanized states like New Jersey and California are faced with managing local flooding from undersized storm sewer systems. Such systems become undersized from a plethora of impervious pavements generating runoff that exceeds their capacity. Flooding is further aggravated by a pattern of more intense rainstorms trending since the 1980s. The notion of engaging DOTs on the subject of permeable pavements vis-a-vis resilience was initially proposed at a 2017 workshop that developed a roadmap for permeable pavements. The two-page policy brief is here plus the full report.

A PICP road on Emerald Isle, a costal community in North Carolina