A comprehensive approach is required to design a perpetual pavement. This paper will present the innovative approach used to design a perpetual pavement on the Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton, Ontario. This approach included a feasibility study including life cycle cost analysis, detailed pavement design and the development of paving specifications. The conventional AASHTO 93 pavement design methodology used for the design was verified using mechanistic-based methodologies including PerRoad and other programs. However, the major step was to make sure that the constructed pavement layers will meet the desired performance characteristics. This required the development of six new paving specifications for this project including mix types, rich bottom mix, smoothness, segregation, use of steel slag in hot-mix asphalt and hot-mix asphalt paving (paving operations and innovative testing). The specified asphalt mix characteristics included dynamic modulus, resistance to fatigue and resistance to rutting. The specifications used the recent achievement in paving and materials technology in Ontario and the United States and reflected very extensive paving experience in the City of Hamilton. The perpetual pavement was successfully completed on the Red Hill Valley Parkway in 2007. In addition, traffic monitoring and pavement response monitoring systems were also installed in this pavement.
