Paving Our Ways

Dr Maxwell Lay is an engineering consultant known for his internationalcontributions to road engineering and his acclaimed international roadhistories. He is a member of the Order of Australia, former ExecutiveDirector of the Australian Road Research Board, and past President ofthe Royal Automobile Club of Victoria and the Australian AutomobileAssociation. He has been awarded the Moisseif Medal of the AmericanSociety of Civil Engineers, the Peter Nicol Russell, Warren and TransportMedals of the Institution of Engineers Australia, and the Gold Medalof Roads Australia. He is the author of Handbook of Road Technology(CRC Press, 2019).Dr John Metcalf has worked in pavement materials and engineering atthe British Road Research Laboratory, Queen’s University in Canada,and the Queensland Main Roads Department. He was Deputy Directorof the Australian Road Research Board and later was appointed ChairedProfessor of Civil Engineering at Louisiana State University. He was aFellow of the (UK) Institution of Civil Engineers and the Geological Societyof London and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He isan Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia.Kieran Sharp worked for the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) as aresearcher in the fields of pavements, roads, and transport, and as technicaleditor, for over 40 years. He was the first member of ARRB to receive anAustroads Achievement Award. He is the Chair of the Technical Committeeof the Road Engineering Association of Asia and Australia, a member of theGoverning Council, and an Honorary Member. He was awarded the RoadsAustralia Award for Technical Excellence in 2013.

"I found much of interest from a heritage perspective in the changing technology across the world from China and Mesopotamia, Europe, Britain, Australia and North America, stretching from biblical times to the presentday. . . . The book should provide a comprehensive reference for civil engineering students and practising engineers,and will be interesting from a history and heritage perspective for more general readers."-- Keith Baker, Engineering Heritage Australia Magazine"This is an excellent and very well documented history of road pavements. It provides a bonanza of information to any reader interested in the early roads, built millennia ago, as well as those constructed during the Industrial Revolution. It tells the story of the struggle to find a perfect an engineering solution to a complex problem: how to build durable and economical roads. The book is a joy to read. It presents in detail engineering principles, research trials and innovations, along with portraits of several major contributors to road pavement design and construction. Everyone interested in the history of road transport should buy this book; it is the best on the topic."-- Stefan A. Romanoschi, Professor, University of Texas at Arlington

• ContentsPreface: What is a road pavement? ixAuthors xiii1 How pavements are affected by traffic and weather 12 Early pavements in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete and Greece 73 Making pavements using local materials and simple equipment 134 The essential paving properties of soil, sand and stones 275 Paving ways through swamps and bogs 376 Roman pavements – a major advance in pavement quality and extent 437 Pavement management processes from medieval Europe 518 Trésaguet and Telford lead a pavement renaissance in France and England 599 McAdam invents a major new pavement using broken stones 6710 Using masonry methods to produce pavements for heavy traffic 8711 The essential paving properties of bitumen, asphalt and cement 9912 Three unique pavement engineers – Metcalf, McAdam and Mountain 10513 The first asphalt pavements, produced in 19th-century France and England 11314 A new form of pavement using thin, sprayed bituminous surfacings 13115 Asphalt paving produced to carry 20th-century truck traffic 13716 The design of asphalt pavements – a predominantly American initiative 15117 The 20th-century development of concrete pavements 16518 Chemical and physical means of modifying local materials for paving 17519 Devices and methods for measuring and evaluating pavement performance 18120 Full-scale testing of pavements to validate designs using local materials 20721 Possible future pavements, with an emphasis on recycling 22922 How pavements could be funded and operated in future years 235Timeline 239Bibliography 253End Notes 269Index 291