Impact of Rumble Strips on Longitudinal Joint Pavement Performance

Milled centerline rumble strips are commonly used to reduce lane departure crashes. Safety benefits of installing rumble strips are viewed as a higher priority than the potential impacts to longitudinal joint performance, often leading to a reduced pavement life. There are several different approaches to minimize the impact that rumble strips may have on joint performance, such as careful selection of pavement candidates for installation of rumble strips, using a sealant on top of the rumble strip (top-down) or using a joint sealer (bottom-up). The objective of this study was to assess the impact of using a void reducing asphalt membrane (VRAM) as a joint sealer on longitudinal joint performance with and without the addition of rumble strips. Laboratory testing was completed on plant mix lab compacted specimens and field cores sampled along the centerline joint of two different roadways. Testing consisted of low and intermediate temperature cracking tests and permeability testing. Results from this study showed that VRAM was effective in mitigating increased permeability concerns with the addition of rumble strips into the pavement surface. In relation to laboratory cracking results, there was no significant difference observed between cracking tolerance index (CT-Index) values with and without rumble strips for cores sampled from one project location, while the second project location showed that CT-Index increased with the presence of the VRAM. Continued monitoring of field sections included in this study and future trial sections will be beneficial in understanding the link between laboratory testing, field performance, and variability associated with centerline joint performance.