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FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE ALONG THE NORTH SOUTH INTERURBAN

TOLL EXPRESSWAY SOUTHERN REGION EXPERIENCE A CASE STUDY ON S3PAGOH TO MACHAP, JOHOR
A compilation based on thesis by Abdul Rahim Mohd Shafie, 2008, edited by Engr Zulkhairi Hasan, P.Eng

Abstract:
Pavement maintenance is very important to prolong pavement life as well as to preserve
the road functional in order to provide safe, comfortable riding and reliable passage to all
traffics. Generally, neglecting or delaying the road maintenance activities may increase the
overall cost of repair and also affect the vehicle operating cost for the road user.
The purpose of this study is to assess the pavement condition and rehabilitation works
carried out along the North South Interurban Toll Expressway (NSE) within Section S3 in
Southern Region from Pagoh to Machap involving 70 km length. The study focus on visual
site assessment for flexible pavement along the mainline and making measurements on
the pavement distresses based on Inspection Manual for Pavement Maintenance
Management System, PLUS Bhd. as well as Interim Guide To Evaluation and
Rehabilitation of Flexible Road Pavements (JKR 20709-0315-94).
From the study, the common type of pavement distress recorded was cracking, rutting,
patch, potholes, localized depression and undulation and majority of the distress were
occurred along the slow lane, which are 76% cracking, 68% rutting, 18% patches , 9% is
potholes and 6% depression and undulation. 67% of the segments assessed having
combination of cracking and rutting. There was only minor distress observed along the fast
lane that was mainly surface cracks, which is 10%, 2% is depression, 1% is patch and 1%
is potholes.
The method of rehabilitation works identified includes reinstatement, overlays, and
overlays with pre-treatment, regulating works and partial reconstruction with base
stabilization using cement treated base (CTB). Based on year 2006, more than 97% of the
rehabilitation works were performed using overlays and overlays with pretreatment.
Introduction
Right from the very beginning, the structural design of flexible pavement is facing with
uncertainties such as traffic prediction and assumptions of pavement layers strength in
design methods. During the construction, quality of the road will also depend upon the
workmanship on site and supervision competency. Inclement weather also affects quality
control by increasing chances of pavement layer contamination, which require special
attention by the supervisors.
Finally, after the road is constructed, both environmental and traffic stress will contribute to
possibility of the road to be deteriorated. Initial assessment of the physical pavement
condition can be carried out through a visual assessment on the flexible surface condition
and the main parameters recorded are cracking and rutting.

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Study Background
Section S3 is a 70 km length expressway traversing across varying terrains from
mountainous to low laying areas. The construction of this stretch was successfully
completed and opened to traffic in 1994. Since its completion, the first major rehabilitation
works within this stretch was carried out in year 2003 involving 4.0 km stretch from
km114.00 to km110.00 South Bound between Pagoh and Yong Peng. Cement Treated
Base (CTB) was used to strengthen the existing base.
After the new flexible pavement had been constructed, both environmental and traffics
stress will cause it to deteriorate. The rate of deterioration will depend on the severity of
the traffic loads and the variability of the road materials.
Proper evaluation process shall be carried out to identify the pavement distress and
possible causes of the failure before any rehabilitation works is carried out. At present,
there are many options of pavement maintenance techniques and rehabilitation methods
available in Malaysia. However, appropriate techniques of assessment as well as the right
choice of the treatment method for rehabilitation works for various types of road pavement
failures are significantly issues in many maintenance organizations.
In line with the above, this study is constructed to assess the flexible pavement
maintenance activities along the North-South Interurban Toll Expressway (NSE),
identifying the various type of pavement distress and the method of rehabilitation works
being implemented along the NSE. The results of this study will be beneficial as a
knowledge sharing on the maintenance of the NSE with others maintenance organization.
Objectives
There are two objectives of this paper. They are:i)
ii)

To identify various type of pavement distress along the North South

Interurban Toll Expressway, from Pagoh to Machap, Section S3.
To identify pavement maintenance activities and rehabilitation works carried
out along the North South Interurban Toll Expressway, from Pagoh to
Machap, Section S3.

The Study
Assessment of the pavement distress was carried-out using the surface condition survey
form modified based on the assessment guide available in PLUS Bhd / Opus(M)-NMM, as
well as the Interim Guide To Evaluation And Rehabilitation Of Flexible Pavements, JKR
Malaysia.
The condition of the pavement is assessed over 500 meter segment according to its bound
directions and lanes (slow lane and fast lane). The visual assessment was done by
assessing the type, degree and extent of the pavement distresses for both fast lane and
slow lane from the slow moving vehicles travelling on the hard shoulder. The summary
location of the study area is presented in Table 1.

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Table 1: Summary of the study locations
Length
Slow Lane

Direction

Fast Lane

(Lane Km)

Segment

(Lane Km)

Segment

70

140

70

140

60.5

123

60.5

123

130.5

263

130.5

263

Southboun
d
Northboun
d
Total

The degree of the pavement distress is a measure to indicate the severity of the pavement
distress while the extent of distress is a measure on how widespread the distress is over
the length of the segment of the expressway assessed. The degree and extent of
distresses are indicated by a number and as presented in Table 2 and Table 3.

Table 2: Degree of Pavement Distress

Degree
0
1

Severity
Slight

2
3

Between slight and warning

Warning

4
5

Between warning and severe

Severe

Description
No distress visible
Slight (No attention required
immediately)
Between slight and warning
Warning Distress is distinct. Start
of secondary defect
Between warning and severe
Severe Distress is extreme.
Secondary defects are well
developed. Urgent attention
required

Table 3: Extent of Pavement Distress

Extent
1
2
3
4
5

Description
Isolated (seldom) occurrence.
Intermittent (scattered) occurrence, over parts of the segment
length.
Intermittent (scattered) occurrence, over most of the segment
length.
More frequent occurrence over a major portion of the segment.
Extensive occurrence.

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The Findings
From the study, most of the pavement distress was observed along the slow lane of each
bound and this problems mainly related to the excessive traffic loading as the heavy
traffics and slow moving traffics are normally travel along this lane. The type of pavement
distress identified was cracking, rutting, patch, potholes and depression and undulating.
However, the most common distresses were cracking and rutting. Summary of cracks
condition is presented in Table 4.
a)

Cracking
Table 4: Summary of cracks conditions Slow Lane
Total segments and percentage
Slow Lane
Fast lane
63
24%
236
90%
176
67%
Nil
Nil
14
5%
Nil
Nil
10
4%
27
10%
263
100%
263
100%

Type of cracks
No cracks
Crocodile cracks
Block Cracks
Surface cracks
Total

Out of 263 segments assessed along the slow lane, 200 segments or 76% is experiencing
cracking problems and remaining 63 segments or 24% segments are still in satisfactory
condition with no cracks observed. Further assessment on the cracks conditions was
noted that 67% was identified as a crocodile cracks, 5% is block cracking and 4% is
surface cracks. This indicates that the deterioration for slow lane is largely influence by
heavy loading from the traffics. There are only localized block cracking between km 72.00
and km 74.00 South Bound (SB) were found between warning and severe condition which
require attention for rectification works. Overall cracks condition is presented in Figure 1
and Figure 2.
Cracking - Slow Lane

5%

4%

24%

67%

no cracks
block cracks

crocodile cracks
surface cracks

Figure 1: Cracking condition slow lane.

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Cracking - Fast Lane
surface
cracks
10%

no cracks
90%

no cracks

surface cracks

Figure 2: Cracking condition Fast Lane

b) Rutting
Based on the assessment, 180 out of 263 segments or 68% is having rutting. Further
assessment on the degree of the rutting identified that 49% of the rutting is identified under
degree 1, 21% is degree 2, 29% is degree 3, 1% is degree 4. There has been no degree 5
rutting identified during the site assessment. In addition, there has been no rutting
observed along the fast lane. Overall rutting condition along the slow lane is presented in
Figure 3
Pavement rutting - Slow Lane

no rutting
32%

rutting
68%

rutting

no rutting

Figure 3: Pavement rutting Slow Lane

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The Maintenance and Rehabilitation works
The rehabilitations of the flexible pavements are carried out to address the defects
highlighted or detected during the inspection as well as after a detailed evaluation has
been conducted. Based on the findings, the rehabilitation treatment for flexible pavement
can generally divided into reinstatement, overlays, overlays with pre-treatment, structural
overlay and regulating works. The type of treatment and common condition of use is
tabulated in Table 5.

Table 5: Treatment type and conditions of use

Treatment
Reinstatement
Overlays

Overlays with
pre-treatment

Structural
overlay

Regulating

Type of Works
Mill and replace to the
required depth
Overlay of 50mm ACWC
with localized patching if
required.
Pre-treatment of existing
pavement layers to the
required depth and
application of 50mm
overlays across all lanes
Pre-treatment of existing
pavement layers including
base treatment to the
required depth and
application of overlays
across all lanes to the
required thickness
Regulating of undulation at
identified areas using
asphalt concrete materials.

Condition of
use
Cracks, rutting
Surface cracks /
failure

Notation
MP50, MP110,
MP200
OL50

Cracks, rutting

MP50 + OL50,
MP110 + OL50,
MP200 + OL50

Severe cracks,
Severe rutting

MP200 + CBM
+ OL

Depression,
Undulation

REG

Generally, the rehabilitation works coverage has increased over the years to address to
pavement failures not only because of the ageing of the pavement but also do to overall
consideration such as cost, coverage and treatment needed to overcome the issues which
are some times global but some time local.
Although very stringent maintenance and inspection strategies have been implemented,
some pavement failures are still occurring even when design optimization has been
considered, there were other factors that may not be predicted and foresee during the
planning and design stage as well as after the construction stage. Figure 4 indicates the
pattern of rehabilitation activities carried from year 2002 until year 2006.

35,000.00

30,000.00

(Sq.m)

25,000.00

20,000.00

15,000.00

10,000.00

Regulating
5,000.00

Structural overlay
Resurfacing overlays with pre-treatment

0.00

Resurfacing overlays
2002

2003

2004

Reinstatement
2005

(Year)

Reinstatement
Resurfacing overlays with pre-treatment
Regulating

2006

Resurfacing overlays
Structural overlay

Figure 4: Rehabilitation works carried out from year 2002 to year 2006.

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Conclusions
a. Pavement distress
Results of the study indicated that cracking are the most common type of the failures
occurred along the North South Interurban Expressway that is (76%), followed by rutting
(68%), patch (18%) potholes (9%) and depression and undulation (6%). The slow lane was
found to have majority of defects as heavy traffics and slow moving traffics are the most
common users that travelled along this lane, which is the auspicious factor to higher
percentage of defects observed. A detailed pavement evaluation is normally required to
optimise the budget especially when the particular sections of the pavement require major
rehabilitation or upgrading.
b. Pavement Maintenance and Rehabilitation Works
A forward planning software to determine the need of the pavement maintenance and
rehabilitation were normally used to not only determine the locations of the rehabilitation
work but also to determine the life-cycle of the pavement in future, such that the design life
of the pavement can be further stretched to ensure its usage can be extended and
enhanced.
On the other hand, a medium term plan which will alleviate the distress and rehabilitate the
pavement can be implemented and can generally be divided into reinstatement, overlays,
overlays with pre-treatment, structural overlay and regulating works.
In year 2006, more than 97% of the rehabilitation works were performed using overlays
and overlays with pretreatment as this method provide not only medium term which is 6
months two 1 years free of maintenance but also a feel good view of the completed
section. In addition, the regulating treatment normally applicable to address to pavement
depression and undulation especially at bridge and culvert approaches. Preventive
maintenance such as overlay shall be carried out effectively at the beginning stage when
the distresses were identified to avoid further failure that would increase cost of repairs.

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Reference
1)

Jabatan Kerja Raya (April 1994). Interim Guide To Evaluation And

Rehabilitation of Flexible Road Pavement JKR 20709-0315-94 , Cawangan
Jalan Ikram Series (Pavement) ISP-2

2)

Malaysian Highway Authority (September 1996). Maintenance Manual and

Guideline (Civil Works).

3)

Inspection Manual, Pavement Maintenance Management System, PLUS

BHD. July 2000.

4)

Jabatan Kerja Raya (December 1992). A Guide To Visual Assessment Of

Flexible Pavement Surface Conditions. JKR 20709-2060-92.

5)

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Meor Othman Hamzah, USM (2006). Pavement Design.
IEMs Course on Asphalt Material and Pavement Design, 19 December 2006,
Kuala Lumpur.

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PAVEMENT DEFECTS

Pavement cracks

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PAVEMENT DEFECTS

Pavement undulating

Potholes

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PAVEMENT DEFECTS

Patching

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PAVEMENT REHABILITATION WORKS

Pavement regulating

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PAVEMENT REHABILITATION WORKS

Milling work

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PAVEMENT REHABILITATION WORKS

Overall completed section