Effect of reducing traffic speed on the durability of a road asphalt layer

Due to increased congestion on its main routes, the cities of Latin American, have been experiencing a reduction in traffic speed. This article presents the results of research conducted to establish the changes of the mechanical properties under repeated loads that occur in a MDC-2 hot mix asphalt (HMA) when the vehicular speed decreases. The studies were carried out using asphalt mixtures produced in the city of Bogotá, Colombia. As a general conclusion, it has been found that by reducing the speed of traffic, the asphalt concrete mixture reduces its stiffness and resistance to fatigue. For example, a reduction of the speed from 60 km/h to 30 km/h results in a reduction of approximately 15.6% in the stiffness of the asphalt mixture and 39.5% in its fatigue life.