Theses and Dissertations

ORCID

https://orcid.org0000-0003-3757-8693

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Howard, Isaac L.

Committee Member

Baumgardner, Gaylon L.

Committee Member

Sullivan, W. Griffin

Committee Member

Wang, Jun

Date of Degree

5-12-2023

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Civil Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering

Department

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Abstract

This thesis studied unpaved highway shoulders, and in particular shoulders of lower volume asphalt pavements being overlaid. The primary objective was to better understand how different shoulder aggregates perform on lower volume routes with asphalt surfaces and relatively narrow shoulders. A literature review and an evaluation of a full-scale test section containing five aggregate categories in nine test sections over a thirty-four-month period were the primary efforts performed to evaluate unpaved highway shoulders. The study concluded shoulder width measurements were not especially informative, and that California Bearing Ratio measurements were only modestly informative. Crushed concrete outperformed all other aggregates, though the remaining aggregate categories (gravel, limestone, steel slag, and reclaimed asphalt pavement) also had a reasonable case for being moved forward toward possible specification updates. The primary recommendation of this thesis is to use the data contained herein to further shoulder aggregate specifications for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

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