Protection of roads against the effects of water
The presence of water at road level can cause many inconveniences and damages: too much water on the surface disturbs the visibility and safety of users and causes erosion of the slopes. When water penetrates the road structure, it causes damage which, once initiated, rapidly increases.
How can water be drained from the surface and the pavement structure to guarantee the road's drainage and the safety of its users?
Read the BRRC Code of Good Practice 88 (available in French and Dutch) and find out more about:
- the recommendations for collecting and draining surface water (paved surfaces, shoulders, verges, and slopes) and draining water from slopes (drainage shields and transversal drains), as well as the devices necessary for draining the pavement. The water storage structures, preventing the risk of flooding and allowing the treatment of polluted water, are also described;
- the measures to be taken during earthworks;
- the measures to be taken for the maintenance of the various types of joints and the repair of cracks, as well as the measures to be taken to maintain ditches, gullies, pipes, shoulders, trenches, and storm water basins. Maintenance is essential to prevent water from entering the road structure and to ensure that water drainage is not impeded;
- the measures to be taken during work such as the installation of an inlay or overlay, road widening or the installation of linear elements, with emphasis on the errors that must not be made in relation to water control (infiltration, water trap, obstruction of drainage, etc.). Finally, some examples of problem structures are given.