Perpetual Pavement

Perpetual Pavement combines the well-documented smoothness and safety advantages of asphalt with an advanced, multi-layer paving design process, that with routine maintenance, extends the useful life of a roadway. Pavements designed and constructed in accordance with the Perpetual Pavement concept will last, and last, and last.

How it works

Perpetual Pavements use multiple layers of durable asphalt to produce a safe, smooth, long-lasting road. The pavement design begins with a strong, yet flexible bottom layer that resists tensile strain caused by traffic, and thus stops cracks from forming in the bottom of the pavement. A strong intermediate layer completes the permanent structural portion, and a final layer of a rut-resistant asphalt mix yields a surface that lasts many years before scheduled restoration. A Perpetual Pavement provides a durable, safe, smooth, long-lasting roadway without expensive, time-consuming, traffic-disrupting reconstruction or major repair.

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Major advantages

When scheduled surface restoration is performed, Perpetual Pavements can be maintained easily and cost-effectively without removing the road structure for reconstruction, saving time and money while keeping motorists happy.

Asphalt is recyclable, providing further cost savings and environmental benefits.

Asphalt has a proven safety record as a driving surface, offering stronger visual contrast with center stripes and other markings. Additional advantages can include reduced noise, reduced splash and spray, and greater skid resistance.

The Asphalt Pavement Alliance has developed PerRoad, user-friendly software for designing Perpetual Pavements. Download PerRoad software.

Fact #02

A perpetual pavement is an asphalt pavement designed and built to last indefinitely without any structural reconstruction.

Cracks and other distresses happen only in the top layer, so the only rehabilitation ever needed is renewal of the surface.

Fact #06

Perpetual pavements are built so that only the top layer needs routine maintenance.

The pavement structure itself never needs to be replaced.

Fact #22

The materials used in Perpetual Pavements are infinitely reclaimable, recyclable, reusable, and renewable.