DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ASPHALT ROAD AND CONCRETE ROAD ?

by Tutorial Tips Civil · 04/29/2021

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ASPHALT ROADS AND CONCRETE ROADS.

We generally consider every road as a common road but there are many differences between roads. Here we would like to differentiate asphalt road and concrete road with few points below.

BASIS OF DIFFERENCE	ASPHALT ROADS	CONCRETE ROADS
Durability	Asphalt roads are also known as flexible pavement are less durable than Concrete roads.	The concrete road also known as the rigid pavement is more durable than asphalt roads.
Speed of construction	Asphalt roads take lesser time to lay comparatively to concrete roads. It also does not require huge machines like concrete mixture.	Concrete roads require machinery such as paving machine batching plant or concrete mixture, transit mixture, etc. It takes more time for curing as well, hence the speed of construction is less compared to asphalt roads.
Cost	Asphalt roads are less costly compared to concrete roads. Asphalt roads dry faster hence it takes less time to built-in comparison to concrete roads.	Concrete roads are approximately 20% costlier than asphalt roads. However, considering the life cycle cost of concrete roads are 20-25% cheaper than asphalt roads.
Maintenance	Maintenance of asphalt road is comparatively easy. It can be easily repaired by re-layered a new layer over the old one if the road is damaged.	Concrete roads require less maintenance once laid properly. Repairing is the biggest challenge when the whole slab needs to be replaced instead of filling cracks or holes.
Resistance	Asphalt roads get damaged by heavy rain, flood, and other extreme weather conditions and require frequent repairing.	Concrete roads are more resistant. They don’t get damaged by leaking oils from the vehicle and other extreme weather conditions such as heavy rain, flood, extreme heat, etc.
Life – Span	Asphalt roads have a life span of approx. 10 years.	Concrete roads have a long service life span of approx. 20-40 years.
Fuel consumption of vehicles	Asphalt roads do not have such saving on fuel.	Vehicles including high truck volume running over concrete roads consume 15-20% less fuel than asphalt roads.
Safety	Asphalt roads have skid resistance with better traction and reduce the chances of accidents.	Concrete roads increase the chances of vehicles slip or slide in the rainy or winter season due to rain or snow.
Effect on environment	Asphalt produces harmful greenhouse gasses when melting for paving as petroleum is required to produce asphalt.	Concrete roads are environment friendly because their production generates less environmental pollution.
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