Development of Design and Construction Standards for Seaport Pavement Systems

Pavement systems for seaports are often designed using the highway standards and specifications most familiar to engineers. At the Port of Tampa, the Florida Department of Transportation Standard Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction were typically referenced in the plans and specifications for cargo yard pavement systems. Although these standards may be suitable for highway design, seaport pavements require more rigorous design methods and construction details because of the of the heavy loads that are transported and stored. Other methods used for seaport pavement design include the use of design charts and techniques developed in foreign countries or for applications like airports. This paper describes alternative design methods including the use of finite difference modeling. The results of field plate load tests used to confirm the pavement system design are also presented. The results of the modeling, testing and analyses were used to develop a pavement system standard design and minimum construction specifications for container and cargo yards at the Port of Tampa.