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Abstract

When established in 1950, The General Directory of Highvvays in Turkey was modeled after the federal highway administration in the U.S. Since then it has served successfully and set an example for the other public institutions. Today Turkey has around 63.000 km roads, 30.000 km of which are state highways. Total length of the toll roads is about 2.000 km. Although concrete roads began to appear in the other countries as early as the beginning of the last century, there are still no concrete roads in Turkey. In this article the advantages and disadvantages of flexible and rigid pavements are compared. Considering the state of the asphalt roads in heavily travelled regions it is concluded that concrete roads would be more feasible in such places. The insistence on asphalt roads could be attributed to short term financing and also to the "convenience of the familiar" it is hoped that the construction of a concrete road near Istanbul with TÇMB financing will be a turning point.