The paper presents comparison of fatigue criteria which areused in mechanistic methods of pavement design. The followingcriteria were considered: (a) for fatigue cracking of asphaltlayers and structural rutting (subgrade strain): LCPC and SETRA(France), Nottingham University (United Kingdom), Road ResearchCentre in Belgium, Shell and The Asphalt Institute (USA) and (b)for fatigue cracking of bases treated with hydraulic binders:CSIR (South Africa), Road Research Centre in Belgium, Universityof Illinois (USA). The aim of the comparison was to select suitablefatigue criteria for the revision of the 20-year old Polish catalogueof typical pavements which was required due to significant increasein traffic volume and in axle loads.

In the paper the fatigue formulas for all the considered criteriawere given and fatigue curves were compared. Pavement structureswith different base courses were designed for a range of trafficvolumes with regard to various fatigue criteria and Polish designconsiderations. The designed structures were compared with pavementstructures included in the old Polish catalogue of typical pavementswhich performance can be evaluated as acceptable. On this basisthe following criteria were selected as suitable for Polish conditions:(a) for fatigue cracking of asphalt layers and structural rutting(subgrade strain) - The Asphalt Institute (USA), and (b) for fatiguecracking of cement treated bases - CSIR (South Africa), Road ResearchCentre in Belgium, University of Illinois (USA). New typical pavementsstructures were designed according to the selected fatigue criteria.