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| Sr. | Term | Definition |
| 1 | Parapet | Any protective railing, low wall or barrier at the edge of a bridge, roof, balcony or the like. |
| 2 | Parkway | An arterial highway for non-commercial traffic, with full or partial control of access, usually located within a park or a ribbon of parklike development. |
| 3 | Passive Pressure | A pressure acting to counteract active pressure. |
| 4 | Pavement | The uppermost layer of material placed on the traveled way or shoulders. This term is used interchangeably with surfacing. |
| 5 | Pavement Structure | The combination of subbase, base course, and surface course placed on a subgrade to support the traffic load and distribute it to the subgrade. |
| 6 | Peat | Plant material partly decomposed by action of water. |
| 7 | Pebbles | Smaller pieces of material (0.12 to 0.25 inch minimum size) which have broken away from a bedrock. |
| 8 | Pedestal | An upright compression member whose height does not exceed three times its average least lateral dimension. |
| 9 | Perforated | Pierced with holes. |
| 10 | Permeability | That property of a material which permits a liquid to flow through its pores or interstices. |
| 11 | Ph Value | An index of the acidity or alkalinity of a soil in terms of longarithm of the reciprocal of hydrogen ion concentration (e.g., a pH indication of less than 7.0 is acidic, whereas a reading of more than 7.0 is alkaline). |
| 12 | Pier | A wide column or a wall of masonry, plain or reinforced concrete for carrying heavy loads, such as a support for a bridge. |
| 13 | Pier Cap | The top part of a bridge pier which uniformly distribute the concentrated loads from the bridge over the pier . |
| 14 | Pier Shaft | The part of a pier structure which is supported by the pier foundation. |
| 15 | Pile | A long slender timber, concrete, or steel structural element, driven, jetted, or otherwise embedded on end in the ground for the purpose of supporting a load or compacting the soil. |
| 16 | Pit | Any borrow pit, mine, quarry or surface excavation to obtain sand, clay, gravel, etc. |
| 17 | Plans | The official project plans and Standard Plans, profiles, typical cross sections, cross sections, working drawings and supplemental drawings, or reproductions thereof, approved by the Engineer, which show the location, character, dimensions and details of the work to be performed. All such documents are to be considered as a part of the plans, whether or not reproduced in the special provisions. |
| 18 | Plasticity | The property of a soil which allows it to be deformed beyond the point of elastic recovery without cracking or appreciable volume change. |
| 19 | Plasticity Index (Pi) | Numerical difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit. This is an indication of the clay content on a soil or aggregate. |
| 20 | Plasticizer Or Water Reducer | An admixture in mortar or concrete which can increase the workability of a mix so much, that the water content can be low and the mortar or concrete strength can thus be increased. |
| 21 | Plastic Limit | The water content at the lower limit of the plastic state of a clay. It is the minimum water content at which a soil can be rolled into a thread of 1/8 inch diameter without crumbling. |
| 22 | Plat | A small plot of land. |
| 23 | Portland Cement | A product obtained by pulverizing clinker consisting mainly of hydraulic calcium silicates. Many different cements now use portland cements or at least contain some, the varieties include: Ordinary, Rapid-hardening, Ultra-high-earlystrength, Portland blast-furnace, Sulphate-resisting and Waterrepellent cements, apart from Colored cements. |
| 24 | Post-Tensioning | A method of prestressing concrete in which the cables are pulled or the concrete is jacked up after it has been placed. This method is usual for bridges and heavy structures which are placed in place. |
| 25 | Potable Water | Drinking water. |
| 26 | Potential Energy | Energy due to position such as the elevation head of water or the elastic energy of a spring or structure caused by its deformation. |
| 27 | Precision | Of a measurement, the fineness with which it has been read, therefore, precision is different from accuracy. |
| 28 | Precast Concrete | Concrete beams, columns, lintels, piles, manholes, and parts of walls and floors which are cast and partly matured on the site or in a factory before being placed in their final position in a structure. Where many of the same unit are required, precasting may be more economical than casting in place, may give a better surface finish, reduce shrinkage of the concrete on the site and make stronger concrete. |
| 29 | Pressure | A force acting on a unit area. |
| 30 | Prestressing | A process of preparing concrete slabs and beams for extra strength by placing the mix over tightly-drawn special steel wire rope or rods which are later released to provide strong dense concrete. prestressing accomplished by applying forces to a structure to deform it in such a way that it will withstand its working loads more effectively or with less total deflection. When concrete beams are prestressed they deflect upwards slightly by an amount about equal to their total downward deflection under design load. Downward deflection is thus less that half that of a reinforced-concrete beam of the same shape. The struts or braces to deep excavations in bad ground are prestressed to prevent settlement of the surface and damage to neighboring structures. |
| 31 | Prestressed Concrete | Concrete in which cracking and tensile forces are eliminated or greatly reduced by compressing it by stretched cables, wires or bars within it. Two main methods for prestressing are : post-tensioning and pre-tensioning. Prestressed concrete is economical for spans which are large or where the beam depth must be reduced to a minimum. |
| 32 | Prime Coat | The initial application of a low viscosity bituminous material to an absorbent surface, preparatory to any subsequent treatment, for the purpose of hardening or toughening the surface and promoting adhesion between it and the superimposed constructed layer. |
| 33 | Profile Grade | The trace of a vertical plane intersecting the top surface of the proposed wearing surface, usually along the longitudinal centerline of the roadbed. Profile grade means either elevation or gradient of such trace according to the context. |
| 34 | Profilograph | An instrument for measuring smoothness of a surface (as of metal casting, or a highway or road) by amplification of the minute variations from the plane or arc of smoothness. |
| 35 | Project | The specific section of the highway together with all construction to be performed thereon under the contract. |
| 36 | Proposal | The offer of a bidder, on the prescribed forms, to perform the work and to furnish the labor, equipments and materials at the prices quoted. |
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