Abstract: Cement concrete pavement is commonly used and important pavement structure form in China, occupying a high proportion in the fields of transportation engineering such as airports and highways, as well as basic engineering such as electric power, water conservancy, and housing construction. Its structural stability has a direct and significant impact on the safety of engineering construction and operation and maintenance. The cement concrete pavement engineering in the cold plateau area of China is taken as the focus. Firstly, four types of pavement failure modes are summarized, including fracture type, displacement type, joint type and surface type, and the evolution characteristics of failure modes in different regions are described. Secondly, the concrete influence of five factors, such as environment, design, material, construction and load, on pavement damage is analyzed. Finally, the damage mechanism of pavement at internal and external levels is described.