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In this investigation, four types of sands as alternatives to river sand, namely, crushed sand (CS), marine sand, fine recycled concrete aggregate (FRCA), and fine reclaimed asphalt pavement (FRAP), were studied for their potential for cement-concrete pavement applications. Initially, the physicochemical and morphological characteristics of these sands were understood and later linked to the hydration kinetics and the behavior of cement-mortar systems in both the fresh and hardened states. Due to their evenly graded particle size distribution, CS and FRCA exhibited higher packing densities despite having more gradient angularity, whereas the interlocking capacity of FRAP was found to be affected by the agglomerated particles. Morphology, fineness modulus, and chemical composition of the sands were observed to be the dominating parameters affecting the hydration kinetics and thus the performance of the mortar mixes. Improving these parameters, especially the grain size distribution, could help in enhancing the potential of these sands for pavement applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]