National Academies Press: OpenBook

Long-Term Pavement Performance Committee Letter Report: December 15, 2014 (2014)

Chapter: TRB: TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

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Suggested Citation:"TRB: TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES ." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2014. Long-Term Pavement Performance Committee Letter Report: December 15, 2014. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22229.
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Suggested Citation:"TRB: TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES ." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2014. Long-Term Pavement Performance Committee Letter Report: December 15, 2014. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22229.
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Suggested Citation:"TRB: TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES ." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2014. Long-Term Pavement Performance Committee Letter Report: December 15, 2014. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22229.
×
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Suggested Citation:"TRB: TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES ." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2014. Long-Term Pavement Performance Committee Letter Report: December 15, 2014. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22229.
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Suggested Citation:"TRB: TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES ." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2014. Long-Term Pavement Performance Committee Letter Report: December 15, 2014. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22229.
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TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD ÛF IHE '\JAI/ONAÍ AC,ADå{,T¡TS December 15,2014 Mr. Gregory G. Nadeau Mr. Frederick G. (Bud)Wright Acting Adminislrator Executive Director Federal Highway Administration American Association of State Highway and U.S. Department of Transportation Transportation Officials 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 444 North Capitol Street, NW HOA-1, Room 887-314 Suite 225 Washington, DC 20590-9898 Washington, DC 20001 Re: 35Ìh Letter Report of the Transportation Research Board Long-Term Pavement Performance Committee Dear Mr. Nadeau and Mr. Wright: This letter repons the findings and recommendations that were developed at the meeting of the Transporlation Research Board (TRB) Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Committee on October 14-15,2014. The meeting was convened to review progress in the continuation of the LTPP studies. A roster of members indicating those who attended the meeting is enclosed. As explained in earlier letter reports, the LTPP studies were iniliated as part of the Strategic Highway Research Program and have been managed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) since 1992. Throughout its existence, the LTPP program has been guided by an arrangement between FHWA, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies. By agreement of the three parties and through a contractual arrangement with FHWA, NRC continues to provide advice and assistance on the conduct of the LTPP studies through the work of its TRB LTPP Committee. Significant changes in the composition of the comm¡ttee were evident at this meeting: veteran members Mike Ayers, Ralph Haas, Russel Lenz, and Bill Temple (chair) have retired, and new members Carlos Braceras, Colin Franco, Moe Jamshidi, and James Williams have been appointed. ln addition, I have assumed the role of chair. The appreciation of everyone in attendance was expressed for the many contributions of the outgoing members, and the newcomers were welcomed and thanked for their willingness to serve. We never relish the departure of long-standing colleagues, many of whom were slate agency employees earlier in their careers, but we realize that the comm¡ttee must adapt as its members change the¡r employment status, and we do so willingly and optimistically. These changes bring the number of state agency employees on our 12-person committee to six, which enables us once again to satisfy our long-standing goal of providing FHWA with the consensus advice of a volunteer group, half of whose members are high-level employees of state transportation agencies. THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES 500 Fifth Street. NW Phone (2û2) 334-2934Washington. DC 20001 Fax (2û2) 334-21)03 www.TRB.orgÅdvt¡e¡s lo úa f{atron on Scíence, Engineeríng, and iledkine

The agenda of the meeting consisted of briefings by members of the FHWA LTPP Research Team and the chair of the committee's Expert Task Group on LTPP Special Activities, each followed by a question-and-answer period and discussion. Among the matters addressed were the committee's 34th letter report, FHWA's response, and status updates on the following LTPP program topics: the likely impact of potential reduclions in research and technology budgets on LTPP's funding, FHWA-AASHTO coordination on recruitment of test sections for LTPP's new warm mix asphalt overlay experiments, data analysis, database enhancements, and software development. At the conclusion of the open session, the committee held a closed session to deliberate on its findings and formulate its consensus advice. This advice is organized below ínto sets, each labeled' for reference and consisting of one or more "finding" paragraphs in regular type sometimes followed by a "recommendation" paragraph in italic type. Our findings and recommendations are as follows: LR35/1 Finding: We are pleased that outreach to the states --- to inform them of the status of the LTPP program, to encourage them to continue to support LTPP's data collection activities at their test sites, and to invite them to participate in LTPP's new warm mix asphalt overlay experiment --- has become and remains a high priority. We commend FHWA's efforts to disseminate information about LTPP's progress and products through the lnternet, but such information can ovennrhelm some and appear insufficiently detailed to others. Outreach to the pavement community (researchers, administrators, managers, engineers, and maintenance workers) is definitely an activity in which one size cannot fit all. LTPP's message and delivery mechanism would be more effective if they were tailored to meet the needs of the specific subset of the community at which they are aimed. ln support of FHWA's outreach activities, committee members and AASHTO liaisons will work to add presentations by the LTPP Team periodically to agendas of future meetings of the AASHTO Subcommittee on Materials. Recommendation: We recommend that the LTPP Team expand its outreach efforts to include counties and cities which could benefit from the program's pavement information but are generally unaware of and unínvolved ín the LTPP studies. We request a bríefíng al our next meeting on FHWA's perspective concerning what can be done to extend the benefits of LTPP to the lacal level. LR35/2 Finding: Our recent letter reports and your administration's responses indicate that we agree on the value of forensic studies of pavement test sections when they reach the finalstage of their participation in the LTPP program. We appear to differ in the priority we assign to forensic studies and in the manner we believe they would be best pursued. The commitlee contends that forensic studies are "last chance" opportunities to investigate both the mechanics and likely causes of failure of specific pavements, and that therefore they should take precedence over new initiatives to improve ongoing activities such as the enhancement of existing software. We also contend that a pooled fund study headed by a state department of transportation "champion" and funded by LTPP-participating states (with some 1 The label takes the form "LHn/m," where "n" is the number of the letter repofi and "m" is the number of the finding- recommendation set.

pump-priming by LTPP funds) would be the most effective mechanism for conducting forensic studies, Recommendation: We recommend initiation of a pooled fund study for forensic investigations of LTPP fesf slfes at the conclusion of LTPP's data collection at these sites. We recommend fur-ther that the LTPP program serue proactivety as the behind-the-scenes catalyst in identifying and enlisting a state champion to lead the study, and in assisting and facilitating the development and implementation of plans for the study. The plans could include optional levels of investigation, with trenching reserued for the most intensive and intrusive leveL Such options might overcome the unwillingness of states that are reluctant to have trenches cut in their pavements ta join the study. LR35/3 Finding: FHWA's LTPP Team continues to impress us with its progress toward improving understanding of the causes of pavement deterioration and the mechanisms and timing of such failures within the highway pavement community. Without unnecessary elaboration, this includes: o The digitization of the Strategic Plan for LTPP Data Analysis, wilh drop-down windows that enable the user, who can access the plan via the lnternet, to acquire increasingly detailed information about each project; o Presentations to AASHTO's Standing Committee on Research and Standing Committee on Highways concerning LTPP's status, benefits, and role within the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21'' Century Act (MAP-21); o The continuing progress in planning for the new warm-mix asphalt overlay experiments, and the initiation of planning for the new pavement preservation experiments; and o The successful test of LTPP's backup system for protecting the database. LR35/4 Finding: The LTPP lnfoPave web-based software system for facilitating user access to the LTPP database continues to find acceptance in the highway pavement community, broaden the base of users of the database, and increase the use of the database in a variety of ways. We again commend the LTPP Team and its contractors for this accomplishment, and for their eagerness to improve the system and thereby make it even more useful in understanding why pavements behave as they do. We are impressed by the list of 197 suggested improvements that has been assembled, and by the fact that work is set to begin almost immediately on a number of them. Still, we are concerned that a"n overarching vision for the future of lnfoPave has not been stated, and that a strategy for realizing this vision has not been developed. The absence of a vision and a strategy causes us to question the wisdom of further expenditures on lnfoPave beyond those necessary to correct any bugs that usage of the current version uncovers, Recommendation: We recommend that LTPP enunciate its vision of the fully mature lnfoPave software system, and indicate when ít will be available for general use. We recommend that thís vísíon be used as the basis for evaluatíng, categorizing, and prioritizíng the suggested impravements, and that a plan be developed that identifies the leading l0 improvements and their cost. Finally, we request a briefing at our nert meeting on the vision for lnfoPave, the prioritization of suggested improvements, and the plan for developing the h i g hest p rio rity s uggesti o n s.

LR35/5 Finding: LTPP's relevancy 1o the changing needs of the highway pavement community is the key to continued state support of the program's data collection, data analysis, and product development activities. The aging infrastructure of the nation's highway system, ever-increasing traffic demands, and limited resources are causing highway agencies to shift from system expansion to preservation. ln addition, MAP-21 requires the states to develop asset management plans to preserve their highways. We understand that FHWA is supporting the implementation of asset management through the developmenl of guidelines and tools that will help agencies address the technical issues associated with this new priorify. LTPP should support this effort. Recommendation: We request a briefing at our nert meeting on LTPP's plans to suppart, through data collection, data analysis, and product develapment, the states'asset management activities, includíng but not límíted ta LTPP's new pavement preservation experiments. LR35/6 Finding: lt has been reported to us that LTPP's complement of in-service test sections that have been monitored over the years has been reduced from the original 2500-plus to approximately 700. This is understandable, because some of the experiments have been concluded, and others have been rehabilitated to address performance or safety concerns or at the discretion of the owning agency. Still, it is important for us to review periodically the state of LTPP's performance monitoring activities. Recommendation: We request a briefing at our next meeting on the status and benefits of monitoring the remaining test sections in the context of meeting LTPP's overall goals. The meeting was highly productive thanks to the preparations of Aramis López, the FHWA LTPP Research Team leader, and the members of his team. Your agency is fortunate in having Thomas E. Baker, Chair TRB LTPP Committee Enclosure: Roster of the TRB Long-Term Pavement Performance Committee lndicating Attendance at the Meeting of October 14-15,2014.

Enclosuie Roster of the TRB Long-Term Pavement Pe¡{ormance Committee lndicatingl Attendance at the Meeting of October 14-15,2014 Thomas E. Baker, Chair Mostafa Jamshidi State Bridge and Structures Engineer Chief Engineer Washington State Department of Nebraska Department of Roads TransporTation Robert L. Sack Carlos Braceras Deputy Chief Engineer Executive Director New York State Department of Utah Depar-tment of Transportation Transportation Colin A. Franco Larry A. Scofield Associate Chief Engineer Director of Engineering and Research Rhode lsland Department of Transportation lnternat¡onal Grooving and Grinding Associalion Gary L. Hoffman Executive Director Ted M. Scott ll Pennsylvania Asphalt Pavement Director of EngineeringAssociation American Trucking Associations, lnc. Patricia S. Hu Gary C. Whited Associate Administrator and Director Program Manager, Construction and Bureau of Transportation Statistics Materials Support Center Research and lnnovative Technology University of Wisconsin-Madison Administration U.S. Department of Transportation James Williams Assistant Chief Engineer Randell H. lwasaki Mississippi Department of Transportation Executive Director Contra Costa Transportation Authority lAttendees of the meeting are indicated in boldface.

Long-Term Pavement Performance Committee Letter Report: December 15, 2014 Get This Book
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On December 15, 2014, TRB’s Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Committee sent its 35th letter report to Gregory G. Nadeau, acting administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and Frederick G. "Bud" Wright, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The committee's reports to the FHWA and AASHTO are aimed at supporting the further success of the LTPP program, securing the future of the LTPP database, and facilitating the fulfillment of the program’s promise of better roads through the development and utilization of LTPP's products.

The report includes recommendations pertaining to expanding the LTPP team’s outreach efforts to include counties and cities which could benefit from the program's pavement information; initiation of a pooled fund study for forensic investigations of LTPP test sites; LTPP enunciating its vision of the fully mature lnfoPave software system that is ready to use; LTPP's plans to support the states' asset management activities; and the status and benefits of monitoring the remaining test sections in the context of meeting LTPP's overall goals.

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