This cornerstone proposal of the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act will reform and streamline transportation programs, cut red tape in the project approval process, increase states’ flexibility to fund their most critical needs, and encourage private sector participation in financing and building projects.

This legislation will be the largest transportation reform bill since the Interstate Highway System was created in 1956.  Furthermore, this legislation will contain no earmarks.  The previous surface transportation law contained over 6,300 earmarks.

What percentage of RAP is best? It depends.

Processed, ground reclaimed asphalt shingles await addition to asphalt mix near Waco, Tex., and are a low-volume adjunct to RAP.

T here are powerful inducements today to reuse reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in a variety of applications. And the big question about RAP has shifted from whether it belongs in mixes at all, to how much can safely be accommodated in a mix.

It is this question that is driving an enormous amount of attention and research today. Many road agencies are closely observing the research as they permit higher percentages of RAP in a mix. Environmental legislation at the state level also is compelling higher percentages of RAP.

In the meantime, research continues on the questions of to what degree does the residual asphalt on RAP replace performance-graded (PG) binders; how will larger percentages of RAP impact the type of PG binder that should be specified for a Superpave mix in a particular location; and how important is the processing and analysis of RAP stockpiles in allowing higher percentages of RAP in asphalt mixes.

New guidance was released this year and last from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) on higher amounts of RAP in asphalt mixes.

An abundance of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) – combined with constrained virgin aggregate resources and costly liquid asphalt binder – has caused the industry to define higher levels of RAP in asphalt mixes.

Today, critical-performance mixes – such as those for surface or friction courses – typically get a lower percentage of RAP allowed than the intermediate or leveling courses just below them. It’s being demonstrated that warm-mix asphalt (WMA) modifiers can permit higher percentages of RAP in a mix, and that warm mixes are very friendly to RAP. Use of a rejuvenator can allow vastly higher percentages of RAP in noncritical intermediate courses. And foamed asphalt- or asphalt emulsion-stabilized bases can use 100-percent RAP, as was done in a major recycling project on Interstate 81 in Virginia this year.

In 2009, researchers at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) estimated that across the United States, RAP usage varied considerably, but the average RAP content was estimated to be around 15 percent. Boosting that average could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from roadbuilding substantially, National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) president Mike Acott says. “Use of 25-percent RAP reduces total lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent, which equates to 2 million tons [of carbon dioxide] offset annually,” he says.

And more emissions reduction is possible, Acott implies: “A singular quality of asphalt cement in that it is rejuvenated when RAP is incorporated into new pavement, becoming an integral part of the binder. In view of the high reuse/recycling rate in lead states, including a preponderance of evidence that the quality of asphalt pavements incorporating RAP is equal to or better than pavements using all virgin materials, there is ample opportunity to double the quantity of RAP used within five years.”

A late-2010 survey of state DOTs, reported in May 2011 and conducted by the RAP Expert Task Group, reported maximum allowable percentages of RAP in mixes.

Boosting the amount of RAP in mixes is a line item in the National Asphalt Road Map: Commitment to the Future, produced in 2007 by NAPA; FHWA; American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials; Asphalt Institute; and National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association.

The asphalt road map lists Item No. 4.09: Develop High RAP Content Mix Design Procedure as one of its needed high-priority research projects. The road map also urges study on use of recycled materials other than RAP in asphalt mixes.

A May 2011 survey by RAP Expert Task Group found maximum allowable percentages of reclaimed asphalt shingles (RAS) permitted in asphalt mixes.

“The use of RAP in recycled asphalt pavement is well accepted practice by many federal, state and local agencies,” the road map says. “In many areas, almost all hot-mix asphalt (HMA) contains at least some RAP. However, with a few exceptions, the amount of RAP that can be added in hot plant mix asphalt mixtures is limited to relatively low percentages and in some areas the use of RAP is prohibited in certain types of mixtures, such as surface courses. Typically, the maximum percentage of RAP allowed is anywhere from 15 to 30 percent by weight of HMA mixture.”

The road map anticipates considerably higher percentages being implemented. “Laboratory and field studies have been performed on HMA with much higher percentages of RAP,” the road map says. “These investigations have concluded that HMA materials with percentages in excess of 50 percent can be produced to perform the same as ‘virgin’ mixes. It has been well established that agencies that are not currently allowing RAP into their HMA mixtures and those that are only allowing small percentages of RAP can safely increase the amount of RAP used without fear of shortening pavement life, provided that best practices are followed. . . . [T]he state-of-the-practice relative to the mix design procedures using high RAP content mixes needs to be established.”

RAP millings from Virginia’s I-81 are fed into adjacent portable cold recycling plant to make foamed asphalt base using 100-percent RAP.

To this end, last year, the leaders of trade associations that represent 150 million tons a year of asphalt recycling signed a cooperative agreement aimed at doubling the rate of reuse/recycling of asphalt pavements within five years.

Principal signatories to the agreement were NAPA and the Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association (ARRA). Letters of support were provided by the FHWA and EPA. Under the agreement, NAPA and ARRA pledge to support each other’s efforts to deal with common challenges and build on each other’s strengths regarding asphalt recycling issues.

“Asphalt pavement is America’s most recycled material,” says NAPA’s Acott. “There are more than 18 billion tons of asphalt pavement already in place on the roads, streets and highways of this country. These same roads that Americans use every day are also a resource that future generations can use. Our goal is to increase the rate of recycling even further.”

“Reclaiming and recycling asphalt roads brings America the best possible pavements while conserving precious natural resources,” says Mike Krissoff, executive director of ARRA. “The members of both ARRA and NAPA are proud of the industry’s long track record of delivering quality and value.”

Complications

Efforts to boost RAP usage are restrained by the fact that larger-than-conventional doses of RAP – without binder adaptation – can complicate long-term mix performance.

On Virginia’s I-81 recycle project, foamed asphalt base is produced in KMA 220 portable cold mix plant and is taken immediately to project for placement and compaction as base.

One “rap” against RAP is that its composition varies because it’s sourced from a wide variety of locations. Therefore, advance knowledge of the composition of the residual binder in RAP – along with the separate stockpiling of different varieties, or blending of varieties to create a consistent product – is necessary for creation of reliable mixes.

One way to boost use and consistency of RAP in asphalt mixes is for producers to maintain sheltered, blended RAP stockpiles and, if needed, to reprocess, or fractionate, the RAP into individual gradations. Sheltered stockpiles are favored because RAP doesn’t shed water as easily as virgin aggregate.

The processing, or “fractionation,” of RAP replicates conventional best practices for virgin aggregate processing. With fractionation, RAP is screened, with oversize broken into smaller fractions and each stockpiled separately. Fractionated RAP may result in more uniform mixes, in which RAP fractions can be isolated, in contrast to general stockpiles in which large and smaller fractions may become segregated.

Long ago it was established that RAP was not just a “black rock,” but that its residual asphalt – oxidized and brittle as it is, and in varying amounts – still provides a bituminous portion to the overall mix design, permitting addition of a lesser amount of expensive liquid asphalt binder. The Asphalt Institute (AI)stated components of RAP have value, particularly true of asphalt binder, and the residual asphalt can reduce the amount of new asphalt binder in a mixture. A mix with 20-percent RAP with 5-percent asphalt content can result in a 1-percent savings in new asphalt binder, AI says.

RAP = Stiffer Mixture

Excessive amounts of RAP in the mixture can have substantial effects on pavement performance. Use of 15-percent or more RAP can result in a significant increase in stiffness of the mixture, which can enhance durability. But the use of RAP in hot-mix asphalt also can negatively affect low temperature cracking characteristics of the pavement.

“The aggregate in RAP should be considered as if it were just another stockpile of virgin aggregate,” states the Washington State DOT in an online tutorial. “RAP aggregate properties, as with virgin aggregate properties, may limit the amount of RAP that can be used in a particular mixture.”

The residual binder in RAP must be taken into account when designing a mix, WashDOT says. “The effect of RAP asphalt binder must be considered when using RAP in Superpave mix design (or any mix design),” the tutorial states. “RAP asphalt binder will blend with virgin asphalt binder in most any mix design, and the resulting properties of this blended asphalt binder must be understood.”

The reason is that RAP asphalt binder already is significantly aged because of its previous field life, WashDOT says. “This aged binder is generally stiffer than virgin asphalt binder and thus will cause the resultant binder blend to become more viscous (stiffer),” the tutorial says. “This, in turn, will cause the HMA to be more viscous.”

Therefore, successful RAP mix designs incorporating RAP above 15 percent by weight should analyze the stiffness of the existing residual binder in the RAP, and compare it to the stiffness of the virgin liquid binder, along with the proportions of each in the final product.

In their 2010 Transportation Research Board paper, A Backcalculation Method to Determine “Effective” Asphalt Binder Properties of RAP Mixtures, Thomas Bennert, Ph.D., senior research engineer, Rutgers University’s Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT), and Raj Dongré, Ph.D., Dongré Laboratory Services, Fairfax, Va., observe that it’s important to understand the effect that RAP has on the final asphalt mixture performance.

“Current recommendations for the use of RAP in asphalt mixtures follow those developed under NCHRP Project 9-12, Incorporation of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement in the Superpave System,” they write. These include: no change in binder selection necessary for RAP percentages less than 15 percent; select a virgin binder grade one grade softer than normal for RAP percentages between 15 and 25 percent; and follow recommendations from blending charts when RAP percentages are greater than 25 percent. The results were based on laboratory testing of asphalt mixtures containing approximately 5-percent asphalt binder and using non-fractioned RAP.

‘Tiered’ Approach to Higher RAP

Similarly, New Jersey has taken an incremental approach in raising allowable percentages of RAP in its mixes, with evaluation of the residual RAP binder required for doses higher than 15 percent.

In his 2010 presentation, Higher RAP Mixes in New Jersey: Changes in Mix Design and Production, CAIT’s Bennert describes the efforts that New Jersey DOT is undergoing to incorporate higher levels of RAP in mixes while maintaining pavement durability.

New Jersey DOT has established “tiers” describing increasing levels of RAP in mixes.

• Tier 1: 10- to 15-percent RAP. Asphalt binder grade for the mixture is selected for the environmental and traffic conditions the same as required for a mixture with all virgin materials. With RAP limited to 15 percent or less, it is not necessary to determine the properties of the RAP binder. No [PG] grade adjustment is made to compensate for the stiffness of the asphalt binder in the RAP.

• Tier 2: 16- to 25-percent RAP. The asphalt binder grade can also be selected using an appropriate blending chart if the supplier chooses to adjust the binder selection to compensate for the stiffness of the reclaimed asphalt binder. Extraction and recovery of RAP binder with binder testing is required. Regardless of the method used to select binder grade, adjust binder grade as necessary to meet mixture performance requirements

• Tier 3: 26- to 40-percent RAP. The binder grade for the new asphalt binder is selected using an appropriate blending chart for high and low temperatures. Extraction and recovery of RAP binder and testing is required on a minimum of five samples. Adjust binder grade as necessary to meet mixture performance requirements.

Indiana Justifies More RAP

Use of larger amounts of RAP – and thus changes in a state’s RAP acceptance spec – can be justified by adjusting the type of PG grading used for a Superpave mix, say Matthew Beeson and Michael Prather, Indiana DOT, and Gerry Huber, Heritage Research Group, in their 2011 TRB paper, Characterization of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement in Indiana: Changing INDOT Specification for RAP.

But doing so requires intensive study of the binder properties in the existing storehouse of RAP across the state, and comparing them to the properties of new asphalt binders being used in the state.

“Interest has been growing to increase reclaimed asphalt pavement usage by increasing the allowable percentage that can be used in hot-mix asphalt,” Beeson, Prather and Huber say. “[Indiana DOT] undertook a detailed evaluation of asphalt binder properties in RAP and the properties of new asphalt binders being supplied to INDOT.”

Asphalt binder was recovered from 33 RAP samples taken across the state, and characterized for low temperature and high temperature grade [for Superpave mixes], they say. “New asphalt binder properties were obtained from more than 200 quality acceptance samples that covered three minus-22 grades and three minus-28 grades,” they said in January. “The data were analyzed to determine the maximum amount of RAP that could be added. Up to 22-percent RAP could be added without changing the original grade of binder. By shifting to a minus-28 grade, the allowable RAP increased to 38 percent. These findings supported the findings of a North Central Superpave Center study on five asphalt plants.”

The result was enough confidence in the existing RAP and its interaction with virgin PG binders that Indiana DOT was able to change its RAP acceptance specs upward. “On the basis of this information, INDOT changed the specification for RAP to allow up to 25-percent binder substitution without changing the normal binder grade of minus-22, and up to 40 percent if the binder was changed to a minus-28 grade.”

WMA and RAP

As WMA is an unfolding technology, its interaction with RAP is being studied in an ongoing investigation. The Effect of Warm Mix Asphalt on RAP in Hot Mix Asphalt is being undertaken by Rutgers’ Bennert and Nazhat Aboobaker of the New Jersey DOT.

The project is intended to determine how RAP can be used at typical and higher percentages in warm-mix asphalt. “One of the critical issues facing warm-mix asphalt is the lack of a formal mixture design procedure,” the researchers say. “If warm-mix asphalt is to replace or be used in conjunction with hot-mix asphalt in the future, a laboratory mixture design procedure for warm-mix asphalt must be established.”

Key issues that will be addressed during the research project are: the appropriate RAP percentages due to potential of decreased RAP and virgin asphalt binder blending with WMA; possible mixture design modifications for WMA technologies and additives, including foamed asphalt; possible recommendations for minimum production temperature and storage times of warm-mix asphalt; and acceptance procedures for allowing the use of current and new WMA technologies and additives. The project began Mar. 1, 2010, and is set to end April 30, 2012.

A Limit to RAP Content?

Use of larger quantities of RAP in highways might be attractive today due to the obvious savings in material costs, but that might lead to trouble “down the road,” say José P. Aguiar-Moya and Jorge A. Prozzi, Ph.D., University of Texas-Austin, and Feng Hong, Ph.D., P.E., Texas DOT, in their January 2011 TRB paper, RAP: Save Today, Pay Later?

In Texas, the DOT allows up to 30-percent RAP in base mixtures and up to 20-percent RAP in surface mixtures. “There are many advantages that are associated with the use of RAP, including economic benefits due to the reduction in virgin asphalt binder and new aggregates required, environmental benefits associated with the use of a recycled material, significant energy savings, and short-term performance benefits due to increased rutting resistance,” the authors say. “However, field observations have raised some concerns in terms of the long-term performance of mixtures containing RAP compared to those of virgin mixes.”

In order to address these concerns, the authors used data from FHWA’s Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) project’s SPS-5 experiment in Texas to quantify and compare the field performance of pavement sections containing RAP to those of those that don’t.

Based on the SPS-5 data, simple performance models were developed for rutting and cracking of the pavement structure. The models were then used to statistically quantify the effect of RAP on each type of distress and to estimate the expected pavement life of a given overlay, with and without RAP.

“As expected, the results indicate that there is a significant gain in rutting resistance when using RAP,” the authors say. “However, pavements containing RAP develop cracking earlier, and at a faster rate, so short-term savings may be offset by additional overlays later in the life of the pavement. This raised the following concern: Are we saving today to pay later?”

The authors conclude that RAP may not be always the most economical solution, and that lifecycle cost analysis is imperative to assess the real benefits and costs of the various alternatives. “The interim results indicate that, under particular scenarios, the use of RAP might not be the most economic choice,” the authors say. “Where and how much RAP should be used should be determined through a case-by-case analysis.”

The authors don’t want to discourage higher amounts of RAP in mixes, but emphasize that pavement designers need to be cautious with the use of RAP and to take into consideration that pavement structures with RAP might deteriorate faster in the long run, mainly in cases where RAP is used in thin overlays.

“Increasing RAP percentages is not always the solution,” they write. “Consequently, it is important that proper deterioration models be developed and calibrated for the different regions where RAP is used so that proper economic analysis is applied for determining whether or not to use RAP in each specific project. Pavement managers should consider that using RAP today may result in initial construction savings, but the long-term maintenance and rehabilitation costs might overshadow these initial benefits.”

ETG Guides RAP Use

Also guiding the effort toward higher percentages of RAP is the Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement Expert Task Group, or RAP ETG. Created in 2007 by the FHWA, the RAP ETG is composed of materials specialists from FHWA, state DOTs, AASHTO, NAPA, NCAT at Auburn University in Alabama, and other stakeholders.

Its mission is to advance the use of RAP in asphalt paving applications by providing information emphasizing the production of high-quality, high-RAP mixtures, the performance of asphalt mixtures containing RAP, technical guidance on high-RAP projects and RAP research activities.

In September 2011, activity of the RAP ETG was the subject of an FHWA Tech Brief titled High Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement Use (the ETG defines high RAP as 25-percent or more RAP in an asphalt mixture by weight of the total mix).

The Tech Brief contains the latest responses to a biannual survey on RAP use conducted by the RAP ETG. With the assistance of AASHTO, the survey was conducted in 2007, 2009 and 2011. “In 2007, the typical hot-mix asphalt mixture contained about 12-percent RAP,” the document states. “From 2007 to 2009, about 27 states increased the amount of RAP permitted in asphalt mixtures, and, as of 2009, 23 states have experience with high-RAP mixtures. As of 2011, the majority of state highway agencies (more than 40) allow more than 30-percent RAP; however, only 11 report actually using 25-percent RAP or more.”

The RAP ETG Tech Brief also lists recent documents that articulate new technical information on higher RAP contents. Download it by searching for “FHWA-HRT-11-057.”

Earlier in 2011, the FHWA rolled out a definitive document that maintains that, based on an evaluation of pavements containing 30-percent RAP through the LTPP program, performance of pavements containing up to 30-percent RAP is similar to that of pavements constructed from virgin materials with no RAP.

The April 2011 report, Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement in Asphalt Mixtures: State of the Practice (Publication No. FHWA-HRT-11-021), provides new guidance on best practices when using RAP, and documented information about long-term performance of high-RAP pavements.

The state of the practice for RAP use across the United States, as well as common challenges for increasing the use of RAP, are identified. Authored by FHWA’s Audrey Copeland, best practices for the use of RAP are presented for developing specs, and for sourcing, processing, stockpiling, testing, designing, evaluating, producing and placing high-RAP mixtures. Ways to attain best performance for high-RAP mixtures are presented. Download the report by searching for “FHWA-HRT-11-021.”

When Politics Drives RAP Use

While other states adopt a tiered approach to higher percentages of RAP, California is using legislation to aggressively adopt higher RAP in HMA specifications.

The California Asphalt Pavement Association (CalAPA) reported in October 2011 that Caltrans’ acting director Malcolm Dougherty says the state transportation department is “moving aggressively” to adopt new standards to permit more RAP usage on state highway jobs.

The pledge comes as assembly speaker pro tem Fiona Ma is pressing Caltrans in legislation to allow up to 50-percent RAP in mixes. In an August 10, 2011 letter to Dougherty, Ma said she was “disappointed” by an earlier letter to her office from Caltrans indicating a lengthy process involved in evaluating a move to a higher RAP standard.

In his official response dated September 5, Dougherty said his department “recognizes the benefits of using a higher percentage of [RAP]. Caltrans is moving aggressively to introduce specifications and guidelines that will incorporate a higher percentage into our projects, while ensuring long-term performance of our paving materials.”

Dougherty announced that the department has accelerated an internal deadline, from June 2012 to November 2011, to develop a specification for 25-percent RAP, which will be incorporated into pilot projects in 2012 and evaluated. Current Caltrans specifications limit RAP to 15 percent of mixes.

“Industry’s reaction to the news was mixed,” CalAPA reports. “On the one hand, industry representatives were glad that Caltrans was recognizing the need to increase RAP limits, but the incremental approach and relatively slow pace of the changes bred frustration.”

CalAPA reported Bill Williams of Bo Dean & Co., an asphalt producer in Santa Rosa, as having said, “There is no known reason why Caltrans should limit high percentage RAP to 25 percent. I believe that 25 percent is achievable without fractionalization, especially when incorporated with warm-mix asphalt technology. Caltrans should not limit our ability to move toward a greener asphalt that creates better roads.”

RAP Basics

Reclaimed asphalt pavement – cold-milled using dedicated, high-performance machines that remove deteriorated pavement, improve overhead clearances and reveal curbs to enhance drainage – is one of the most recycled products in North America.

Stockpiles of RAP are commonplace at asphalt plants and even alongside construction projects. The self-propelled cutting machines mill off aged, cracked asphalt pavement in varying depths and widths, and convey the RAP to dump trucks which haul to stockpiles. From there, RAP is reused as inexpensive road base, added to virgin hot-mix asphalt as a tested material, used for driveways, bike paths, recreational trails and much more.

Asphalt pavement is unquestionably the nation’s most widely recycled product, reports the Asphalt Pavement Alliance, an industry coalition. APA says about 100 million tons of asphalt pavement are reclaimed each year during resurfacing and widening projects, and more than 95 percent of that total is reused or recycled.

Use of RAP saves valuable aggregate resources. While in America there are plenty of construction aggregates in place in the ground, virgin aggregate extraction sites are finding it more and more difficult to obtain mining permits.

Existing quarries or gravel pits once outside of a city now are being overwhelmed by new suburbs and neighbors who don’t like living near quarries and will fight any kind of expansion. This also puts the future supply of virgin aggregates at risk.

But RAP already contains existing aggregates that have been acquired, permitted, shot, loaded, crushed, screened, stockpiled, reloaded and hauled – at great expense – thus their reuse saves time, money and resources. Use of RAP also eliminates costly landfilling of the material, which was the practice prior to the popularizing of RAP use in the last two decades.

Moreover, big jumps in the cost of asphalt and asphalt paving – in addition to increased pressure for an environmentally sustainable transportation infrastructure – have boosted the use of RAP in asphalt mixes. RAP significantly lowers the overall cost of bituminous road mixes while providing substantial environmental benefits.

Higher use of RAP is another way to lower production of greenhouse gases in road construction, said National Asphalt Pavement Association president Mike Acott at a House hearing in 2009.

“Consumption of fuels in the process of acquiring and processing raw materials accounts for a significant share of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with producing asphalt pavement material,” Acott told the House in March. “Therefore, it is possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions simply by incorporating RAP in new pavement.”

Pavement preservation expert Larry Galehouse talks about tools and strategies that make sense for surviving the Great Recession

By Kirk Landers

“In times like these, the pavement manager’s most basic strategy is to keep sound pavements sound and keep bad pavements from becoming unsafe or unusable.”

So spoke Larry Galehouse, director of the National Center for Pavement Preservation, in an interview with Better Roads.

Indeed, Galehouse, one of the nation’s foremost experts on pavement preservation, sees the diminished road budgets of the Great Recession as a litmus test for pavement management strategies.

“The agencies that have pursued the traditional ‘worst first’ strategy, giving priority to rebuilding bad pavements, are feeling the budget shortfalls most acutely,” he notes. “Agencies that have given priority to prevention — to keep good pavements in good condition — are in much better shape.”

And that homily is Galehouse’s advice to pavement managers dealing with severely constrained budgets. “It costs a lot less to extend pavement life while the pavement is healthy than it does to rehabilitate or rebuild a pavement that has deteriorated too far,” he observes.

The key to executing a pavement preservation strategy is to bring the right prevention tool to the right pavement at the right time, he says. The challenge is to select the treatment with the greatest benefit for that particular pavement, and Galehouse notes that it takes a lot of up-front work to make that diagnosis.

“For example,” says Galehouse, “you need to identify subsurface failure spots, dig them out and repair them before applying a surface treatment.”

And Galehouse stresses that pavement preservation priorities apply to concrete and asphalt pavements alike.

Asphalt Interventions

One of the least-expensive asphalt pavement treatments that Galehouse often recommends today is the use of a rejuvenator shortly after the surface course is laid. A true rejuvenation of an asphalt surface requires the introduction of maltene fractions. Thus, rejuvenators containing maltenes – the oily, resinous component of asphalt – increase the asphalt binders’ resistance to oxidation by improving the chemistry and prolonging its flexibility.

Rejuvenator treatments can be repeated every few years to keep the surface pavement supple and weather-resistant, typically prolonging its life by two to three years. The maltene-based rejuvenator is clear and doesn’t affect paint lines.

“It’s important to get the true, maltene-based rejuvenator if a change in binder chemistry is desired,” says Galehouse, adding that there are many other products on the market. “I suggest getting references from other agencies about how the product worked on past projects,” he says.

Rejuvenators are often applied after a road pavement or airport landing strip has been retexturized, says Galehouse. “Today’s retexturizing technology is fast and inexpensive, and it improves pavement friction.”

The roughened surface accepts the rejuvenator treatment more efficiently and the process improves the tractive qualities of the aggregate. Galehouse warns that pavements with poor-quality aggregate will polish again relatively quickly, while good-quality aggregate will keep its texture for a long time.

Crack Treatments

As highway agencies have migrated to a prevention-first philosophy of road management, emphasis on crack treatment has grown. The process is inexpensive and has been shown to extend pavement life by two years and often more.

Galehouse considers crack treatment an important tool in the pavement manager’s toolbox.

“There are two approaches,” he says. “Crack sealing is a series of steps that first machines a reservoir in the crack, cleans the reservoir with compressed air, and then fills it with sealant. This approach can be very effective when used on the right pavement at the right time.” Galehouse estimates that crack sealing typically extends pavement life at least two to four years.

Crack filling, a process in which debris is blown out of the crack and the crack is filled with sealant, is used for nonworking cracks and wider cracks. Galehouse says crack filling typically adds about two years to the life of a pavement.

“Both of these processes are pothole preventers,” he says. “And the longer you can prevent potholes, the longer you can avoid more-expensive interventions like milling and overlays.”

Surface Treatments

Chip sealing has evolved as rapidly as any preservation technology over the past decade, says Galehouse, as contractors and suppliers have stepped up the quality of materials and application techniques. “It’s more of a science now,” says Galehouse, “though there are still people who don’t recognize it as such.”

Perhaps the most dramatic leap forward in chip sealing will be offered through the SHRP2 (Strategic Highway Research Project) Project R-26 in which chip seals with carefully selected aggregate and emulsion applied with precise construction technique and finished with a fog seal can be placed on high-volume roads. This will finally demonstrate that chip seals can perform excellently on high-volume roads when care is taken in design and construction, says Galehouse.

“A high-quality chip seal applied to a sound pavement prevents sunlight and water from destroying the pavement,” says Galehouse. “It also adds macro-texture to the road surface to enhance traction, and with a fog seal it provides more visibility to paint markings by improving contrast.”

Other surface treatment interventions include slurry sealing and microsurfacing. Slurry seals are a mixture of fine aggregate, emulsified asphalt, water and additives placed by special machines in a thin coat, one stone thick. The slurry seal fills hairline cracks and delays pavement oxidation, and is appropriate for urban/suburban neighborhood roads in good condition.

Microsurfacing is a slightly thicker intervention than the slurry seal, combining polymer-modified asphalt emulsion, crushed aggregate, water and other additives in a carefully specified mix design, and placed by specialized equipment. “Microsurfacing adds thickness to the pavement structure, so it can correct rutting and minor raveling, and improve friction,” says Galehouse. “It is also designed to stand up to high-traffic volumes and heavy loads.”

Overlays

The next stop on the prevention continuum for asphalt pavements is the ultra-thin overlay — typically, 3/4-inch thick or less. “This is an intervention for a sound pavement,” says Galehouse. “With the advances in mix design and placement practices, it has become a very effective tool. It protects the surface of the original asphalt, fills minor imperfections, and improves ride quality.”

Ultra-thin overlays can also be designed to deliver other benefits. Use of a rubberized asphalt binder, for example, can mitigate traffic noise with great effectiveness. An open-graded friction course design can reduce spray during rain and enhance the quality of runoff water.

Thin overlays — up to 1.5 inches in thickness — cost more, but by virtue of their thickness can smooth out deeper imperfections, and achieve greater smoothness that improves the ride quality of the pavement.

Milling is the tool when the surface pavement has deteriorated beyond the point where lesser interventions can restore its condition. Milling is also employed in metropolitan areas where a simple overlay will not align properly with gutters.

“This is the Cadillac fix in the prevention tool box,” says Galehouse. “You mill off a thickness of deteriorated pavement and overlay with new asphalt to restore the ride quality. It’s a lot cheaper than waiting until you have to do a total structural rehabilitation, but for stretching budget dollars, you want to work as far up the deterioration curve as possible.”

In-place recycling technologies can also be very effective in treating aging pavements, says Galehouse. “It’s important to make sure the project you have in mind is a good fit for the technology, whether it’s hot-in-place or cold-in-place,” says Galehouse. “The best procedure is to get a good, reputable contractor to evaluate the project in terms of its appropriateness for (either).”

When in-place recycling technologies are viable, they bring a cost advantage to the project as well as environmental advantages, such as less energy consumption, lower CO2 emissions, and a 100-percent recycling of the existing resource.

Concrete Pavement Interventions

Contractors and pavement managers have developed an elaborate toolbox for concrete pavement prevention, notes Galehouse.

Joint resealing lies at the low end of the cost spectrum, followed by diamond grinding and partial and full-depth repairs.

“Cost analysis is key, especially with the more-expensive interventions” says Galehouse. “You have to weigh the cost of repair against the cost of replacement. So, for example, if you had to replace every other panel on a stretch of road, it would probably make much more sense to just replace that stretch of road.”

In many cases, says Galehouse, concrete pavements just need diamond grinding to remove surface imperfections and improve smoothness. Over a period of time, concrete slabs can settle due to movement of the road’s subbase. Most of the imperfections occur where the panels abut.

“If you have vertical displacement – called faulting – of the slabs, you might consider retrofitting dowel bars to stabilize the joint and improve the transfer of loading between slabs,” says Galehouse. “If they are tied together, just diamond grind it and seal the joint.”

While some pavement managers aren’t convinced that joint sealing improves concrete pavement performance, Galehouse does advocate the practice.

“The important thing is to keep the incompressibles out of the joint,” he says. Incompressibles include foreign objects that can clog joints and prevent the slabs from flexing as temperatures change and cause the panels to expand and contract. “By keeping joints sealed, you keep out the material that can cause blow-ups,” says Galehouse. “Seals also help protect the pavement from water seeping into the base and creating a ‘pumping’ action that forms voids in the subbase and cause cracks and even breaks in the panel.”

Joint seals typically last 10 to 12 years before leaks appear, says Galehouse.

Does prevention pay off with concrete roads? “If we take good care of our concrete roads with the tools we have today,” says Galehouse, “they will last far beyond what we have come to expect — over 50 years for good concrete.”

Coping with Our Times

There are still pavement managers in America who give their worst pavements first priority in budgeting, Galehouse notes, and their systems are suffering the most from the diminished budgets of the Great Recession.

“In good times or bad, the strategy that makes the most sense is to first keep your good pavements good — your dollars go further and your system stays stronger,” says Galehouse. “Then you keep your marginal pavements from deteriorating any further — to minimize safety concerns and the cost of the ultimate repair. And then you rehabilitate bad pavements as dollars allow, starting with safety concerns.”

Galehouse concedes that today’s tight budgets constrict everyone, but those pursuing sound management strategies that stress prevention will outperform the others, he says.

“Agencies that follow an asset management approach will come out of this cycle in good shape,” he concludes.

Larry Galehouse

Larry Galehouse is a licensed professional engineer and a licensed professional surveyor. His experience includes tenure with an engineering consulting firm and with a large state DOT. In 2003, he helped found the National Center for Pavement Preservation located at Michigan State University in Lansing, Mich. Galehouse has been a leader in pavement preservation initiatives within AASHTO, NACE, FHWA and TRB. Contact and learn more about the National Center for Pavement Preservation at pavementpreservation.org.

“States are adapting to their current economic situations,” said Susan Martinovich, American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) president and director of the Nevada Department of Transportation. “The innovation that is emerging and the efficiency in which projects are completed deserve recognition from the public and I am thrilled to see them honored for their hard work.”

AASHTO, AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce cosponsor the annual awards competition to recognize the best transportation projects in America using three main categories – On Time, Under Budget, and Innovative Management.

Ten transportation projects from five state DOTs were entered into this year’s Southeastern competition. Four states received awards today.

In the On Time category: the Florida Department of Transportation won for its I-10 to I-95 Interchange: “The Big I” project (medium project division) and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet won for its Newton Pike Extension project (small project).

Three states received awards in the Innovative Management category: Kentucky won its second award for its US 68/KY 80 Land between the Lakes project (medium project), the West Virginia Department of Transportation won for its Fairmont-Gateway Connector (medium project), and the South Carolina Department of Transportation took honors for its Plans Online venture (small project).

South Carolina also picked up an award in the Under Budget category for its I-385 Rehabilitation project (small project).

These winners will now compete with others from around the country for the national Grand Prize and People’s Choice Award, which will be presented at the AASHTO Annual Meeting, Oct. 16 in Detroit. The Grand Prize is awarded to the state DOT project receiving the greatest number of points in judging by a panel of experts. The separate People’s Choice Award is presented to the transportation project that receives the greatest number of online votes from the general public. Online voting will begin Aug. 31.

Learn more about all the winning projects and the competition at www.AmericasTransportationAward.org.

Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) photographer Julie Duewel won for “Balancing Act,” a photograph of NDOT Bridge Inspector Aleksander Nelson performing a safety inspection at the Mike O’Callaghan/Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge – part of the Hoover Dam Bypass situated 900 feet above the Colorado River.

State DOT employees in 14 states submitted 87 photographs, illustrating the positive effects of transportation on individuals and communities. The photos depict employees, contractors, and private citizens in three categories: At Work, At Play, and On the Move.

The photographs were judged based on their overall composition, use of light, and style. AASHTO also used Facebook this year for the very first time to give the public a chance to weigh in. Duewel’s photo received the highest number of “likes” among 20 photographs selected to receive the People’s Choice Award on Facebook.

“These photographs offer a reminder of the important role transportation plays in American life,” said Lloyd Brown, AASHTO’s director of communications. “Duewel’s photograph exemplifies the essential work being done to maintain transportation infrastructure across the country. We’re also glad to see a growing number of people relating to AASHTO through our social media platforms.”

The Grand Prize and People’s Choice Award come with $500 cash awards.

You can see all of the photographs at aash.to/FacesofTransportation. ]]> http://www.betterroads.com/the-faces-of-transportation-2011-photo-contest-results-are-in/feed/ 0 http://www.betterroads.com/50-ways-to-run-and-fund-a-transportation-program/ http://www.betterroads.com/50-ways-to-run-and-fund-a-transportation-program/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 21:29:27 +0000 John Latta http://www.betterroads.com/?p=13490 Pick one.

There must be 50 ways to do it.  There are. And a new report lays them out in detail, describing how states govern and finance their transportation programs.

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Center for Excellence in Project Finance at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) have partnered to produce an authoritative review of transportation governance and finance for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The report, titled,  Transportation Governance and Finance: a 50-State Review of State Legislatures and Departments of Transportation focuses on transportation finance and the roles and relationships among the branches of state government that are most active in transportation issues.

“The report’s direct findings offer an illuminating look at how differently department of transportation (DOT) officials and legislators view their roles in addressing the states’ difficult and growing transportation needs,” said Jennifer Jones, assistant director, Texas Sunset Advisory Commission and co-chair of the project’s oversight committee.

We may not see people to pour into the streets, but we do need some form of populist movement if we are to squeeze as many funding dollars as possible out of Washington, D.C.

I’m paraphrasing the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) President Pete Ruane and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Executive Director John Horsley as they addressed the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) annual meeting.

Only public pressure can avoid what Ruane calls policy “failure.” The problem, in a nutshell, seems to be that the House will come up with a woefully underfunded bill and the Senate will try to take some of the sting out of it but won’t be able to do enough to give the industry what it needs.

On the other hand, there will be a bill this year perhaps by late summer according to both men. But the House isn’t listening to anything as basic as even the facts, says Ruane, so there is a blind dedication to cutting funds regardless of how vital they are to what the country needs in terms of infrastructure.

The answer that both men agree is vital is to get people at home to pressure their congressman or senator because if you can show them and convince them that there are ways to get rid of waste and spending on non highway programs they will provide the cuts they seek you may save cuts to core funding.

In other words, cuts are coming and Congress is not listening to industry lobbyists. And Congress sees across the board cuts as essential.

So find a way to reach your representative. Normally, I’d say your representative is a rather remote pressure point, but in this case, you can actually be influential.

Top FHWA bridge engineer looks at today’s and tomorrow’s bridges.

By John Latta

America’s bridges are safe.

T hat’s the core message in an overview of those bridges from Tom Everett, P.E., the Federal Highway Administration’s principal bridge engineer and bridge programs team leader.

“There are thousands of qualified bridge inspectors out there working to make sure bridges are safe for public travel and evaluating those bridges,” says Everett. “If a bridge is deemed unsafe, they take prompt action – they close it, divert traffic or whatever. We do not have a national bridge safety crisis on our hands. [People] don’t need to be afraid to drive across a bridge to work or as the kids go to school. We have a lot of people working every day to ensure that.”

Tom Everett

And this won’t change, he says. “I think you’ll see FHWA step up our oversight of the bridge inspection process.”

What’s more, he says, in terms of bridge conditions, the state of America’s bridges has shown a positive (downward) trend in reducing the total number of deficient bridges.

Of the challenges facing bridge owners, Everett, not surprisingly, says, the single biggest one is probably establishing a sustained funding source to adequately address the bridge needs. While we wait, he says, “we must maximize the use of the funding available to maintain our good bridges in good condition and, at the same time, reduce the population of deficient bridges with rehabilitation and replacement.”

Other significant challenges, he says, include: the increased deck areas of America’s bridges, which means more to maintain, preserve and inspect, increasing construction costs, and increasing traffic volume (by both volume and weight); dwindling resources for owners; and the need to “invest adequately in preserving existing bridges, and doing so systematically. This is one of the best ways to reduce the rate of deterioration.”

Changes have come in recent years in the way FHWA deals with bridges, and they will continue to come, says Everett.

“We must continue to learn from the deterioration mechanisms of our existing bridge population and design our future bridges to eliminate these deterioration mechanisms. The Long-Term Bridge Performance Program (see sidebar) will help us in this regard. Accelerated bridge construction and prefabricated bridge elements and systems (PBES) will have major impacts on how we build, inspect and maintain our bridges. High-performance materials will enhance the performance of prefabricated bridge elements.”

By placing greater emphasis on systematic preventive maintenance and system preservation, states can maintain existing bridges in good condition and minimize deterioration of bridge elements while addressing the deficient bridges, he says.

Funding uncertainty has created a need for greater emphasis on lifecycle cost analysis when bridges are rehabilitated or replaced to find the most cost-effective strategy, according to Everett, and business practices may need to change to evaluate the impact on the user and consider this in the project development process.

“In the area of bridge inspection and monitoring, there will likely be a move toward the collection of improved data, in terms of both quality and usefulness (level-of-detail: element level condition information rather than component level),” he says. “Remote-sensing and monitoring systems are being developed and in some cases used to identify problems at an earlier stage and to help keep bridges safe.

“We may see a move toward the establishment of bridge inspection frequencies (intervals) that are based on rational criteria, rather than an arbitrary period of time as is currently done.”

New technologies are changing the game, says Everett.

For example, on the inspection/condition evaluation side, engineers are continuing to find technology that lets engineers look inside of bridges to accurately tell what’s happening to the steel inside concrete bridges. “High-performance materials have made great strides. Take high-performance concrete – we’re getting outrageous compressive strengths and finding uses for that concrete. High-performance steel is in place and in many states, and among other things it’s very resistant to cracking. Fiber-reinforced polymers – we’ve only scratched the surface there. Concrete that doesn’t require vibration in placement has grown in use in the past five years and we’re learning more about how to use it. Lightweight concrete has been around a long time, but provides many possibilities for bridges; maybe lightening bridge decks will help us get more use from it.”

In the three sidebars in this story, Everett expands on these themes.

Integrated Bridge Project Delivery and Lifecycle Management Program

This project is primarily aimed at the control and sharing of bridge data using computer technology.

The technology reviews of bridges abroad sponsored by the FHWA and AASHTO highlighted the benefits of using integrated automation to achieve rapid coordinated design and construction, as well as subsequent cost-effective lifecycle maintenance, repair and rehabilitation. The current FHWA project is to demonstrate the “proof-of-concept” to U.S. bridge owners. The main focus of the work is the development of integrated engineering software that demonstrates applications and the benefits of the program, and shares that information with bridge owners.

The current U.S. practice of information transfer during the bridge design, fabrication, construction and operation processes is fragmented. These processes involve repeated manual transcription of data that is error-prone, approvals (e.g., of shop drawings) that are time-consuming, and formats that beg for standardization to facilitate electronic information transfer. A complete modeling of bridge information in a standardized format will facilitate integration of computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided engineering (CAE) and computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), resulting in rapid and better-quality project delivery and cost-effective lifecycle management.

Three demonstrations have been conducted so far. It is envisioned that successful development and demonstration of Integrated Bridge Project Delivery and Lifecycle Management may lead to a pilot project in the second phase of this effort. The second phase is not included in the ongoing work.

The Long-Term Bridge Performance Program

In April of 2008, the FHWA initiated the Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) program.

The objective of this anticipated 20-year-or-longer research program is to develop a better understanding of how typical highway bridges perform under a variety of service conditions through detailed inspection, monitoring and testing of large population of bridges, representing the most common bridges in the inventory.

To make certain that the LTBP program would be a successful national program, the FHWA reached out to our partners at state agencies, other government agencies, researchers from home and abroad, and experts from the industry to establish a framework with short- and long-term visions, even before the program got underway in 2008.

Since the actual work began almost two years ago, the FHWA received tremendous support from a number of state highway agencies by sharing valuable information on the status of our nation’s bridges and in providing access to bridges in their respective state for monitoring, testing and evaluation.

The pilot study phase of the LTBP program that began more than a year ago is expected to be completed in September of 2011. This study was initiated to validate and refine the methods, protocols and guidelines for data collection and monitoring, and to ensure that the objectives of the LTBP program are well-defined before the larger number of bridges are monitored. The pilot study includes a total of seven bridges, one each in seven selected states, providing a broad representation of the many environmental conditions experienced throughout the United States. The pilot bridges are located in California, Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Virginia. A variety of tools and cutting-edge Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) technologies are being employed at each pilot bridge to establish baseline characteristics and to monitor long-term bridge deterioration and performance under traffic loads and environmental effects.

The long-term data collection phase is expected to begin in spring of 2011. This phase will include detailed inspection, monitoring and testing of up to 500 bridges over the next 20 years, based on available resources.

The LTBP program is establishing a TRB advisory committee to provide advice and assistance on the conduct of the LTBP studies. The first meeting of this committee is expected to take place this spring. A State Coordinators Committee is also being established to coordinate the implementation and execution of LTBP activities in their respective states.

The LTBP program will continue partnering with stakeholders through additional focus group meetings, industry outreach and professional meetings in order to obtain the information and data that is needed to improve the long-term performance of the nation’s highway bridges.

Says Everett: “We strongly believe that the outcome of the LTBP program will strengthen our ability to deliver, manage and maintain an efficient highway infrastructure,” and will help:

advance deterioration and predictive models;

improve knowledge of state maintenance effectiveness;

demonstrate the effectiveness of sensor technology in bridge inspection/condition assessment;

implement performance-based design; and

foster the next generation of bridge and bridge management tools.

What has changed most in the past five or 10 years in the way FHWA works with bridges?

“We have an improved awareness of the factors that affect a bridge’s performance, from design to construction to preventive maintenance to inspection, and ultimately rehabilitation/replacement,” says Everett. Some examples:

1. Preservation: One of the biggest changes took effect under SAFETEA-LU, when Congress recognized the importance of preserving the existing inventory of bridges and allowed the use of federal bridge program funding for systematic preventive maintenance/system preservation.

2. Improved design codes: In collaboration with AASHTO, FHWA has invested significant resources into developing the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) specifications and providing training to the states in using LRFD. The states are now using LRFD for all federal-aid bridges.

LRFD is based on technological advances in bridge engineering, sound scientific principles and a systematic approach to ensure safety, durability, economy and aesthetics. The LRFD philosophy is consistent with other major bridge design codes used in other progressive countries around the world.

LRFD-designed bridges are expected to have a long service life with minimal maintenance.

3. Improved load rating codes: The AASHTO Load and Resistance Factor Rating (LRFR) serves as a compendium to LRFD in setting the standards for condition evaluation and rating of bridges. LRFR provides procedures and policies for determining physical condition, maintenance needs and load capacity for highway bridges. LRFR assists bridge owners in establishing inspection procedures and evaluation practices that meet the National Bridge Inspection Standards. FHWA supports AASHTO in adopting and publishing the Manual for Bridge Evaluation (MBE), which provides guidelines for using LRFR.

4. High-Performance Materials for Improving Performance of Bridges: FHWA in collaboration with AASHTO, industry and academia has developed and deployed high-performance materials:

High-Performance Concrete (HPC): HPC is one of several products investigated and advanced under the Strategic Highway Research Program. HPC has enhanced durability and strength not normally attainable in conventional concrete. HPC is denser, stronger and less permeable. (Strategic Highway Research Program 1 studies indicated that chlorides would diffuse through 2 inches of concrete cover in 12 to 20 years. For HPC elements using appropriate quantities of pozzalanic admixtures or slag, the chloride diffusion rate would be 50 to 70 years.) HPC enables longer bridge spans, increased durability (100-year life), improved engineering properties, better long-term performance and reduced life-cycle costs.

High-Performance Steel (HPS): Structural steels have high strengths, enabling engineers to design and build long-span bridges. However, extra care must be taken in welding, corrosion protection and crack prevention. To overcome these concerns in structural steels, a cooperative research program between the FHWA, the U.S. Navy and the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) developed HPS for bridges and structures. HPS has improved weldability, and resulted in excellent corrosion resistance, high crack tolerance and very high strengths. The combination of these improved properties of HPS leads to cost-effective applications in bridge design and construction. Many states are taking advantage of these properties in new bridge designs to improve long-term performance, lower first cost and reduced life-cycle cost through lower maintenance and repair costs.

Fiber-Reinforced Polymers/Composites (FRP): FRP has unique properties, such as high strength, light weight, corrosion-resistance, high toughness, etc., which make it very good for strengthening, repair and seismic retrofit of bridges and structures. FRP has great potential for providing engineering solutions for rebuilding our aging infrastructure. It has attracted the interest and attention of the research community, government and private industry to find ways to successfully integrate FRP in structural applications. In recent years, FRP has been used as rebars and prestressing tendons in concrete structures, sheets and laminates for strengthening concrete and steel members, wraps and shells for seismic retrofit of concrete columns, and structural shapes for bridges and decks.

Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC): A fiber-reinforced cementitious composite, UHPC is the next level of high-performance concrete. UHPC has very high compressive strengths in the range of 20 ksi to 30 ksi, and tensile strengths as high as 1.5 ksi. It has high durability – very low permeability and is highly resistant to abrasion, freeze-thaw and scaling. The cost of UHPC is steep at the present time. It is now used cost-effectively in a few applications, including closure pours between precast panels, precast deck panels and some girders.

5. Self-Consolidating Concrete (SCC): SCC is a concrete that does not require vibration during placement. SCC flows into and completely fills intricate and complex forms under its own weight, passes through and bonds to congested reinforcement under its own weight, and is highly resistant to segregation. SCC offers many advantages for the precast concrete industry and cast-in-place construction. For example, low noise levels in the plants and construction sites, eliminated problems associated with vibration, less labor involved, faster construction, and improved quality and durability. States are using SCC in precast, prestressed bridge elements, and cast-in-place projects.

6. Lightweight Concrete (LWC): Benefits over normal-weight concrete include reduced dead load of structure, enhanced durability (better curing), and reduced handling, transportation and erection costs (although actual material costs are higher).

7. Seismic Retrofit of Bridges: Older bridges are susceptible to damage or collapse due to earthquakes. FHWA has developed Seismic Retrofit Manuals to help states with state-of-the-practice in seismic retrofit of bridges. Seismic retrofit is a cost-effective way to protect our investments in bridges and structures. States with high seismicity are assessing the vulnerabilities of their bridge inventory and develop a program for seismic retrofit.

8. Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC): ABC is taking advantage of prefabricated bridge elements and systems (PBES) to help highway agencies dramatically reduce construction time and traffic disruptions, resulting in improved safety in the work zone. PBES approaches offer high quality because they are manufactured offsite under controlled conditions. With the use of self-propelled modular transporters (SPMT), an entire bridge can be fabricated off the bridge site and then transported to the bridge site for overnight installation. SPMTs can be used to remove and replace bridges efficiently and effectively.

9. Improved bridge safety programs and practices:

We updated the National Bridge Inspection Standards regulations in 2005;

We are currently enhancing our oversight of compliance with the regulations (data-driven, risk-based process);

We have additional staff dedicated to bridge safety;

Following the I-35W collapse, we issued gusset plate inspection and load rating guidance to bridge owners.

“We applaud the draft proposal released today [Nov. 11] by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform co-chairs to increase the gas tax by 15 cents to support vital transportation infrastructure improvements. This preliminary recommendation is bold, but necessary, and our organizations urge commission members to support its adoption as part of its report to Congress and the President.

“This proposal recognizes the integral relationship between improving transportation infrastructure, economic health and fiscal responsibility. If enacted, it will help prevent economically devastating cuts in federal infrastructure investment and remove the primary obstacle to passage of a multi-modal surface transportation reauthorization bill.

The organizations (see the list below) issued the following statement:

“The issue of transportation investment is directly linked to balancing the federal budget. Without new Highway Trust Fund revenue, policymakers will be forced either to impose highway and transit program cuts that would reduce payrolls and impede economic growth; or add an estimated $34 billion over the next six years to general fund spending. Either outcome undermines efforts to balance the budget. It is also important to recognize that a small number of transportation programs are currently funded with general funds, and those programs meet important needs and should be continued.

“We are grateful for the leadership of Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) on this issue and look forward to working with the commission, Congress and President Obama to resolve our federal budget challenges and support vital infrastructure investment.”

The coalition of organizations included in this statement include the following:

• American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
• American Public Transportation Association
• American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA)
  
• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
  
• Associated General Contractors of America
• International Union of Operating Engineers
• Laborers’ International Union of North America
• National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA)
  
• National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association
• Portland Cement Association (PCA)
  
• American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA)
  

• Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM)
  
• Associated Equipment Distributors (AED)
  
• National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA)
  

By John Latta, Tina Grady Barbaccia and Mike Anderson

Politicians and planners involved in “policy discussions” about future transportation funding and development are overlooking the people of rural America. So says John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

“The people who live in rural areas rely on commercial trucks, cell phones, and the Internet just as much as any city dweller. Yet many of our highways that serve rural areas were built back in the 1960s. Why do we expect our modern society to run on an archaic transportation system? We need a transportation system that works for the entire country of today – not one that struggles just to keep up with yesterday,” says Horsley

According to Connecting Rural and Urban America, a new AASHTO report, more investment is needed in America’s rural transportation system to keep agriculture, new energy products and freight moving, to improve access for the travel, recreation and tourism industries, to connect new and emerging cities, and to ensure reliable access to key defense installations.

“Improving connectivity and mobility for the 60 million Americans who live in rural areas is just as important as improving mobility for those who live in metropolitan areas,” says Horsley. “Rural states are essential to the nation’s success, not only to meet the needs of their own citizens, but also to maintain their part of the national network on which the U.S. economy depends.”

The report also finds that existing businesses and industries, and rural economic development efforts, depend on access to Interstate and National Highway System routes. Expansion of rural capacity is important for economic development efforts that depend on access to these routes. Sixty-six cities with populations of 50,000 or more, including one state capital (Jefferson City, Mo..), do not have immediate access to the Interstate system.

Because of the uncertainty about funding in a new long-term reauthorization bill, highway projects that would expand rural capacity have greatly decreased.

One example. “Luring job-creators to Kansas – such as the Siemens plant in Hutchinson that will manufacture wind turbine generators and the National Bio-Agro Facility at Manhattan – are welcome additions that will create hundreds of jobs,” said Kansas Transportation Secretary Deb Miller. “But they will create capacity issues for our infrastructure, as well.”

Kansas’ short-line railroads haul an average of 175,000 carloads of goods throughout the state every year, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation. With increased congestion, trucks and freight trains can’t deliver their goods and people can’t get to their jobs, which creates lost time and wasted money, Miller said. AASHTO’s report predicts increased trade between Canada and the United States will require states to expand their highway and transportation options or risk overloading the system and causing more even more congestion.

To resolve these concerns, the AASHTO report offers a plan to ensure the connectivity of rural and urban America: In any reauthorization of federal transportation legislation, Congress should continue to fund rural portions of the Interstate Highway System and other federal-aid highways that connect America. It should also double federal investment in rural transit systems to meet rising demand. And it should also expand the existing capacity of the interstate system, upgrade rural routes to interstate standards, and connect newly-urbanized areas to the interstate system. v

From the report:

According to a 2007 study of Future Options for the Interstate Highway System, 30,000 lane-miles should be added to the interstate system to meet rural needs, including:

Expanding the existing rural Interstate Highway

System by 16,000 lane-miles;

Upgrading rural National Highway System routes to interstate standards, an addition of 2,000 lane-miles; and

Upgrading to interstate standards National Highway System routes that can connect the existing interstate network to unconnected urbanized areas with a current or expected population greater than 50,000 in population. This would add 12,000 lane-miles.

Obama plans to ‘jumpstart’ highway funding

President Obama has launched a plan, with $50 billion in “up-front” money, which he says will get the stalled reauthorization process moving.

The President said that “the plan would reform the way America currently invests in transportation, changing our focus to enhancing competition, innovation, performance and real analysis that gets taxpayers the best bang for the buck, while moving away from the earmarks and formula debates of the past.”

In a nutshell, the President proposed rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads, and also building new railroads and rehabbing runways. He would do it, he said, by “working with Congress to enact a new up-front investment in our nation’s infrastructure.” Critics, of course, were quick to point out that “working with Congress” on a new surface transportation bill has not worked out to date.

The President proposed to do this while, at the same time, creating “a long-term framework to reform and expand our nation’s investment in transportation infrastructure.”

While President Obama and his administration have balked at raising fuel taxes, he pushed reauthorization in his plan. “If we are to enjoy the benefits that come from a world-class transportation system, Congress must enact a long-term reauthorization that expands and reforms our infrastructure investments and returns the transportation fund to solvency. To jumpstart job creation, this long-run policy front-loads – through a $50 billion up-front investment – a significant share of the new infrastructure resources.” Whether that seed money would be considered a stand alone investment or become part of the funds allocated via a surface transportation reauthorization bill is unclear.

The Administration also wants to set up an Infrastructure Bank, and though he did not say so, it is likely to be the President’s alternative to a fuel tax raise as a future source of vital investment money. The bank would leverage federal, state, local and private dollars, focusing on critical infrastructure projects, selected by merit not politics. “This marks an important departure from the federal government’s traditional way of spending on infrastructure through earmarks and formula-based grants that are allocated more by geography and politics than demonstrated value.”

While stakeholders in the highway and bridge industries welcomed a $50-billion jumpstart fund, reservations came with the lack of detail, and Washington watchers could see no way the plan, or the bank, could find traction in Congress until well into next year. Both factors make debate on the Obama initiative somewhat moot right now.v

A true Hall of Famer

Those of us who have worked in the same space as Kirk Landers have long understood what an honor that is. Members of the Construction Writers Association (CWA) have now made it official, electing the editor emeritus of Better Roads as the lone 2010 inductee to the CWA Hall of Fame.

“I’ve known Kirk both as a competitor and a colleague, and believe me, the latter is much preferable,” says Marcia Gruver Doyle, editorial director, Randall-Reilly Construction Group. “His keen analysis of what’s happening in the industry is an asset I highly value. What’s wonderful is you don’t have to play dodge ball with a huge ego when you work with Kirk – his opinion is both forthright and humble.”

The induction ceremony will be part of the CWA’s annual conference Oct. 25-26 in Chicago.

See Kirk’s latest column on Page 44.

Highway Cement Rebound on Hold Until 2013

The failure of Congress to pass a new surface transportation bill has a rippling effect. For example, cement producers are now feeling it. Delays in an extension of the bill mean cement consumption will not begin a significant rebound until 2013, according to the most recent economic forecast from the Portland Cement Association (PCA).

In 2010, PCA anticipates a 2.4-percent increase in consumption compared to severely depressed 2009 levels. A 6.7-percent gain is predicted for 2011, followed by an 8.4-percent increase in 2012. An 18.8-percent jump is projected for 2013, when highway and street cement consumption comes back on track.

“Delays in an extension of SAFETEA-LU reduced highway cement consumption by one million metric tons in 2010,” Edward Sullivan, PCA chief economist, said. “Lacking a new highway bill until 2013, highway cement consumption will be based on inflation-eroded SAFETEA-LU extensions, declining ARRA stimulus and extremely weak state fiscal conditions.”

SAW WHAT?

“We’ve basically been building in America for the automobile and now we have to start all over again and build for the people.”

Senator Mary Landrieu, (D-La) in NOLA.com

S.C. Gas Tax Proposal

You can state the obvious but getting support for it can be really difficult, especially in an election year.

A commission in yet another state facing crumbling roads has nevertheless suggested the obvious. The South Carolina Tax Reform Commission has recommended drivers pay another nickel a gallon (they now pay the state 16 cents a gallon) for unleaded gas, so that the Palmetto State can raise $150 million a year for road repair. That tax rate, set in 1987, is the lowest in the Southeast states.

But elections and a gubernatorial race loom. After that, the increase would have to pass both houses and the new governor.

Safety Edge Goes Concrete

The Iowa DOT has used Stimulus funds to expand the ways an existing paving technique can save lives.

Safety Edge was designed to help prevent fatal crashes by combating the dangers associated with drivers returning to the road over deteriorated shoulders after they have drifted off. Most commonly used when paving with asphalt, Iowa is the first state to use this technology on concrete roads. The Federal Highway Administration says it’s hopeful Iowa’s action will help bring a needed safety technique one step closer to standard practice.

“Safety is our number-one priority, and we hope more states will use this low-cost, low-risk technology that helps protect drivers,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Safety Edge is also one of five featured technologies in Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez’s Every Day Counts Initiative, which seeks to identify and help quickly deploy innovations aimed at enhancing the safety of our roadways and shortening project delivery.

“This technology is easy to use and extremely cost-effective – and, most importantly, it will save lives,” said Mendez.

Iowa DOT employed Safety Edge on a rural secondary road, County Road E-34. The road is a high-crash corridor, making it an ideal candidate for additional safety investment. Safety Edge prevents pavement edge drop-off, one major cause of roadway departure crashes. The drop-off is the vertical distance between the paved travel lane and the unpaved shoulder. By attaching a simple device to a paving machine to angle the asphalt or concrete, a safer and more durable pavement edge can be created, allowing drivers to more easily regain control after leaving the travel lane.

Find more information on Safety Edge at the FHWA site http://www.safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway_dept/pavement/safedge/

Ad blitz targets Congress

The Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM), two national groups advocating significant new investments in transportation improvements, have developed campaign advertising to appeal to the general public with signs asking, “Sick of Aging Roads?—Tell Congress to Act!”

Similar messages have been developed for traffic congestion, transit delays, and unsafe bridges and billboards will go up across the country.

The ads direct viewers to the Website www.fasterbettersafer.org, where an action kit, instructions for contacting members of Congress, educational videos and other materials about the highway/transit bill are available.

The TCC, co-chaired by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) and the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America, is comprised of 29 national construction groups and labor unions.

ATM is a nationwide effort by business, labor, transportation organizations and citizens to advocate increased federal investment in the nation’s transportation system.

A list of members of each coalition is available at:

www.transportationconstructioncoalition.org and

http://www.fasterbettersafer.