The National Concrete Pavement Technology Center (CP Tech Center) has had a busy 2019 so far traveling across the country to share its research on the latest innovations and preservation strategies and lending its expertise to drafting roadmaps to set a path forward for the future of the industry. PEM-program-participating state DOTs: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
Peter Taylor, Director-CP Tech Center had the opportunity to present the latest information to the annual paving workshops in Missouri/Kansas (MO/KS) and Wisconsin (WI) on Performance Engineered Concrete Paving Mixtures (PEM) program and CP Tech Center’s work He also traveled to St. Louis, Missouri (MO), to the Concrete Council of St. Louis to conduct 3 Presentations:
• PEM
• Specifications of the Future
• Asset Management
The CP Tech Center joined Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (Penn DOT), and Golden Triangle Construction Co., to showcase the PEM initiative to nearly 200 participants at the 21st Annual Pennsylvania Concrete Conference held February 20–21, 2019, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (PA). Gordon Smith, Associate Director-CP Tech Center, presented an “Overview of the PEM Approach”—shared PEM objectives and noted the progress being made through the PEM Transportation Pooled Fund project, TPF–(368) that includes 17 state highway agencies, FHWA, and industry. Penn DOT is one of the first PEM states to conduct shadow testing on an active concrete paving project.
John Adam, CP Tech Center Program Manager, participated in the annual Michigan Concrete Association Workshop held in Plymouth, Michigan (MI) February 19–21, 2019. The workshop was attended by over 200 professionals in the Michigan concrete industry, and Adam was on the program twice. His presentations included the status of PEM and the “Guide for Concrete Pavement Distress Assessments and Solutions”-published October 2018. There is growing interest in publicizing the existence of the guide and putting it into practice.
Steven Tritsch, Associate Director-CP Tech Center, attended the Preservation Research Roadmap Meeting at the National Center for Pavement Preservation at Michigan State University in early February 2019. The meeting was aimed at reviewing and prioritizing potential preservation research topics and will serve as the basis for updating the 2008 “Transportation System Preservation Research, Development, and Implementation Roadmap”. The final report will be issued at the end of 2019. Tritsch participated in compiling the six focus areas:
(1) Asset Management, Pavement Management Systems, and Pavement Preservation
(2) Treatment Design—Selection and Timing
(3) Materials
(4) Treatment Application—Construction and Contracting
(5) Performance
(6) Benefits
Tritsch also attended the two-day Building Information Modeling for Infrastructure (BIMfi) Workshop February 6–7, 2019, at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia (VA). Tritsch joined experts from across the country to discuss current levels of digitalizing plans and communication and what needs to transpire in the future to encourage more cost-effective efforts in programming and managing projects. A National Strategic Roadmap will be drafted to assist agencies to achieve a higher degree of BIMfi maturity over time.