Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/109757
remaining service life for preservation treatments. FP2 and its allies are working to make that happen. Preservation at the NCAT Track New quantitative research on pavement life cycle effects of pavement preservation started in late 2012, as the new National Center for Asphalt Technjology (NCAT) Pavement Preservation Effectiveness Study will bring the prestige of NCAT's research facility to pavement preservation practice. NCAT's Pavement Test Track is funded and directed by a multi-state research cooperative program in which the construction, trafficking, and performance evaluations are carried out on 46 different 200-foot test sections around a 1.7-mile oval test track. Each of the test sections is constructed using the asphalt materials and design methods used by individual sponsors. A fleet of heavy trucks is operated on the track in a highly controlled manner in order to apply a design lifetime of truck traffic (10 million equivalent single axle loads, or ESALs) in two years. Test sections are rebuilt every three years to provide experimental pavements for the next research cycle. The 2012 NCAT Pavement Test Track, which represents the fifth research cycle, is the first experiment that will include a formal pavement preservation study. Referred to as the Preservation Group (PG) experiment, the study is designed to encompass multiple timely issues that are important to the entire pavement community. "State departments of transportation – beset by dwindling tax revenues and rising material costs – are being forced to do more with less like never before," says NCAT assistant director Buzz Powell, P.E., Ph.D. "Many DOTs either have a mandate to invest infrastructure dollars in pavement preservation, or have a strong interest to do so." In the long term the NCAT research should help supporters of pavement preservation make their case for increased funding. Preservation treatments often are applied to roadways as a reaction to badly deteriorated conditions, which amounts to throwing good money after bad. Instead, as pavement preservation is defined by the mantra "the right treatment to the right pavement at the right time," by definition preservation has to be placed in a proactive manner at the right point in a pavement's life cycle. • Horizontal "live bottom" conveyor discharges material safely even while working off-road, under high line wires, under bridges, and in tunnels. • Discharges up to 23 cubic yards of asphalt per minute. Conveyor speed is controlled from the cab. • Insulated side walls keep asphalt hot during transport and unloading. • Optional metering gate delivers low rates of asphalt or aggregate for patch work and shoulder work. Manufactured by Highway Equipment Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. For more information and to locate your dealer visit www.highwayequipment.com or call 800-363-1771. Text INFO to 205-289-3789 or visit www.betterroads.com/info HiWay_BR0212pg22.indd 1 Better Roads February 2013 25 1/21/12 9:50 PM