Perpetual Pavement Award winners named

Six departments of transportation were named winners of the 2018 Perpetual Pavement Award by Asphalt Pavement Alliance (APA).

The award celebrates long-life asphalt pavements that reflect the characteristics of a Perpetual Pavement design.

The award is presented to state transportation departments and local agency road owners for well-performing asphalt pavements that are at least 35-years-old with proven high-quality structural design.

To earn the award, the pavement must have not suffered a structural failure, and it should have an average interval between resurfacing of not less than 13 years. (more…)

New technology can improve pavement performance

By Dr. Andrew Hanz, Ph.D.

Big data has arrived in the asphalt industry. The term “big data” is a relatively new buzzword used to describe extremely large data sets that are computationally analyzed to identify patterns and trends.

Computing power and capabilities improve analytics and have begun to dominate how a broad range of industries make decisions. If asked to provide examples of “big data” and analytics, many would probably refer to sports teams, social media or tech giants such as Amazon and Google. A less common response would be the asphalt industry.

However, the digital age has led to the development of intelligent systems that allow users to monitor the paving and compaction of asphalt mixtures in real time from any location. There is an opportunity to leverage this information to improve pavement quality. (more…)