HighLight Heading
January 2008
Pavement project receives SHRP 2 award
Mike Darter
The Department of Civil Engineering (CE), the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT), and the MnROAD pavement research facility will receive more than half of a $4 million award over four years from the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2). The project will investigate the design and construction of new composite pavement systems.
The project proposal was spearheaded by Mike Darter, director of the University of Minnesota’s Pavement Research Institute (PRI)and principal engineer with Applied Research Associates (ARA), Inc. Darter worked with Keith Shannon, director of Mn/DOT’s Office of Materials, to ensure Mn/DOT’s participation and a featured role for MnROAD.
Darter is the principal investigator for the work, and CE associate professor Lev Khazanovich is a co-investigator. Others on the research team include CE associate professor Mihai Marasteanu, PRI associate director Derek Tompkins, and MnDOT’s Ben Worel.
The research will focus on two promising applications of composite pavement systems: an asphalt layer over a portland cement concrete (PCC) layer, and a PCC surface over a PCC layer. The effort is expected to identify and determine the behavior of critical material and performance parameters; develop and validate mechanistic-empirical performance models and design procedures; and recommend specifications, construction techniques, and quality management procedures.
This project is the type of initiative fostered by the Transportation Engineering Road Research Alliance, read article.
SHRP 2 is a targeted, short-term research program created by Congress to address the challenges of moving people and goods efficiently and safely on the nation’s highways. The program is carried out through competitively awarded contracts to qualified researchers in the academic, private, and public sectors.