Peter Taylor, director of the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center at Iowa State University (ISU), is studying preventative maintenance for concrete roads. His approach calls for the use and implementation of materials that are known for their long-term performance qualities in specific environments.
“The intent is that, by making delivery and construction of concrete more reliable, the cost of ownership of a concrete road will be reduced significantly. The long-term benefit to agencies is in the range of millions of dollars” says Peter Taylor.
Taylor, who is a transportation engineering research associate professor in ISU’s Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Department (ISU CCEE), says that the specifications being developed are dependent on new test methods that deliver the data required to monitor six critical performance metrics. These metrics are agreed upon by a national expert task group.
Taylor explains that the test methods are being evaluated for their ruggedness and precision, and data is being collected to correlate test results with long-term performance of concrete. New tests are also being developed for later implementation. By extending the life of pavements, Taylor hopes that this work will save agencies millions of dollars in repair and maintenance costs in the future.