11/8/02

AUBURN HOSTING NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SYMPOSIUM

AUBURN -- Auburn University will host a national transportation symposium on Wednesday and Thursday (Nov. 13-14) that is expected to attract more than 250 participants from around the nation.

It will open at the AU Hotel and Dixon Conference Center on Wednesday at 1 p.m.

The two-day session will focus on research findings from the first round of testing conducted in nearby Opelika at the 1.7 mile test track operated by the National Center for Asphalt Technology.

"This track represents one of the most unique research facilities in the nation," says Ray Brown, NCAT director and faculty member in the Department of Civil Engineering at AU's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.

"We have been 'loading' the track with several tractor-trailer rigs that circle it 16 hours a day, six days a week, in order to replicate the lifetime of an asphalt road within the two-year span that we have been in operation."

In that time period the rigs have made nearly one million passes over the track's asphalt surface, which consists of 46 200-foot sections that were laid with a particular asphalt recipe, or mix.

Brown says the passes over the track represent 1.6 million miles of travel, which would take average drivers more than 50 years to complete on their own.

"We have about a dozen states participating in this first round of testing," he said. "What makes this operation unique is that each of these states, ranging from Florida to Oklahoma, has brought their own materials and crews in and supervised the paving."

The result is that the participating states have a carefully controlled, highly-instrumented research process that will enable them to make better decisions in the kinds of asphalt roads that they will construct or rehabilitate in the future.

The operation of the track is complemented with a 40,000 square foot laboratory and teaching facility located in the city of Auburn's technology park, which was funded in large part through the National Asphalt Pavement Association.

The Federal Highway Administration is also involved in the research as a sponsor, and is overseeing two sections of the test asphalt. In addition, numerous industry vendors have been a part of the process, such as equipment manufacturers, consulting engineering firms and others.

"Ultimately the results of this testing will give the American public asphalt roads that are safer, quieter, and more cost-effective to build," Brown said. "Millions and millions in tax dollars will be saved as a result of these efforts."

Beginning in the spring, the second round of testing will begin at the test track, with new sections placed into the track surface. Following the new placements, tractor-trailer rigs will again travel the roadway, placing an additional million impressions on the surface.

"This has been an exciting process to see over the past two years," said Larry Benefield, dean of Ginn College of Engineering. "It represents the kind of partnership that will bring some very real, very positive results to the motoring public in terms of safety, comfort and cost.

"The National Center for Asphalt Technology has done an outstanding job in pursuing the kinds of research that bring us not only to a higher level of understanding in terms of the engineering fundamentals that underlie the life span of asphalt roadways, but does so in a way that is accessible and in many ways, immediately usable."

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nov02:AU-asphalt