AASHTO and the NCPP Sign Preservation Help Desk Agreement
The American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has contracted the National Center for Pavement Preservation (NCPP) to develop and administer its new Transportation System Preservation Technical Services Program (TSP2) effective May 15, 2006. The purpose of the TSP2 will be to serve as a clearinghouse for comprehensive and up-to-date information on efficient and effective preservation measures that enhance pavement and bridge performance and extend useful service life.
Under the agreement, the NCPP will develop and maintain the TSP2 informational website, staff a preservation "help desk" for the benefit of program participants and offer limited technology transfer in the transportation preservation area. The new website will offer an on-line collection of technical documents and specifications, and a bulletin board system (BBS) through which participants may ask or respond to preservation-related questions or propose topics for research. The NCPP will serve as the BBS moderator - establishing topic areas of interest to the members, answering questions, and keeping the content fresh, relevant, and on-topic.
Preservation assistance will be available via the Help Desk by phoning the NCPP at (517) 432-8220; by fax at (517) 432-8223; through email (ncpp@pavementpreservation.org); or by posting questions to the website bulletin board (http://www.tsp2.org/). Information and feedback obtained from the Help Desk will be used to develop outreach and educational materials for the participating members.
The NCPP will also establish and maintain a number of email mailing lists or "LISTSERVs". Members will be able to join any number of these LISTSERVs to which they can post or respond to questions, announce preservation related events, or simply monitor the exchange of ideas. Although the TSP2 will initially focus on pavement preservation issues, future plans are in the works to address bridge preservation efforts in the program within the next 24 to 36 months.
The new TSP2 website will be available at: http://www.tsp2.org/. A voluntary contribution of $6,000 per agency per year will be invoiced after July 1, 2006 to all AASHTO member departments. For more information, contact the NCPP at (517) 432 8220; by fax at (517) 432-8223; through email (ncpp@pavementpreservation.org) or Steve Varnedoe, NCDOT at 919-733-7621 or e-mail SVarnedoe@dot.state.nc.us.