Publication Number: FHWA-RD-00-057
Date: April 2000

Articles in this Issue

Anti-Icing Lead States Team Helps Corps of Engineers Keep "Vital Link" Open in Kosovo

Faced with keeping 109 km (68 mi) of roads in Kosovo clear of snow and ice and open to traffic this past winter, Lt. Steve Bates of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 82nd Engineer Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, turned to the Internet to research road weather information systems (RWIS) and anti-icing techniques. "We had to keep a vital link open to bring all the soldiers mail, food, and other supplies," says Bates. "We had been keeping the path open, but without accurate weather and road data, I suspected I was operating a very inefficient system." His research eventually led him to Paul Pisano at the Federal Highway Administration, who directed him to the Anti-Icing/RWIS Lead States Team Web site and the team's leader, Rick Nelson of the Nevada Department of Transportation (DOT).

Building a (High-Performance) Bridge to the Future

In 1994 the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), American Iron and Steel Institute, and Department of the Navy launched a $1.5-million joint effort to develop a new grade of high-performance steel (HPS). Although high-strength steel had been available for many years, it required more sophisticated welding techniques and more complicated fabrication processes than conventional steel, making highway agencies and bridge builders reluctant to try the new material.

In Brief

FHWA, acting in partnership with the Precast/Prestressed Concrete (PCI) Institute and the Fédération Internationale du Béton (FIB), will sponsor an International Symposium on High-Performance Concrete (HPC) on September 25-27, 2000, in Orlando, Florida. The symposium, which is geared for bridge and materials engineers, will address HPC research, as well as the design, construction, performance, and benefits of HPC. High-performance concrete is an innovative approach to designing portland cement concrete mixes to make them more durable, and if necessary, stronger than is possible with conventional concrete. HPC is also one of the materials eligible for funding under FHWA's Innovative Bridge Research and Construction Program. The symposium will be held in conjunction with the 46th PCI Annual Convention and Exposition. For more information contact Terry Halkyard at FHWA's Office of Bridge Technology (telephone: 202-366-6765, fax: 202-366-3077, email: terry.halkyard@fhwa.dot.gov).

Putting the LTPP Data To Work

After 10 years of gathering pavement performance data, the long-term pavement performance (LTPP) program has amassed 11 gigabytes of data-and counting. Who's using the data and how are they using it? And how can the data be obtained?

Smoother Pavements Add Up to Savings at WesTrack

Just about everyone likes the more comfortable ride that comes from driving on smoother pavements. But as researchers at the WesTrack pavement testing facility near Reno, Nevada, have discovered, that's not the only thing to like-smoother pavements can also save you money.

States Make Major Strides in Adopting Pavement Preservation Strategies

For the past 3.5 years, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Lead States Team for Pavement Preservation has been working with FHWA, industry, and highway agencies across the country to improve the practice of pavement preservation. "The goal of the Lead States team was to have all agencies recognize that pavement preservation strategy plays an important role in managing an agency's investment in pavements," says Wouter Gulden of the Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) and leader of AASHTO's Lead States Team for Pavement Preservation.

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