Publication Number: FHWA-SA-97-024
Date: June 1997

In Brief

The January-February 1997 TR News, published by the Transportation Research Board (TRB), is devoted to SHRP. Titled "Bringing Research to Reality: Strategic Highway Research Program," the issue includes the following articles:

• Improving the Effectiveness of Highway Research: Reflections from the SHRP Experience
• Implementing SHRP Products: Coordination Pays Off
• Concrete: Making a Good Building Material Better
• Preserving and Maintaining the Highway System: New Tools and Strategies
• Superpave System: Designing and Building More Durable Asphalt Pavement
• Long-Term Pavement Performance Program: Reaping Large Rewards from Small Improvements
• IDEA Program: Innovative Approach to Highway Research
• SHRP Technologies: Saving Money, Time, and Lives

Copies can be purchased from the TRB Business Office (telephone: 202-334-3214; fax: 202-334-2519).

FHWA's division offices are monitoring the construction of all asphalt paving projects incorporating more than 10,000 tons of Superpave mix. For each project, the division offices will collect data on the binder, the mix design, and field construction control. The data will be sent to the Superpave Technology Delivery Team at FHWA, who will then share the information with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the regional asphalt user-producer groups, and others.

The information will be used to determine if projects meet the Superpave binder and mix design criteria and will assist FHWA in providing technical support to ensure that the Superpave technology is applied uniformly.

"Superpave mixes are not our traditional hot-mix asphalt mixes," says FHWA's Gerry Eller. "This field monitoring activity will make FHWA more uniformly informed about the hot-mix asphalt changes being experienced in each State as a result of Superpave implementation. We must follow through with solid engineering implementation to get the most out of our investment in SHRP and the Superpave technologies."

For more information, contact Gary Henderson at FHWA (telephone: 202-366-1549; fax: 202-366-9981; email: gary.henderson@fhwa.dot.gov).

The AASHTO Task Force on SHRP Implementation will hold a second Lead States Conference in St. Louis, MO, in September. The conference is intended to be a working session for the seven Lead State teams and their industry and FHWA partners. For more information, contact Haleem Tahir (telephone: 301-975-5275; fax: 301-330-1956; email: htahir@nist.gov).

The new edition of Hot Mix Asphalt Materials, Mixture Design, and Construction includes sections on Superpave performance-graded asphalt binders and Superpave mix design procedures. The updated and expanded textbook, published by the National Center for Asphalt Technology, is available from the National Asphalt Pavement Association (telephone: 888-468-6499; fax: 301-731-4621).

The 8th International Conference on Asphalt Pavements will feature a preconference session on the fundamental elements of the Superpave mix design system. The conference will also include a plenary session on the Superpave system, covering the following topics:

• Comparison of Superpave with Conventional Pavement Design
• Use of the K-Mold in Determination and Analysis of the Elastic and Shear Properties of Road Materials for Flexible Pavements
• Superpave Support and Performance Models Management/Evaluation of the SHRP Asphalt Research Program
• Effect of Asphalt Mixture Master Compliance Modeling Techniques on Thermal Cracking Performance Evaluation Using Superpave

The conference will be held August 10-14 in Seattle, WA. For registration information, call 206-543-5539, or visit the conference web site (http://www.engr.washington.edu/epp/Asphalt/).

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