Publication Number: FHWA-RD-00-065
Date: December 2000

Expert Task Group Defines LTPP Data Analysis Program

More than 10 years of long term pavement performance (LTPP) data have been collected at sites across the country, with the analysis of that data now well underway. What will that analysis mean for State highway agencies and others? Under the Long-Term Pavement Performance Data Analysis Program developed by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Expert Task Group (ETG) on LTPP Data Analysis, the outcome will include improvements in traffic characterization and prediction, material characterization, and consideration of environmental effects in pavement design, among other advances.

At its October 2000 meeting, the ETG further defined a program of national level analysis of the LTPP data. The Data Analysis Program encompasses analysis work that will be directly sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), as well as work that is being proposed for pursuit via the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, pooled fund initiatives, and other entities. The analysis work addresses needs defined in the November 1999 Strategic Plan for Long-Term Pavement Performance Data Analysis, including such goals as improved evaluation and use of pavement condition data, evaluation of pavement response and performance models, and guidance on maintenance and rehabilitation strategy selection and performance prediction.

The program is the culmination of several years of effort on the part of the ETG and others. The majority of the LTPP data analysis projects were defined through a series of annual workshops sponsored by TRB that began in 1998. The remaining projects were defined through FHWA data analysis planning efforts that began in 1997. The program defined by the ETG builds upon this prior work by showing how the individual projects relate to one another and to the Strategic Plan objectives.

Special credit is due ETG member Mike Murphy of the Texas Department of Transportation, who chaired the work group that developed the Strategic Plan and devised a graphical representation of the analysis program.

The graphical representation of the Data Analysis Program can be found on the LTPP Web page (www.tfhrc.gov/pavement/ltpp/ppt/ltppchart.ppt). You can also find a copy of the 1999 Strategic Plan on the Web at https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/ltpp/resource.cfm. For more information on the Data Analysis Program, contact Cheryl Richter at FHWA, 202-493-3148 (fax: 202-493-3161; email: cheryl.richter@fhwa.dot.gov).

LTPP Data Analysis Contest Postponed

To accommodate updates to the long-term pavement performance (LTPP) program data that will be available in the spring of 2001, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) have postponed the deadline for the third annual International Contest on LTPP Data Analysis (see September 2000 Focus) from June 1, 2001, until June 1, 2002. For more information on the contest, contact Edwina Chen at ASCE, 703-295-6199 (fax: 703-295-6132; email: echen@asce.org). To obtain a free copy of the DataPave software, contact the LTPP customer service center at 865-481-2967 (fax: 865-481-8555; email: ltppinfo@fhwa.dot.gov; Web: www.ltppdatabase.com). More information on the contest is also available at the LTPP Web site.

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