Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-13-011
Date: April 2013
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Enter the 2013 International Contest on LTPP Data Analysis

Use the world's most extensive pavement performance database to research and write an award-winning paper by July 31 for the International Contest on Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Data Analysis.

Sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) LTPP program and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the contest launched in 1998 to encourage college students, professors, State highway agency staff, industry representatives, and others to get involved in using the LTPP data. Since the LTPP program began more than 20 years ago, data have been collected from nearly 2,500 in-service pavement test sections throughout the United States and Canada. These test sections represent a range of climatic and soil conditions.

The 2013 contest theme is "Pavement Performance Measures for Highways." Contest participants should focus on paper topics relevant to this theme. Participants can enter in four categories:

• Challenge Topic. Undergraduate or graduate students, partners from State highway agencies or other organizations, and a faculty advisor are eligible to tackle the 2013 challenge topic, "Develop Pavement Health Index/Indices Using the LTPP Data."Analysis is restricted to LTPP data. The principal author of the paper must be the student who primarily conducted the analysis.
• Partnership. Undergraduate or graduate students working in partnership with a State highway agency or other organizations are eligible. In this category, the LTPP data may be supplemented with State agency data. Teams should consist of one to four students, the external partners, and advising faculty (if appropriate). The principal author must be the student who primarily conducted the analysis.
• Undergraduate Students. Teams can consist of one to four undergraduate students. Analysis is restricted to LTPP data. The principal author must be the student who primarily conducted the analysis.
• Graduate Students. Teams should consist of one to four students and may include undergraduate students. Analysis is restricted to LTPP data. The principal author must be the graduate student who primarily conducted the analysis.

Participants can find the LTPP data in FHWA's online DataPave tool at www.ltpp-products.com, or they can use the LTPP program's Standard Data Release (SDR) 27, released in January 2013. To obtain a copy of SDR 27 on a thumb drive, contact LTPP Customer Service at ltppinfo@dot.gov. Groups working on the Challenge Topic or other topics requiring large data downloads are encouraged to use the SDR.

A first place winner will be selected for the Challenge Topic category, while other categories will recognize both first and second place winners. First and second place winners will receive an award certificate and all-expenses paid trip to attend the 2014 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, where they will present their research topic. All participants receive letters of recognition. FHWA reserves the right to publish the winning papers in an LTPP research document.

The deadline to submit contest papers is July 31, 2013. Winners will be notified by October 18, 2013. For contest guidelines, visit the LTPP Web site at www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/tfhrc/programs/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/contest.cfm. For more information, contact Andrea Baker at ASCE, 703-295-6124 (email: abaker@asce.org), or Deborah Walker at FHWA, 202-493-3068 (email: deborah.walker@dot.gov).