Publication Number: FHWA-SA-97-022
Date: April 1997

Romania Goes for the Superpave System

The Romania National Roads Administration (NRA) has decided to adopt the Superpave binder specification and mix design procedures for its asphalt pavements. Romania has 153,000 km (95,000 mi) of public roads, about half of which are paved. The NRA is adopting the Superpave system for the same reason as U.S. highway agencies-namely, it wants to build more durable asphalt pavements.

Romania is already making significant progress in its implementation of the Superpave system. In summer 1996, the Superpave binder test equipment was installed in the NRA laboratories in Bucharest by a U.S. firm, Advanced Asphalt Technologies. The company also provided 3 weeks of extensive training for NRA staff.

NRA will soon purchase a Superpave gyratory compactor and will begin designing Superpave mixes tailored to the country's cold, damp winters and the traffic loads on its roads. Notes Radu Andrei of the NRA, "We must develop a customized mix specific to conditions in Romania."

Andrei learned about the Superpave system while serving as a loaned staff member to the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) from June 1992 to June 1993.

Andrei has maintained his ties to U.S. highway research as Romania's international SHRP coordinator. The international coordinators gather every year at the Transportation Research Board annual meeting to discuss the implementation of SHRP products and the ongoing research being conducted under the long-term pavement performance program.

NRA has high expectations for the Superpave system. "Superpave technology is the Romanian choice for a new and comprehensive performance-based approach to pavement design and evaluation," Andrei says.

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