Exploring lessons learned from partnerships to establish a regional accelerated pavement testing facility in Wyoming

ABSTRACT

A foremost accelerated pavement testing (APT) test road facility is proposed along interstate 80 for the dry-freeze climate by the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT). A survey was undertaken among states and industries in the region as part of the feasibility study to identify research needs and interests in the test road project. This paper summarises the responses of the survey and lessons learned from the experiences of 3 APT test road facilities in the U.S. Respondents perceive the APT to be relevant and critical to the study and state-of-practice of pavement engineering. Respondents’ research needs include local calibration for the mechanistic-empirical (ME) pavement design, pavement preservations alternatives, and recycled materials for pavements. The presented information and the lessons learned will guide future APT programmes at the planning stage on nurturing partnerships and avoiding the mistakes of earlier APTs to minimise the wastage of scarce resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Accelerated pavement testing
• test road
• dry-freeze climate
• partnerships
• pooled fund studies

Acknowledgements

All figures, tables, and equations listed in this paper will be included in the final report at the conclusions of this study. The writers wish to thank Mr Benjamin Worel, Tom Burnham, Michael Vrtis, Dr Robert ‘Buzz’ Powell, Jason Nelson, Dr Bouzid Choubane, and Mr James Greene for sharing their experiences in APT with us. Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved include the State of Wyoming, the Wyoming Department of Transportation, and the University of Wyoming.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge that this work is part of project #RS02220 funded by the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT). The matching fund for this study was secured from the Mountain Plains Consortium (Grand # 69A3551747108 (FAST Act).