Performance underpins AASHTO provisional standard for pavement mixtures

Sources: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.; American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Washington, D.C.; CP staff

Iowa State University-hosted National Concrete Pavement Technology Center and research partners have secured AASHTO Subcommittee on Materials approval of “Performance Engineered Mixtures for Concrete Pavements,” a provisional standard offering alternatives to prescriptive specifications. Transportation agencies and industry stakeholders will join a five-year Federal Highway Administration pooled-fund program to implement concepts in the standard.

Follow-through activities will ensure states evolve their concrete pavement specifications and position contractors to develop mixtures equal to performance needs in specific environments. The FHWA program will include training and assistance—from design through construction of concrete pavements—and cover such topics as identifying critical properties based on project location; selecting tools to monitor compliance; conducting new tests properly; and, developing suitable mixtures while improving their sensitivity to batching and construction processes and reducing financial and environmental impacts. Additional information on “Performance Engineered Mixtures for Concrete Pavements” can be obtained from Concrete Pavement Tech Center Director Peter Taylor, [email protected].

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