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Resources

A NEWSLETTER FOR OUR PARTNERS

December 2020–January 2021

Did you know concrete overlays can fix THIS?

Concerns about America's aging infrastructure have been frequently voiced, but the dollars allotted for remedying the nation's ever-mounting backlog of urgent infrastructure needs has never been adequate to the job—a situation COVID, of course, is not helping.

An FHWA Every Day Counts (EDC-6) initiative, "Targeted Overlay Pavement Solutions" (TOPS) now offers a series of one-page CP-Tech-Center-developed flyers that tell real-life contractor stories of innovative unbonded and bonded concrete overlays that resulted in impressive turnaround times and lower costs while addressing serious issues in existing asphalt, composite, and concrete pavements.

This one-page flyer series joins the already extensive library of CP Tech Center concrete overlay design and construction resources, including our recent overlays webinar seriescomprehensive overlays guideoverlays design guideoverlays project guide that includes typical construction drawings, specification guidance, and cost information; and overlay construction field application program for state DOTs.
     
Concrete overlays can add life to nearly all pavements

One-page guidance for PEM tests now available

What is there not to like about greater pavement durability at lower cost? It is no surprise the performance-engineered-mixtures (PEM) approach to concrete design is gaining increasing traction around the country.

Nevertheless, to justify the cost of PEM testing, pavement owners and contractors alike need to know why a given test is important, what it tells us, how it is run, and how to interpret its output. 

A recently published CP Tech Center series of one-page flyers on the Vibrating Kelly Ball (VKelly)BoxSuper Air Meter (SAM), and Resistivity/Formation Factor tests addresses these questions. This flyer series supplements other more detailed information on the CP Tech Center website's PEM resources page that includes how-to videos, data calculation templates, and demonstration project reports.
Photo: VKelly test
Photo: Box Test equipment
Photo: Super air meter
Photo: Bulk resistivity
Join upcoming CP Tech Center webinars
on
Tuesdays at 12 pm (CST)
  • January 12: Pavement preservation—Dowel bar retrofit (DBR) and diamond grinding
  • February 9: Understanding the application/benefit of fiber reinforcement in concrete
  • March 9: Advancements in our knowledge and action to control alkali-silica reaction (ASR) in concrete pavements
  • April 13: Understanding the value of competition

All webinars offer Professional Development Hours (PDHs)
and are available for signup here.

(Previous webinar recordings, slide handouts, and speakers' Q&A responses are available here.)

CP Tech Center continues "traveling" virtually

While COVID has reshaped CP Tech Center travel in almost every other way, one aspect of business travel the pandemic has left largely untouched is the lighter travel schedule traditionally associated with the holiday season.

The one national agency event around the holidays in which the CP Tech Center participated was FHWA's Every Day Counts (EDC-6) Summit that went virtual on December 8ᵗʰ–10ᵗʰ. During the summit's two 4-hour breakout sessions on the Targeted Overlay Pavement Solutions (TOPS) initiative, CP Tech Center program manager John Adam served as concrete overlays subject matter expert, responding to questions and providing comments. The one national industry event in which CP Tech Center director Peter Taylor participated was the December 14ᵗʰ American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA) Strategic Advisory Committee meeting.
The CP Tech Center also continued its Concrete Pavement Technology Tuesday webinar series December 15ᵗʰ with Tyler Speakmon (CEMEX) and Tommy Nantung (Indiana DOT) presenting on "Concrete Pavement Thickness Design and Slab Geometry."
As for local events, Larry Sutter (Michigan Tech University) addressed "The Future of Fly Ash: Dystopia or Hysteria?" on December 2ⁿᵈ as part of the Iowa Better Concrete Conference organized by the CP Tech Center that went virtual for 2020.  
For the December 11ᵗʰ Iowa Concrete Lunch & Learn, Todd Hanson, Iowa DOT PCC Materials Engineer, and Dan King, Iowa Concrete Paving Association (ICPA) Concrete Research and Design Director, discussed "PEM and Reduced Cement Pavement Mixes in Iowa."
For the January 8ᵗʰ Iowa Concrete Lunch & Learn, Dan King again co-presented, this time with Tom Cackler, Principal Engineer for Woodland Consulting, Inc., on "PCC Overlays: Fabric and Fiber," examining overlay applications of geotextile fabric interlayers and fiber reinforcement.
Even during the holiday season, the CP Tech Center continued to serve the field of concrete paving!

Meet the board members

A state's concrete paving association is generally its go-to organization for contractors needing training for their crews or advice on particular projects. Association staff have their finger on the pulse of contractors' everyday frustrations and are familiar with the state's most challenging projects and most innovative solutions.
American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA) chapter/state representatives are thus vital on the CP Tech Center Executive Board of Directors. Kevin McMullen has worked for the Wisconsin Concrete Pavement Association (WCPA) since 1995—and for all but three of those years as its president. He has led a major membership development drive resulting in 40+ new members joining the association in all categories and has twice served as chairman of the ACPA Chapter/State Committee.

Before joining WCPA, McMullen worked for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) as pavement engineering supervisor. McMullen holds a civil engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Paving Association Execs

Please forward this newsletter to your members as appropriate.
Copyright © 2021 National Concrete Pavement Technology Center. All rights reserved.

The goal of Resources is to let our partners know about publications and other products, events, and training opportunities provided by the National Concrete Pavement Technology (CP Tech) Center at Iowa State University.

CP Tech Center / 2711 S Loop Drive / Suite 4700 / Ames, IA 50010

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