Pavement Preservation Journal, Winter 2013, Vol. 6, No. 4
Mary Robbins, Ph.D., Buzz Powell, Ph.D., P.E., and Jason Nelson
This fall marks the first anniversary for the Preservation Group (PG) experiment of the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) Pavement Test Track 2012 study. The last year has been an eventful one, as a full cycle of seasons and nearly 20,000 truck passes have led to exciting observations and visitors from around the region.
Just over a year ago, 25 sections were placed with over 20 different preservation treatments or combinations of treatments. These sections delineate a half-mile-long section of roadway that leads to a quarry and asphalt plant located at the end of Lee Road 159 in Auburn, Ala., near the NCAT Test Track.
The intent of this study is to develop life-extending benefit curves for each section. The half-mile section of the two-lane roadway was split into 25, 100-ft. test sections to study various preservation treatments. Each section was further subdivided into 40, 5 by 10-ft. subsections with a diverse range of pretreatment conditions to enable the completion of life-extending benefit curves, quantified by the time or traffic until recurrence of pretreatment condition.
