In May, Dr. Gary Hicks, AUTC Research Partner and program manager at the California Pavement Preservation Center, presented on his work with the Alaska Pavement Preservation Database at the International Society for Asphalt Pavements 2012 Symposium in Nanjing, China. Hicks shared his presentation from this symposium in a go-to meeting held today.
The ISAP symposium was the first held in Asia. It addressed heavy duty asphalt pavements and bridge deck pavements, which have become common challenges for engineers and planners across the globe, and in Alaska, which spends up to $140 million a year on surface maintenance. (Learn more about the conference here.)
Dr. Hicks’ presentation discussed a major Alaska pavement preservation project he recently completed with AUTC and Dr. Jenny Liu, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UAF. The two led an effort with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to create a pavement preservation guide and database for Alaska. (Visit the AUTC project webpage here.)
Titled “Developing a Database to Support an Alaska Pavement Preservation Program,” the paper Hicks presented was coauthored by Hicks, Angela Parsons, a research engineer with ADOT&PF, and DingXin Cheng, Director of CP2C. The original AUTC project developed an online database and treatment selection strategy guide for ADOT&PF. As nations like Russia and China consider the most cost-effective means for expanding and preserving their transportation infrastructure to support economic growth, Alaska’s evolving practices in pavement preservation are increasingly relevant for other nations.
Dr. Gary Hicks, Program Manager and AUTC partner at the California Pavement Preservation Center, presents at ISAP's 2012 Symposium in Nanjing, China. (Photo Courtesy: G. Hicks)
The project evaluated cold-region preservation techniques from the U.S., Canada, and other northern latitude nations, examined existing practices in Alaska, and gave decision makers guidelines and matrices to choose the most attractive and cost-efficient treatments. The guide identifies 11 commonly-used pavement treatments for use in Alaska’s management system, and evaluated them for their costs and life-cycle enhancement.
This project is featured in the current AUTC quarterly newsletter, which is available online here, and the newly developed preservation database is also available online at the project website, here.
ISAP was formed in 1987, and is the only world-wide organization to promote technology transfer for flexible pavements. Learn more here.
