Mapping Concrete
RoadScience
By Tom Kuennen, Contributing Editor
On I-35 near Kearney, Kan., stringless technology is resulting in a supersmooth pavement for the Kansas DOT
Photo ourtesy of GOMACO Inc
Concrete ‘Road Map’
Not Set in Stone
he CP Road Map, formally the Long-Term Plan for Concrete Pavement Research and Technology – first articulated to the industry at the Transportation Research Board meeting in January 2006 – is finetuning its direction and experiencing a few course corrections as research meets reality in a changing environment for concrete pavement studies.
The refreshed program is symbolized by a new logo which demonstrates how different pieces of a puzzle come together to form a solid pavement. Under the aegis of the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center (National CP Tech Center) at Iowa State University – which provides operations support services to the CP Road Map program – the CP Road Map is in the fourth year of a 10-year strategic plan that outlines approximately $250 million in needed concrete pavement research. While the CP Road Map articulates a broad variety of research needs, local budgets and sheer necessity has curtailed the scope of ongoing research activity from coast to coast.
26 August 2010 Better Roads