Asset Managers from Across U.S. Informed on Ongoing MIT Research

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) held its 10th Transportation Asset Management Conference in Miami this week. As stated by TRB, the conference covered a broad range of topics on surface transportation modes of interest to agencies in all stages of implementation of asset management practices. Themes included comprehensive implementation within and across organizations; establishing and monitoring asset management plans; performance measures for asset management; tools and technology to assist decision making; transit state of good repair; and adaptation of transportation to extreme weather events and climate change. The meeting served as the forum for moving MAP-21 asset management initiatives into practice and was the venue for a wide range of federal, state, MPO/local and transit agencies as well as private sector practitioners and university researchers to share knowledge, sponsor peer to peer learning and working together.

NRMCA Vice President, Pavement Structures, Brian Killingsworth presented and then participated in the poster session on "A Systematic Pavement Type Selection Approach that Includes Environmental (LCA) and Economic (LCCA) Comparisons." The brief presentation and 2-hour poster session focused on a pavement selection approach that includes environmental and economic decisions tied to pavement design outputs. Recent research at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub has identified tools that can be used to support these pavement type selection decisions and also includes analyses of the impact of Pavement Vehicle Interaction (PVI) on vehicle fuel consumption for different roadway functional systems. All these concepts were discussed to demonstrate the impact of pavement design and management on vehicle fuel consumption and provide direction for future investments in maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the pavement network to reduce its impact on PVI. Several conference attendees visited with Killingsworth and were particularly interested in how the MIT research may be implemented in their overall asset management system.

For more information, contact Brian Killingsworth at billingsworth@nrmca.org. The MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub was established by the RMC Research & Education Foundation and the Portland Cement Association in 2009. Additional information about the work taking place at MIT may be found here.