July/August
2002
Editor's
Notes
First,
I want to thank the editors of Public Roads for allowing us to "commandeer"
an issue of the magazine and devote it to telling you about the national
Concrete Pavement Technology Program (CPTP) and some of the important
projects being conducted by the CPTP team.
![Photo of Stephen W. Forester](images/forester.jpg)
The Transportation
Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), signed into law
in June 1998, authorized highway, highway safety, transit, and other
surface transportation programs for the next 6 years. Two important
aspects of the Act are the emphases on rebuilding America's infrastructure
and advancing research and technology. As a result of these emphases,
TEA-21 included a line item calling for research to improve the performance
of concrete pavements, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
was to conduct this work in cooperation with industry.
The work
evolved into a systematic program of studies designated as CPTP. Program
management is provided by FHWA and industry, with input from the State
departments of transportation, industry, and academia via a review
committee administered by the Transportation Research Board (TRB).
CPTP's four goals address the needs of State highway agencies, the
concrete paving industry, and highway users, while also contributing
to one of FHWA's Vital Few focus areascongestion mitigation. The CPTP's
goals are to:
- Reduce
user delays
- Reduce
costs
- Improve
performance
- Foster
innovation
The goal
of reducing user delays is addressed through studies on topics such
as better traffic management, more rapid testing, and more rapid construction
techniques. Many of these studies also contribute to the goal of reducing
costs, as do projects examining life-cycle costs and the cost-effectiveness
of pavement design components. To improve performance, the CPTP is
pursuing new tests and procedures for materials selection and concrete
mixture design, and models to predict concrete behavior and improve
the reliability of performance. New technology can affect the state
of the practice only if sufficient attention is devoted to deployment
and delivery of that technology to the user community. Through technology
transfer, the CPTP program is achieving the final goal of fostering
innovation.
The articles
in this issue of Public Roads cover various individual projects in
the CPTP. The last article features the development of a long-term
plan for future concrete pavement research and technology.
With
the current economic climate of reduced budgets in the highway research
arena, efficient programs with hard-working partnerships are imperative
to getting the job done. As you read the articles, I think you will
agree that the CPTP is a premier example of just such a program. The
success of the program is due to the continued hard work of FHWA staff,
industry, and our many project participants from industry, Federal
and State agencies, and academia. The CPTP has many projects not covered
in this issue; watch future issues of Public Roads for updates on
other projects and programs.
Further information can be found at the following Web sites: FHWA's Office of Infrastructure R&D on Concrete Pavements at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/pccp/
and FHWA's Office of Pavement Technology on Concrete Pavements at
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/concrete/index.cfm.
We welcome
your feedback through the Web sites or letters to the editor of Public
Roads.
Stephen
W. Forster
Technical Director for Pavements
Office of Infrastructure R&D
Other
Articles in this issue:
Taking
Concrete to the Next Level
Getting
It Together
Fine-Tuning
Innovative Technologies
On
the Road Testing Roads
Paving
the Way
Making
Roads Better and Better
Texas
Tests Precast for Speed and Usability
The
Biggest Bang for Your Buck
New
Software Promises to Put Whitetopping on the Map
Road
Map to the Future