James A. Moore, New Hampshire Department of Transportation
In 1987, Congress initiated the five-year Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) to investigate various products to improve the constru c t i b i l i t y and reduce the maintenance of the nation’s highways and bridges. High Perf o rmance Concre t e (HPC) or “engineered concrete” is one of the products from the SHRP program. To implement these p roducts, Congress authorized additional funding over the following six years. The American Association of State Highway and Tr a n s p o rt a t i o n O fficials (AASHTO), in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), cre a t e d a Task Force for SHRP implementation. The Ta s k F o rce’s approach for technology transfer was t h rough the use of teams consisting of the states that took the lead on various products; hence, the AASHTO Lead State Team for HPC Implementation was form e d .
The Team, along with other Lead State Teams, first met in September 1996 to put together our mission, goals, strategies, and action plans. The team members represent industry, FHWA, and the States (currently Arizona, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Texas, Virginia, and Washington). Our mission is to promote the implementation of HPC technology for use in pavements and bridges and to share knowledge, benefits, and challenges with the states and their customers. To date, seventeen states are utilizing this technology for bridge projects. Many other states will be using HPC in their bridge decks; taking advantage of the characteristics of low permeability, increased abrasion resistance, and improved durability.
In order to spread the word on HPC, the Team makes presentations at various AASHTO meetings, to other professional organizations, and to states adjacent to the lead states; writes papers for various publications; and supports other efforts such as HPC Bridge Vi e w s. Also, we have conducted a survey about each state’s current use of both conventional concrete and HPC (if used). The results are available at the web site listed below. In addition, a point of contact has been established in each state and the lead states have established focus teams in their geographical locations. The focus teams meet on a regular basis and consist of representatives from the states, industry, academia, and FHWA. Their mission is to promote HPC projects.
One measure of the viability of a product or technology is its cost, both initial and long term . HPC is viewed as one of the seven high payoff SHRP technologies. To that end, the Team is developing guidelines on condition, re p a i r, and maintenance data for use in determining bridge life-cycle costs by utilizing data collected for bridge management systems. Two bridge life-cycle cost analysis programs are currently being investigated.
Another effort is the Team’s work in partnering with FHWA and industry to develop a generic HPC bridge implementation workshop. The workshop will be available to each state. The purpose will be to educate the states through various modules on the benefits of HPC and how to design, fabricate, and construct an HPC bridge. The modules will be designed to be given independently so each state may pick and choose how many they want. Modules will include structural design, fabrication, construction, costs and monitoring, research, FHWA demonstration projects, and an executive section which will give an overview of issues facing management.
Working together, we can achieve the overall goal which is to make HPC the standard product for use in bridges.
Further Information
Activities of the Lead State Team are described in more detail at their web site:
http://leadstates.tamu.edu under “High Performance Concrete.” The survey results are available at http://hpc.fhwa.dot.gov under “Lead States Surveys .”