Innovative technology evaluated during the construction of the NCAT Pavement Test Track

The National Center for Asphalt Technology has constructed a 1.7-mile oval Test Track. The Test Track contains 46 test sections. It is located near Auburn Alabama. The purpose of the Test Track is to evaluate the rutting susceptibility of Hot Mix Asphalt pavements. The goal of the Test Track is to evaluate the performance of the various mixes in the laboratory and under field conditions. The laboratory data will be compared to the field data to establish a pavement performance model. The model can then be used to predict pavement performance. This innovation can help save taxpayer dollars in future paving operations.

Ten different agencies are participating in this first round of testing. One of the agencies, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, funded a University of Tennessee Graduate Research Assistant to be on-site during the construction of the test sections.

The Test Track was constructed over a two-year period. The subsequent traffic applied to the track will be equivalent to approximately 20 years of traffic on a normal interstate pavement. The accelerated schedule will help to answer pertinent design questions in a shorter time and under controlled conditions. The objective of this document is to summarize the construction of the Test Track and present some of the innovative technology used during construction. The Test Track is an internationally known project and the results of the testing are expected to be very useful to future paving operations.

An evaluation of innovative technology was performed during the construction of the Test Track. They include a truck-sampling device, a belt sampling device, release agents, infrared technology, and new density measuring devices. The density-measuring device was evaluated for the purposes of this paper. It is a Pavement Quality Indicator. It was evaluated for its ability to estimate roadway density. The Pavement Quality Indicator performed similar to a traditional nuclear gauge.