May 2007 Focus - A World of Preservation

A World of Preservation

From house painting to oil changes, proactive maintenance activities help protect our investment in our homes and cars. Protecting the considerable public investment in the highway infrastructure requires an equally important emphasis on proactive preservation techniques to maximize the service life of our roads and bridges. To assist State and local agencies and others in implementing preservation practices, a world of pavements and structures preservation resources now awaits at the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) new Preservation Web site (www.fhwa.dot.gov/preservation).

Figure 6. Screen capture. The home page of FHWA's Preservation Web site (www.fhwa.dot.gov/preservation). The header at the top of the page reads "Preservation," with three buttons below for Pavements, Structures, and Research. On the left of the page, the home page lists the Focus Areas of Pavements, Structures, and Research again. In the middle of the page, the category "Resources" lists Memos, Publications, and Fact Sheets. On the right of the page, the category "About Preservation" lists Related Links, Sponsors, and Preservation Contacts.

The one-stop site gathers resources for preserving both pavements and structures, including research on preventive maintenance and other preservation topics. Also featured are listings for FHWA publications, fact sheets, memos, and upcoming events. Publications include FHWA's new Pavement Preservation Compendium II, which gathers articles and resources highlighting advancements in pavement preservation technologies and techniques, and the FHWA Pavement Preservation Checklist series. This series was created to guide State and local highway maintenance and inspection staff in the use of innovative pavement preventive maintenance processes. The portable checklists cover everything from chip seals to microsurfacing to thin hot-mix asphalt overlays. Structures publications available, meanwhile, include fact sheets on bridge preservation and the management of the East River Bridges in New York City.

Protecting the considerable public investment in the highway infrastructure requires an equally important emphasis on proactive preservation techniques to maximize the service life of our roads and bridges.

Visitors can also find links to other useful Web sites, including those of the National Center for Pavement Preservation, Foundation for Pavement Preservation, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Transportation System Preservation Technical Services Program.

The site's comprehensive list of contacts includes FHWA staff across the country, including at FHWA headquarters offices, division offices, the National Highway Institute, and the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center.

For more information on FHWA's pavement preservation resources, contact Joe Gregory at FHWA, 202-366-1557 (email: joseph.gregory@fhwa.dot.gov). To learn more about bridge preservation, contact Wade Casey at FHWA, 202-366-4606 (email: wade.casey@fhwa.dot.gov).

Visit FHWA's other topic-based Web sites for a range of resources and useful information:

Hydraulics Engineering—www.fhwa.dot.gov/engineering/hydraulics

Pavements—www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement

Geotechnical Engineering—www.fhwa.dot.gov/engineering/geotech

Highway Specifications—http://fhwapap04.fhwa.dot.gov/nhswp/index.jsp

		May 2007
		FHWA-HRT-07-013