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Lead State Teams
Take a Bow
The seven
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
Lead States teams "set a model for technology deployment that will
be used for years to come," says John Conrad of the Washington State
Department of Transportation and chair of the AASHTO Task Force on SHRP
Implementation. That model was both celebrated and reflected upon at the
fifth and final Lead States Workshop, held in St. Louis in September.
The workshop was the culmination of four years of work by the teams, with
their term of service now ending and responsibility for the implementation
of the SHRP technologies being handed over to various AASHTO subcommittees.
Those four years of work have seen the creation of videotapes, brochures,
and Web sites; the development of instructional workshops; the writing
of handbooks and guide specifications; and the fielding of countless phone
calls and emails from State and local highway agencies, all with the end
goal of taking the new SHRP technologies and making them mainstream. These
activities fulfilled the promise put forth by William Burnett, the then
chairman of the Task Force on SHRP Implementation, in 1995: "By sharing
their experiences with others, Lead States can help other States implement
products more easily." All told, more than 100 representatives from
23 State highway agencies, industry, academia, and the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) took part in the shared effort. "The Lead State
initiative," said John Horsley, Executiv Director of AASHTO, "is
a success story unto itself."
At the meeting, team members gathered for the last time to both review
their accomplishments and finalize their transition plans for shifting
responsibilities to the AASHTO subcommittees. The accomplishments include:
- The
innovative pavement maintenance material team's distribution of a field
demonstration guide and conducting of six hands-on demonstrations.
- The concrete assessment and rehabilitation team's promotion of such
innovative techniques as ground penetrating radar and electrochemical
chloride extraction.
- The explosive growth in use of the Superpave system witnessed by
the Superpave team, from 95 projects in 1996 to almost 4,000 this year.
- The increase in the number of high-performance concrete (HPC) bridge
projects, thanks in large part to the efforts of the HPC team.
Almost half of States are now using high-strength HPC in construction
of bridge girders. Other States are beginning to use HPC for both superstructures
and substructures.
But for the teams, just as important as their past efforts are the transition
plans for what is to come. For the anti-icing/road weather information
systems (RWIS) team, the transition plan includes continuation of a project
looking at the documentation of the benefits and costs associated with
anti-icing/RWIS technology, as well as a project to develop a formal training
program for the technology. The pavement preservation team's transition
goals include ensuring that industry and local governments stay involved
in implementation efforts, promoting a linked pavement preservation/pavement
management system strategy, and establishing a clearinghouse to enable
the sharing of data between research groups and highway agencies. And
the alkali-silica reactivity (ASR) team is urging that the follow-on work
by AASHTO include developing methods that will rapidly and reliably evaluate
the performance of concrete mixtures for ASR susceptibility. All of the
teams, meanwhile, support the continuation of the Lead States Web site
(leadstates.tamu.edu), which has been a vital resource for those looking
for information and documents. "Communication is the key to continued
success," said Dean Carlson, Secretary of Transportation for the
State of Kansas.
Each of the team transition plans can be found on the Lead States Web
site. For a list of the AASHTO subcommittees taking over team responsibilities,
see below.
The Lead States teams won't be meeting again. But their success will continue
to stretch beyond just the implementation of the SHRP technologies. As
Byron Lord of FHWA noted at the close of the workshop, the teams have
"changed the future and created a new paradigm of technology transfer.
They leave a legacy of excellence."
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The work of the Lead States teams included creating
and distributing a variety of newsletters, reports and brochures
on the SHRP technologies.
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AASHTO Subcommittee
Contacts
- The AASHTO Subcommittee on Maintenance is assuming the responsibilities
of the pavement preservation team. Contact: Tom Lorfeld at the Wisconsin
Department of Transportation (DOT), 608-267-3149 (fax: 608-267-7856).
The subcommittee's task force for snow and ice is taking over the work
of the anti-icing/RWIS team. Contact: Ken Kirkland at FHWA, 360-705-7851
(fax: 360-705-6823). And the subcommittee's pavement task force will
carry on the tasks of the innovative pavement maintenance materials
team. Contact: John Selmer at Iowa DOT, 515-239-1589 (fax: 515-239-1005;
email: jselmer@max.state.ia.us).
- The Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures will continue the work
of the concrete assessment and rehabilitation and high-performance concrete
teams. For information on concrete assessment and rehabilitation, contact
Malcolm Kerley at Virginia DOT, 804-786-2635 (fax: 804-786-2988; email:
kerley_mt@vdot.state.va.us).
For information on HPC pavements, contact Jim Grove at Iowa DOT, 515-239-1848
(fax: 515-239-1845; email: jgrove@max.state.ia.us).
For information on HPC structures, contact Richard Wilkison at Texas
DOT, 512-416-2276 (fax: 512-416-2557; email:
rwilkiso@mailgw.dot.state.tx.us).
- The Subcommittees on Materials and Construction will assume responsibility
for the tasks of the ASR team. Contact: Gerald Malasheskie at Pennsylvania
DOT, 717-787-4720 (fax: 717-783-5955). The Subcommittee on Materials
will also continue to play a key role in Superpave implementation. Contact:
Rick Smutzer at Indiana DOT, 317-232-5280 (fax: 317-356-9351; email:
rsmutzer@indot.state.in.us).
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