The NCAT Pavement Test Track was originally constructed as a result of interest & support from state DOTs who shared a concern for reducing & predicting distresses in their flexible pavements. The cost for other states to sponsor the construction, testing, trucking & evaluation of experimental pavements was greatly reduced by a commitment from the Alabama DOT to fund the original construction of the facility up to the top of the supporting pavement structure. The inaugural track was completed in the summer of 2000 & subjected to 10 million ESALs of heavy truck traffic through December of 2002. Built as a perpetual pavement, the first cycle of testing was a study of surface mix performance for forty-six 200 ft test sections. The facility was rebuilt in 2003, 2006, & 2009, with experimental pavements in each cycle subjected to 10 million ESALs of heavy truck traffic. Eight thinner structural pavements replaced the original perpetual pavements in 2003, increasing to nine in 2006, then sixteen in 2009, each instrumented for high speed response to facilitate the study of M-E pavement design. The track will be rebuilt again in the summer of 2012, with many research options for potential sponsors.

1. Constructing 200 ft test sections on the existing 1.7-mile NCAT test oval that are representative of in-service roadways; 2. Applying accelerated performance truck traffic in the 2 years following construction; 3. Assessing/comparing the functional & structural field performance of trafficked sections on a regular basis via surface & subsurface measures; 4. Validating/calibrating new & existing mechanistic-empirical (M-E) approaches to pavement analysis & design using pavement surface condition, pavement load response, precise traffic & environmental logging, & cumulative damage; 5. Determining the life cycle cost of various pavement preservation alternatives in a highly controlled experiment that will provide state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) with the financial foundation to begin to build a decision tree for their own maintenance program; 6. Correlating field results with laboratory data for both mechanistic & preservation applications; and 7. Answering practical questions posed by research sponsors through formal (i.e., reports & technical papers) & informal (e.g., one-on-one responses to sponsor inquiries) technology transfer.

1. Hauling materials to the project from off-site locations. Materials donations are typically secured by state sponsors, while reasonable hauling expenses are handled by the pooled fund; 2. Rebuilding sections in accordance with sponsors' directives via competitively bid subcontractors administered by NCAT. It is anticipated that supply & grade control of subgrades & bases, aggregate hauling, liquid asphalt supply & delivery, plant production, & mix placement may all be procured via competitively bid subcontractors; 3. Installing both environmental (i.e., multi-depth pavement temperature probes) & response instrumentation (i.e., high speed stress & strain gages) in new experimental sections; 4. Operating a 5 truck heavy triple-trailer fleet in order to apply accelerated truck traffic following the completion of construction; 5. Measuring field performance each week when the fleet is parked to fully document the changes in surface condition as a function of traffic & temperature, as well as the measuring the performance of high-speed pavement on a weekly basis, and the measuring of pavement deflection & surface friction & performance on off-Track pavement preservation sections on a monthly basis; 6. Conducting laboratory testing to quantify basic material & mix performance properties, which will serve as the basis of performance model development; and 7. Comparing predicted & measured pavement response, as well as predicted & measured cumulative pavement damage in order to validate then calibrate prevailing M-E methodologies & to determine the life cycle cost of various pavement preservation alternatives.

Each sponsor participating in the study is asked to contribute funding as a function of the scope of their selected research. The cost to participate varies as follows according to the amount of effort required: 1. Continue traffic on existing mill/inlay section = $55k/year ($165k/section) 2. Surface treatment on existing mill/inlay section (Note: Intended to provide access to project for private sector partners. It does not include the cost of materials, construction or mitigation. Commitment to rapid mitigation of failed experiments is required) = $55k/year ($165k/section) 3. Continue traffic on existing structural section = $70k/year ($210k/section) 4. Mill/inlay surface performance section (Note: This option also applies to participation in the Preservation Group (PG) study. The cost of the PG study supports an array of on-Track & off-Track test sections. Actual cost to participate in the PG study will be less if more states participate. If the number of sponsors doubles (from 7 to 14), the cost is reduced to $180k/year) = $120k/year ($360k/section) 5. Mill/inlay structural performance section = $150k/year ($450k/section) 6. Structural performance section (Note: This option also applies to participation in the Green Group (GG) study. Actual cost of the GG study will be less if more states participate) = $180k/year ($540k/section) Funding requirements are based on reasonable assumptions; however, if project costs increase significantly (i.e., fuel) either a proportionate amount of additional funding or a modified scope of work may be required. Please visit the project web at www.pavetrack.com for additional information.