In This Issue

Program Update
> Ten RFPs Approved
> New Data Integration TOC
> New WisDOT Library
> WHRP Study Earns Nomination
> All Projects at a Glance

Research in Focus
> Developing Critical Soil Inputs

Regional and National
> Frozen Four Update
> TRB Annual Meeting

Outreach
> WHRP at WCPA

Implementation
> Subgrade Amendment

The Wisconsin Highway Research Program has begun visiting WisDOT regional offices. We've listened to staff in Waukesha (SE Region) and Superior (NW), and next month will visit their colleagues in Green Bay (NE), Madison (SW), Wisconsin Rapids (NC) and La Crosse (SW). A special thanks to NE Region Operations Manager Will Dorsey for organizing these meetings.

WHRP views these visits as the beginning of an ongoing dialogue with regional office staff about both identifying research needs and implementing research results. Our goal is to connect what WHRP is doing with WisDOT practitioners---both in the statewide bureaus and in the regions.

Look for a comprehensive report in the June WHRP E-News on ideas and themes that were generated during these visits and on our plans for closer collaboration with our regional partners.

For more information on the regional office visits, contact WHRP Technical Director Hussain Bahia.

Program Update

Ten new projects approved for upcoming year

On January 19 the WHRP Steering Committee gathered for another intense three hours to discuss recent projects and new opportunities. Members considered the new Data Integration TOC (see story below), 2006 and 2007 implementation projects, opportunities to collaborate with other research groups, contracting and change orders, and other critical issues.

Foremost among the steering committee's actions was approval of 10 FFY 2008 requests for proposals recommended by the four TOCs:

Flexible Pavements TOC

- Pavement repair prior to overlay
- Mixture characterization using the SPT
- Intelligent compaction (joint with Geotechnics TOC)

Rigid Pavements TOC

- Reducing cementitious material content
- Whitetopping performance

Geotechnics TOC

- Resilient modulus determination for plastic soils
- Deep soil compaction
- Intelligent compaction (joint with Flexible Pavements TOC)

Structures TOC

- Permit vehicle loads
- Friction coefficients for stainless steel/PTFE bridges
- Cantilever sign fatigue

See all RFPs on the WHRP Web site. Proposals for most projects are due by March 19. For more information, contact WHRP Program Manager Andrew Hanz.

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Data Integration TOC begins work

Improving access to data is a key goal of the new Data Integration TOC.

WisDOT gathers and maintains extensive data on its highways and bridges, much of it in numerous separate databases. The department captures information on everything from structures to soil borings to pavement distress, as well as tracking construction project timelines and materials data, using varied formats including basic spreadsheets, GIS-based databases and photologs.

WHRP's new Data Integration TOC was formed to improve access to these databases and to work toward integrating them---for researchers and also for WisDOT users. At its first meeting on January 16, TOC members discussed long-term goals and first steps, such as documenting details of WisDOT databases, investigating other state agency data integration practices, and identifying research needs. Look for details of the March TOC meeting in the next WHRP E-News.

For more information contact Data Integration TOC Chair James McDonnell or WHRP Program Manager Andrew Hanz.

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New WisDOT Library and iCommons Learning Center

The library's new space includes easy-to-access stacks and workstations for customers.

The WisDOT Library and its skilled information professionals are key components of the department's research and innovation efforts. And now they're even easier to reach in their new location on the first floor of the Hill Farms building in Madison. The new space includes accessible, browsable stacks, user-friendly computer workstations, and collaborative work and meeting space.

Already home to a top-ranked transportation collection, the library is partnering with WisDOT's Research Program and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a two-year study to evaluate the iCommons Learning Center concept for the agency. The iCommons will offer research, library and communication services and virtual components that will allow remote access to the library's services.

"We want to be a physical and digital resource for WisDOT staff in Madison and throughout the state, as well as for Wisconsin investigators, students, consultants and the general public," says head librarian John Cherney. "Send us an email, give us a call, come in to borrow a report, or browse our online catalog."

WisDOT has scheduled a Library Open House to showcase its new location on Monday, April 16, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For further information on library services, contact John Cherney.

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A paper presented at the 2006 TRB Annual Meeting by UW-Milwaukee professor Hani Titi and graduate assistant Mohammed Elias was nominated for the K.B. Woods Award for best paper in design and construction.

No more than 2 percent of the 600 design and construction papers submitted to TRB each year earn nomination. Titi and Elias' paper, "Evaluation of Resilient Modulus Model Parameters for Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design," was drawn from their WHRP research project highlighted below in Research in Focus.

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Project Status at a Glance

As of December 31, 2006, there were 37 active WHRP projects. One of these projects was completed during the last quarter.

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Research in Focus

Developing critical soil inputs for the M-E Design Guide
0092-03-11, Determination of Typical Resilient Modulus Values for Selected Soils in Wisconsin

It's all about inputs. The AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide requires local inputs into the M-E Design software to get maximum benefit from its use. One such input is resilient modulus of soils (the measure of a soil's response to frequent loading).

To obtain accurate resilient modulus values for Wisconsin subgrade soils, WHRP contracted with UW-Milwaukee professor Hani Titi and his team to conduct laboratory tests of physical and compaction properties on selected soil samples and develop a database of soil types, resilient modulus values, and standard soil property values under various environmental conditions.

When WisDOT adopts the new M-E Design Guide, this database will provide the department with needed inputs for designing longer-lasting pavements with Wisconsin's various soil types taken into consideration.

See the final report, research brief and related documents on the project page of WHRP's Web site. For more information, contact Hani Titi or WisDOT project manager Bob Arndorfer.

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Regional and National Collaboration

Frozen Four update

Representatives of the North Central Pavement Research Coordination Partnership, or the Frozen Four (Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin DOTs), continue to work together to coordinate their agencies' pavement research and implementation activities. Recent research efforts have focused on:

- Design inputs and sensitivity analyses for the new AASHTO M-E Design Guide
- State research related to FHWA's Concrete Pavement Road Map
- Opportunities for collaboration based on overlapping research problem statements
- State research related to the draft National Asphalt Roadmap

For more information see the project Web Site.

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WHRP staff participated in the Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C. January 21-25, along with other Wisconsin university staff and practitioners from WisDOT and industry. A Wisconsin TRB Guide produced by WisDOT features Wisconsin presenters and their papers, and lists state members on TRB committees and panels.

TRB has archived selected e-Sessions from the meeting, with audio and PowerPoint slides, on the following topics pertinent to WHRP research:

- Dialogue with Leaders in Design and Construction of Transportation Facilities
- Meeting the Challenge to Achieve a Nationally Coordinated Research Program

To access these and other e-Sessions see the TRB Web Site.

WHRP will review the TRB CD-ROM of papers for recent research that could be helpful to current WHRP projects and e-mail the titles and abstracts to respective investigators. (Note: Citations of TRB papers from the 2006 Annual Meeting are posted on the project pages of the WHRP Web site.)

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Outreach

WHRP at WCPA event

WHRP participated in the Wisconsin Concrete Pavement Association Concrete Pavement Workshop in Appleton on January 31 and February 1. Program Manager Andrew Hanz manned the WHRP booth, discussing final reports and planned research with attendees.

"It was a good opportunity to meet people from the industry and local agencies," said Hanz. "We heard what they were interested in and distributed reports on research they could apply every day."

Held annually since 1973, the conference draws industry representatives and transportation practitioners from around the state---more than 200 attendees this year. In remarks at the workshop, WisDOT's Jim Parry, chair of the Rigid Pavements TOC, cited the new RFP on reducing the amount of cementitious materials in concrete pavement mixes.

Kevin McMullen, WCPA Executive Director and a member of WHRP's Rigid TOC, noted that his group's relationship with WHRP is important to the success of concrete pavement contractors in Wisconsin. "The industry needs to feed the research, and the research needs to turn around and give its results," said McMullen. "It's an important two-way street."

For more information on WCPA contact Kevin McMullen.

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Implementation Report

Making subgrade amendment a part of pavement design
0092-45-15, 0092-45-18, 0092-00-12 and 0092-03-12, Equivalency of Alternative
Working Platforms and Their Pavement Design Strength Contribution

Department designers are interested in quantifying how the different materials affect the final strength of subgrades and bases, both for geotechnical design and for pavement design. If these materials make the subgrades stronger, how will this affect the pavements above them?

The implementation project, Equivalency of Alternative Working Platforms and Their Pavement Design Strength Contribution, includes workshops later this year where WisDOT soils and pavement engineers will learn how they can design thinner, longer-lasting pavements based on subgrade soil amendment type and quantity.

For more information contact WHRP Geotechnics TOC Chair Bob Arndorfer.

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About WHRP
www.whrp.org

The Wisconsin Highway Research Program was established in 1998 by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to conduct research on highway materials and construction methods. WHRP is administered by the UW-Madison Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. A Steering Committee chaired by the WisDOT Research Administrator provides policy direction to the WHRP Technical Director, Program Manager and five Technical Oversight Committees chaired by WisDOT engineers. The TOCs focus their work on Flexible Pavements, Rigid Pavements, Geotechnics, Structures and Data Integration. The Steering Committee and TOCs are composed of representatives from WisDOT, FHWA, academia and industry.

About this newsletter
WHRP E-News is produced for WHRP by CTC & Associates LLC. Matt Mullins is the author and Kim Linsenmayer is the Web designer. If you wish to receive e-mail notification of future issues of WHRP E-News, please e-mail us at whrp@ctcandassociates.com.

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