With 50 years serving the pavement preservation industry, the International Slurry Surfacing Association (ISSA) is proud to be a supporter of the National Center for Asphalt Technology’s (NCAT) Pavement Preservation Effectiveness Study, the fifth cycle of the Pavement Test Track. Performance monitoring of pavement preservation treatments in this cycle of the Pavement Test Track and on 2,500 ft. (762 m) of Lee Road 159 in Alabama will allow researchers to determine the service life extension of various pavement preservation techniques relative to pretreatment condition and explore ways to stretch transportation budgets. Seven state departments of transportation and multiple private sponsors have stepped forward to support the expansion of the scope of this research project to include proactive maintenance methods. These methods include those that ISSA supports, slurry and micro surfacing, chip sealing and crack treatment, among others and will be used alone or in combination to test several methods in varying circumstances. ISSA is not only donating funding to this project, but the members that drive the association are donating their time, knowledge, expertise and even equipment to help facilitate proper pretreatment to post-treatment condition comparisons.

“This three-year study should be great for the pavement preservation industry,” stated Doug Ford, 2012 ISSA president. “It will provide quantified results for each process and insight into the timing and processes that best address each level of deterioration.”

Since its creation in 1986, NCAT has sought to be a world leader in hot mix asphalt research, development, technology and education. The fourth cycle of the Pavement Test Track began in August 2009 and was completed 25 months later in September 2011. By design, this cycle took 17 of the over 40 200-ft. (61 m) sections of roadway involved in this project and either reconstructed or rehabilitated each of those sections. Now in the fifth cycle, NCAT has already applied a rejuvenating fog seal to two sections and a triple chip seal, which will be evaluated as an interlayer, to one section of the most recently reconstructed or rehabilitated sections of roadway. Lee Road 159 will be divided into 25, 100-ft. (30.5 m) sections that will receive other pavement preservation treatments including various methods of micro surfacing, chip sealing, crack treatment, fog sealing, scrub sealing and fiber mat. The Pavement Test Track and Lee Road 159 will be evaluated on a regular basis over the course of this 3-year study and progress reports will be published periodically.

Founded in 1963, the International Slurry Surfacing Association (ISSA) is a nonprofit association dedicated to the interests, education and success of slurry and micro surfacing, chip sealing and crack treatment professionals and corporations around the world.

For more information, call 410/267-0023 or visit www.slurry.org.

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