MnROAD Overview

Ben Worel, MnDOT MnROAD Operations Engineer

April 2014

A long-term accelerated pavement testing

facility that gives researchers a unique,

real-life laboratory to study and evaluate

the performance of materials used in

roadway construction.

MnROAD Office of Materials and Road Research

MnDOT Owned and Operated Facility

A long-term accelerated pavement testing

facility that gives researchers a unique,

real-life laboratory to study and evaluate

the performance of materials used in

roadway construction.

MnROAD Office of Materials and Road Research

Interstate-94

Existing

Westbound

Eastbound

A long-term accelerated pavement testing

facility that gives researchers a unique,

real-life laboratory to study and evaluate

the performance of materials used in

roadway construction.

MnROAD Office of Materials and Road Research

Interstate-94

“Mainline”

Westbound

A long-term accelerated pavement testing

facility that gives researchers a unique,

real-life laboratory to study and evaluate

the performance of materials used in

roadway construction.

MnROAD Office of Materials and Road Research

Low Volume

Road

Low Volume Road MnROAD 5-axle Semi

80,000 Inside Lane = 5 days/week

Outside Lane Environmental

PCC ~ 300,000 ESALs

HMA ~ 200,000 ESALs

Interstate Mainline I-94 WB Public Traffic

18,900 (1994) : 29,700 (2013) AADT

12.5% (1994) : 13% (2013) HCAADT

PCC = ~ 1.2 Million ESALs/year

HMA = ~ 0.8 Million ESALs/year

MnROAD Traffic Loadings

I-94

ByPass

~ 25%

ESALS

Support “Local” Research Needs MnDOT District Support

Office of Materials, Maintenance, Design

County, City, Township Agencies

Attract Research for Area Universities

Partner with Local Industries

Support “National” Research Programs

National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP)

Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide

Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA)

Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP II)

FHWA Every Day Counts Initiative

Warm Mix Asphalt

Safety Edge

National Science

Foundation

2010 MnROAD 2-Lift Concrete (SHRP II)

Support “International” Partnerships Norwegian Public Roads Administration

Swedish Road Administration

Danish Road Institute

Icelandic Public Road Administration

Canadian Provinces

University of Gdansk, Poland

2011 Rolling Resistance Testing

MnROAD Development and Layout

Original Development Original Funding ($25 million) Original Construction (1992-1993) Open to Traffic (1994)

Major Experiments

Phase I (1994-2006) Phase II (2007-present) Phase III (planning for 2016)

Layout and Designs

Mainline / Low Volume Asphalt / Concrete / Aggregate 3,5,10 Year Designs

MnROAD Funding History Phase I (1994-2006)

MnDOT(FHWA) & LRRB Funding

Phase II (2007-2016) MnDOT (MEO), LRRB, States, Industry, Academia Partners

(TERRA involvement) for funds/ideas

Phase III (2016 construction) Focus on Rehabilitation, Construction, Uniformity,

Sustainability (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), Surface Characteristics

Pattern after Phase-II Development 2.5 million in STIP Cells availability LVR, Mainline, Bypass?, others?

MnROAD Overall Funding Operating Budget ~ $1.2 million/year

MnDOT & LRRB Small amount of partnerships

Research Budget 8 Pooled Funds (Discuss Wednesday) State Projects LRRB Projects

Construction MnDOT - Pooled Funds – FHWA - Partners

Instrumentation MnDOT – Pooled Funds - Partners

MnROAD Research Direction Balanced Between

MnDOT Road Research / Specialty Offices Materials Advisory Working Groups Technical Working Grouops Material Engineers

LRRB Partners National PCC and HMA Working Groups 2014 Peer Exchange MnROAD Subcommittees

Flexible – Rigid – Pavement Preservation Groups

TERRA

Flexible Subcommittee Jill Thomas - MAPA

Jim Aardema - CAT

Amlan Mukherjee - MTU

Barry Paye - Wisconsin

Brian Cox – FHR

Dan Wegman - Roadscience

Eshan V. Dave - UMD

Larry Galehouse – MSU

Mihai Marasteanu – UofMN

Ron Horner – North Dakota

Minnesota DOT

John Garrity

Jerry Geib

Maureen Jensen

Roger Olson

Greg Johnson

Curt Turgeon

Tim Clyne

Joel Ulring – State Aid

Tim Andersen

Dave Van Deusen

Ben Worel

Rigid Subcommittee

Minnesota DOT

Tom Burnham

Maureen Jensen

Graig Gilbertson

Bernard Izevbekhai

Kevin Kosobud

Maria Masten

Ron Mulvaney

Dave Van Deusen

Ben Worel

Bob Orthmeyer - FHWA

Dan Frentress - WCTA

Jake Hiller – MTU

John Brunkhorst – Mcleod County

Kaye Bieniek – Olmsted County

Kevin MacDonald – Beton Consulting

Lev Khazanovich – UofMN

Peter Taylor – Iowa State

Steve Krebs – Wisconsin DOT

Mat Zeller - CPAM

Pavement Preservation Subcommittee

Minnesota DOT

Shongtao Dai

Rod Garver

Jerry Geib

Graig Gilbertson

Greg Johnson

Kevin Kosobud

Roger Olson

Curt Turgeon

Joel Ulring

Dave Van Deusen

Ben Worel

Dan Schellhammer - Midstate

Dan Staebell - Mathy

Dan Wegman - Roadscience

Dale Harrington - Snyder Associates

Eshan V. Dave - UMD

Larry Galehouse

Brian Cox - FHR

Guy Sisler - FHR

Ralph Hodek - MTU

Jack Springer - FHWA

Jeffery Lidicker – MTU

Steven Bower - Michigan

Larry Scofield - Pavement

Jim Moulthrop

Matthew Oman - Braun Intertec

Dave Rettner - AET

Steve Bot - City of St Michael

Terry Kraemer - Diamond Surfacing

Jil Thomas - MAPA

Tony Babcock - Iowa State

Matt Zeller - CPAM

You Zhanping - MTU

Liu Zhen - MTU

Transportation Engineering and Road Research Alliance

TERRA formed in 2004 Helped develop Phase-II and will help define Phase-III Government, industry and academia members

MnROAD Benefits

Attracts key public, industry, academic partners contributions Participation in working to develop future initiatives

TERRA Board Members Government Minnesota DOT* Minnesota Local Road Research Board Iowa DOT Michigan DOT* New York State DOT North Dakota DOT Wisconsin DOT** Norwegian Public Roads Administration United States Federal Highway Association

Industry Aggregate & Ready Mix Association of MN* American Concrete Pavement Association Associated General Contractors of MN* Concrete Paving Association of MN

MN Asphalt Pavement Association

American Traffic Safety Services Association Caterpillar Global Paving Mathy Technology and Engineering Services RMC Research and Education Foundation Road Science**

Academia Iowa State University Michigan Tech University University of Minnesota

* Past Co-Chair ** Present Co-Chair

MnROAD Phase 2 Contributors Aggregate Ready Mix Association of

Minnesota

American Concrete Pavement Association

Applied Research Associates, Inc.

Bloom Consultants

Catepillar Inc.

Concrete Paving Association of Minnesota

Diamond Surfacing Inc.

ICL Performance Products Inc.

17 State DOT’s

FHWA

Environmental Protection Agency

Minnesota Local Road Research Board

Strategic Highway Research Program 2

Innophos Inc.

International Grooving and Grinding Association

Marathon

Mathy - MTE

Paragon

Portland Cement Association

Professional Nutrient Agricultural Association of

Wisconsin

RoadScience

Western Research Institute

Natural Resources Research Institute

Center for Transportation Research and

Education, Iowa State University

U of Wisconsin Extension Service

MnROAD Staffing Road Research Staffing

~ 20 Full Time Staffing Lead By

Shongtao Dai Bernard Izevbekhai Jerry Geib Ben Worel

MnROAD Consists of 7 Full Time Staffing

MnROAD Operations Engineer 2 Engineers MnROAD Site Manager 2 Electronic Techs Truck Driver

MnROAD Operations Research project development and support Partnerships Construction coordination Sensors (9,000+ installed)

Static (Environmental) Dynamic (Traffic Loading) Install - Maintain

Traffic loadings LVR 80K Truck ML Traffic Switches

Performance monitoring

Performance Monitoring

LWP, IP, PMS- IRI

ALPS - rutting

ALPS 2 – Warp and Curl

Fault Meter

Skid Trailer

Dynamic Friction Tester

Grip Tester (FHWA)

Distress Surveys

Circular Texture Meter

RoboTex

Rolling Resistance

Sand Patch

OBSI

Sound Adsorption

Texture and IRI

Drag surface- Wet Weather Accidents

Texture and Noise

Acoustics and Pavement Rating

Performance Monitoring

Sharing of MnROAD Data

Oracle Database Over 1 Billion rows

Data Releases Data Release 1.0 (January 2012) Data Release 2.0 (Spring 2014)

Test cell parameters Monitoring/Performance Lab testing results Data Release Online (except sensors)

Custom Data Requests Example Request

19 Years of

MnROAD Data

MnROAD Phase-I Benefits

Spring Thaw

Saves 33 million Annually 8.9/1 Benefit to Cost Ratio

Seasonal Load Limits

Spring Restrictions / Winter Overloads

Improved Design Methods Flexible & Rigid Updated Designs

Environment Drives Pavement Performance Current Designs are too Conservative

Sealing Pavement / Shoulder Joints

MnROAD Phase-II Benefits (Draft Report)

We will discuss some of these calculations today Low Temperature Cracking - $1,864,000/yr Open Graded Aggregate Base - $1,734,000/yr Whitetopping - $ Recycled Unbound Materials - $900,000/yr Diamond Grinding - $6,465,000/yr

MnROAD Additional Benefits Additional Benefits

Improved Construction Methods

Concrete and Asphalt Paving Advancements Profiler Certification Center Dynamic Cone Penetrometer Development Intelligent Compaction Development

Many Non-Pavement Research at MnROAD Young Engineer Training & Education

Implementation and Benefits Survey 10 responses (1 Missouri, 6 MnDOT, 3 FHWA). 8 out of 10 said the projects were highly or moderately

effective at solving the problems identified. 7 said the projects resulted in changes/improvements:

policies, test procedures, or specifications.

7 described anticipated savings, primarily related to: increased pavement life, reduced maintenance costs, and smoother

roadways.

Few implementation plans developed for the projects. Limited experience with formal implementation processes. 8 out of 10 want more outreach products to support

implementation (2-page summaries mentioned by 4).

Design Discussion Implementation Approaches and Outcome

How have you used the results?

What additional opportunities are there to use the results?

What are the barriers to implementing the findings? How could they be overcome?

What outreach products or support would help improve implementation of this project?

Did this project solve the problem identified? Is additional research needed?

What was the single most useful outcome from this study?

What improved or changed as a result of this research?

Did this project result in cost or time savings? How did you calculate it?

Design Discussion Research Value and Benefits