08/02/96

DELAWARE, Ohio -- A 3-mile national test road on a segment of U.S. 23 near Delaware met its first extreme weather condition today -- snow. About 100 federal and state officials pelted the pavement with snowballs to commemorate the opening of the road, part of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Strategic Highway Research Program.

"This is one of the most comprehensive research road projects in the nation's history," said Jerry Wray, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation. "People want to see a better return on their investment in the nation's roads and this is a very visible sign that we are dedicated to improving the quality of our highways."

The snowballs -- gathered during one of last winter's record snowfalls -- covered the asphalt and concrete road and some of the thousands of highly sensitive sensors buried within it. The sensors, which were selected and calibrated by researchers at Ohio University, can record 250,000 pieces of data per second -- including data about climate, traffic and load.

The project, a collaborative effort between the FHWA, ODOT and six Ohio universities, will provide engineers with data that could lead to more durable roads, Wray said.

Construction on the $13 million project between Troutman Road and State Route 229 began in 1994. ODOT and FHWA worked with researchers and students from the six-university team on the project.

The test site consists of 41 test sections, 33 of which contain instrumentation that will monitor the structural response of pavement under different environmental and traffic conditions. The sensors were installed by students and faculty from the six universities according to a design plan created by Shad Sargand, professor of civil engineering in Ohio University's Russ College of Engineering and Technology. Sargand is the principle investigator and coordinator of the project.

Ohio University is the lead university in the pact, which includes Case Western Reserve University, University of Akron, Ohio State University, University of Toledo and University of Cincinnati.

The Delaware site is part of the Long-Term Pavement Performance Program, one of two components to the Strategic Highway Research Program, a $150 million project that began in 1987 and involves all 50 states and six Canadian provinces. Data collected from the test road on U.S. 23 will be shared with engineers around the country through a national database on highway research, according to Bob McQuiston, a pavement engineer with the FHWA.

"We will take information gathered by the instruments at this test site and compare them with data gathered from sites with different climate and traffic conditions, and roads made with different types of materials," McQuiston said. "This will give us very interesting information about roads and help us improve our nation's highways."

Kent Wray, the new dean of the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, said the collaborative effort necessary for a project of this size is an example of the type of research project that will become more common in the future.

"With declining federal research dollars, partnerships like this will allow universities to continue to do research in areas that directly affect the public," he said.

Researchers have already recorded preliminary data from the sensors, a process that will continue for many years, Sargand said. The sections have been constructed to measure different conditions. Some sections were built to last a short time, while others may last 30 to 40 years.

"Ohio University has been involved in highway research for 12 or 13 years," Sargand said. "This project is a continuation of the effort to improve roads in Ohio and around the country."