07/31/96
Media Advisory: The ribbon-cutting ceremony on U.S. 23, one-half mile north of the Delaware State Park entrance, is at 10 a.m. Thursday.
ATHENS, Ohio -- Jerry Wray, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation, will join more than 100 elected officials, federal highway officers, Ohio University faculty and staff, and others to officially open the Ohio-Strategic Highway Research Program U.S. 23 Test Road north of Delaware Thursday at 10 a.m.
Ohio University is leading a six-university team in the $10 million project, which is funded by ODOT and the Federal Highway Administration as part of a national study of pavement performance.
Work on the project began in 1993. Shad Sargand, professor of civil engineering in the Russ College of Engineering at Ohio University, is principle investigator of the project, which joins faculty and staff from Ohio University, University of Akron, Case Western Reserve University, University of Cincinnati, Ohio State University and University of Toledo.
Researchers have embedded sensors to measure road changes caused by climate, load and distress. The information will be used to build more durable highways.