ICT Participates in T.H.E. 95th Annual Conference
During the first day's program, ICT Investigator Jeffrey Roesler discussed "Concrete Pavement Solutions for Low Volume Roads." Dr. Roesler's ICT study on Ultra-Thin Whitetopping (UTW) has provided IDOT with new guidelines to improve the efficiency and quality of the design and construction of UTW projects. UTW is a pavement rehabilitation strategy where a thin layer of concrete is placed on the top of an existing hot-mix asphalt (HMA) pavement.
That evening, the attendees enjoyed an exhibit/mixer/buffet dinner in the Illini Union Ballroom. This event was a huge success with approximately 500 attendees, many of which went home as the lucky winners of door prizes and recipients of vendor giveaways. The ICT participated in the exhibitor portion of this event.
On the second morning of the conference, ICT Director Imad Al-Qadi updated the attendees on ICT research. Following Al-Qadi's overview, another one of ICT's Investigators, Jerome Hajjar, discussed his ICT project "Forensic Investigation of the DeKalb Bridge Collapse." On August 18, 2008, the Keslinger Road Bridge, a three-span simply supported bridge, collapsed in DeKalb County. Luckily, no one was hurt during the collapse. In fact, no one even saw the bridge collapse. The goal of this ICT study is to investigate the reasons behind the abrupt failure of the bridge. Dr. Hajaar described the experimental and analytical work he has conducted during this project in efforts to find the main cause of the bridge failure. The final report has been published on the ICT website's Publications Page.
The 95th Annual T.H.E. conference was a huge success, and the ICT looks forward to continuing its involvement next year and as T.H.E. prepares for its 100th anniversary.
Top Photo: Past and current chairmen, Marshall Thompson and Bill Buttlar, of T.H.E. pass out door prizes.
