August 2013 Newsletter | ICT

Illinois Tollway Funds $1.3 Million ICT Life-Cycle Assessment Project

The Illinois Tollway announced in June that it will partner with the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) to develop life-cycle assessment (LCA) tools to measure the environmental impact of roadways during their lifetimes. The Tollway board of directors approved a $1.3 million, three-year agreement with ICT for this project.

New IDOT Policy Requires State Contractors to Complete Erosion Control Training

The Illinois Department of Transportation’s (IDOT) Bureau of Design and Environment recently issued policy D&E-23 regarding erosion and sediment control training.

Tack Coat Best Practices Project Earns AASHTO High Value Research Award

ICT project R27-100: Best Practices for Implementation of Tack Coat was recognized as a 2013 AASHTO Sweet Sixteen High Value Research Project and was named the top project for AASHTO’s Region III.

TRB Hosts Wide-Base Tires Webinar

On September 10, 2013, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) will conduct a webinar titled “Impacts of Wide-Base Tires (WBT) on Pavement Performance.” Webinar presenters are Eric Weaver, FHWA; Imad Al-Qadi and Jaime Hernandez-Urrea, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Hao Wang, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

ICT Has Strong Presence at 2013 Airfield and Highway Pavement Conference

The Transportation and Development Institute (T&DI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers hosted its 2013 Airfield and Highway Pavement Conference June 9–12, 2013, in Los Angeles, California. ICT director Imad Al-Qadi served as co-chair of the conference, which drew 300 attendees and focused on the theme of sustainable and efficient pavements.

Ninth International Conference on Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways, and Airfields Held in Norway

The Ninth International Conference on the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways, and Airfields (BCRRA) was held in Trondheim, Norway, June 25–27, 2013. The conference was organized by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, AVINOR, and the Norwegian National Rail Administration.

ICT Contributes at High RAP Meeting in Netherlands

ICT recently participated in the High Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) Workshop held at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

ICT Studies Investigate Warm-Mix Asphalt Technology for More Environmentally Sound Pavements

Warm-mix asphalt (WMA) technology provides several environmental benefits that result from using lower production and placement temperatures. The Asphalt Institute Technical Working Group reports that WMA requires less energy to produce than hot-mix asphalt and releases fewer greenhouse gases and air pollutants.

ICT Investigators and Students Earn Recognition

ICT director Imad Al-Qadi delivered the keynote lecture, “Measurement and Analysis Techniques for Assessing Transportation Infrastructure Using Ground Penetrating Radar,” at CITrans 2013, held at the University of Costa Rica, San José, May 22–24, 2013.

UIUC Names New Engineering Dean

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently announced that Andreas Cangellaris will be its next dean of the College of Engineering. Previously, he served as head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the university.

ICT Faculty Member and Graduate Students Involved in National Concrete Canoe Competition

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently hosted the 2013 National Concrete Canoe Competition and ICT researcher Jeffery Roesler and graduate students Armen Amirkhanian and Angeli Gamez advised the University of Illinois team.

New ICT Website Unveiled

ICT recently launched a new, improved website. After soliciting feedback from those who use the website the most, ICT reorganized information to make navigation more intuitive, improved project databases and the information available on project status pages, and updated the overall look. Please contact the ICT website administrator with any feedback or suggestions.

Investigator Spotlight: Erol Tutumluer, UIUC

Erol Tutumluer is the Paul Fraser Kent Endowed Faculty Scholar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been a principal investigator for eight IDOT/ICT projects.

TRP Chair Spotlight: Kevin Burke

Kevin Burke, Local Policy and Technology Engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation’s (IDOT) Bureau of Local Roads and Streets, has served as a Technical Review Panel (TRP) chair for nine ICT/IDOT projects.

ICT Staff Profile: Aaron Coenen

Aaron Coenen, Senior Research Engineer, has been on staff at ICT since January 2012. At the Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Lab (ATREL), Coenen conducts many tasks to ensure operations run smoothly and that ICT continues to produce top-notch research.

ICT Student Spotlight: Mohammad Jalayer, SIUE

Mohammad Jalayer, a doctoral candidate in the joint transportation engineering program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale/Edwardsville (SIU), was recently honored with the 2013 Top Student Paper Award at the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Midwestern District meeting in Milwaukee.

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