Facilities

Our 60,000-square-foot research and engineering laboratory features continuing education classrooms, office space, a technical library and a computer facility. Our facility is a unique and comprehensive transportation research, educational and testing laboratory within the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The Illinois Accelerated Pavement Tester evaluates full-scale transportation systems by subjecting them to real-life traffic and environmental conditions. ICT acquired the accelerated pavement testing system, originally named the Accelerated Transportation Loading Assembly, in 2002 through a $2 million state investment. 

I-APT is capable of simulating traffic distributions, testing all types of pavement systems and applying load levels exceeding highway and airfield limits. It weighs 160 kips and is 124 feet long, 12 feet high and 12 feet wide.

Mounted on four crawler tracks, the test unit can be easily positioned on the pavement test section. The system transmits loads to the pavement structure through two to four hydraulic rams attached to a wheel carriage. This can accommodate single, dual, wide-base or aircraft tires or, with modifications, even a single-axle rail bogey. 

ICT completed a $1.3 million upgrade to I-APT in 2024 that will allow users to select between single or tandem half axles, apply acceleration or deceleration, and rotate the half axle up to 6 degrees of yaw. I-APT may now apply a wheel load up to 35 kips at a full-scale operation of 1 kilohertz loop rate.

Other key upgrades include a new control system that allows users to operate the device with greater flexibility as well as a new hydraulic power system for the winch that will eliminate electrical noise interference to allow for more accurate readings from sensors embedded in the pavement. I-APT’s total testing length is 85 feet, with 65 to 75 feet of constant velocity testing. At a maximum speed of 10 mph, loading is either uni- or bi-directional. It can also wander up to 3 feet in the lateral direction to simulate real-world traffic distributions. 

The Smart Mobility Laboratory is a 9,000-square-foot facility dedicated to connected and autonomous vehicle research. This facility focuses on the instrumentation and testing of autonomous and connected vehicles, featuring several instrumented vehicles, office space and conference rooms.

The lab provides a controlled environment and advanced infrastructure for developing, testing and validating smart mobility technologies. Its proximity to Interstate 57, Rantoul Airport, and a major rail corridor makes it ideal for various experiments. The lab complements ICT’s existing facilities and will integrate with the planned Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track.

The Materials Processing Facility stores and processes materials used in highway research. This facility houses the equipment necessary for sieving aggregates as well as sawing and coring asphalt and concrete to test specific geometries.

In addition to the sample-preparation equipment, MPF also contains several servo-hydraulic load frames and large-scale triaxial testing machines.