Technical Review Panel chair spotlight: Travis Lobmaster

Travis Lobmaster is the Systems Performance Manager in the Office of Planning and Programming at the Illinois Department of Transportation. His office is responsible for directing the department’s pavement management activities.

Specifically, Lobmaster plans and coordinates the image and data collection processes as well as the assessment of the department’s 16,000 centerline mile highway system for the condition rating survey (CRS). He previously served as the Systems Performance Analyst and as Interstate and Special Programs Analyst in IDOT’s Office of Planning and Programming.

Lobmaster has been with IDOT for over 15 years and has assisted with IDOT-sponsored research projects administered by the Illinois Center for Transportation. He served as a Technical Review Panel member in his first ICT-administered project back in 2007. R27-13, “Update of Condition Rating Survey (CRS) Calculation/Prediction Models Final Report,” provided updates to existing CRS calculation and prediction models. In addition, three CRS calculation models were created for pavement types without existing calculation models.

Recently, he served as TRP chair for project R27-150, “Revised Condition Rating Survey Models to Reflect All Distresses.” According to Lobmaster, the goal of this project was to review and update the Condition Rating Survey calculation and prediction models using both the historic data and the data collected since the last review and update in 2007.

In addition to the calculation model update, prediction models were to be developed for pavement preservation type treatments.

“This task proved to be a challenge due to the department’s limited pavement preservation data and limited published pavement preservation prediction data. However, the work that we did in this part of this project gave us something to build on as we look to collect more data in the future,” Lobmaster said.

Lobmaster is currently a TRP member for project R27-170, “Pavement Rehabilitation Strategy Course Development.” This project seeks to provide IDOT with classroom and online training materials for pavement rehabilitation and preservation strategies. The training materials being prepared target staff in bureaus such as Planning, Design, Materials, and Operations located in IDOT districts and central offices.

Lobmaster serves as a subject matter expect in CRS. Not only does he review the material for that section of the course, he also provides feedback for the other sections of the course material to help provide clarity and conciseness to the project.

Lobmaster earned his bachelor’s degree in management from the University of Illinois Springfield. Prior to joining IDOT, he worked for several years as a Principal Planner with the Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission.