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Transportation Infrastructure: Highway Pavement Design Guide Is Outdated

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Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date Nov. 21, 1997
Report No. RCED-98-9
Subject
Summary:

A road test conducted by the American Association of State Highway Officials in 1959-60 found that heavy trucks cause more highway pavement damage than do other vehicles. On the basis of this test, the Association developed an initial pavement design guide in 1961, which has been updated periodically since then. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has neither adopted the guide nor mandated its use by states. Rather, FHWA requires that sound engineering and management principles and practices be used in pavement design. This report (1) describes the roles of FHWA and others in developing and updating the pavement design guide and (2) examines the use and the potential of a computer analysis method known as the nonlinear 3 dimensional-finite element method for improving the design and the analysis of highway pavement structures.

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