Category Archives: Materials and Construction

New Project: Mitigating Tenting of Transverse Cracks and Joints in Asphalt Pavement

More than 60% of Minnesota’s roadways consists of asphalt pavement. When transverse cracks occur in asphalt, our frigid winters can cause a secondary distress known as pavement tenting, crack heaving, or lipping. As ice accumulates in the base materials underneath, it causes pavement on both sides of the transverse cracks and joints to heave.

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Call for Presentations: 2024 North American Snow Conference

Interested in sharing your knowledge, experience, and vision for the future? Organizers of the 2024 North American Snow Conference are looking for public works professionals with new perspectives, solid best practices or innovative twists to winter maintenance, workforce development, and operations.

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Comparing Additives Used in Stabilized Full-Depth Reclamation

Beltrami and Hubbard counties planned pavement rehabilitation on a shared road, presenting a unique opportunity to directly compare two stabilizers: engineered emulsion and Base One, a proprietary mix. While there were some variations in performance and cost, both met design values for pavement strength.

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Research Pays Off: April Webinar on IC Soil Compaction Measurements

The National Road Research Alliance (NRRA) is hosting a virtual webinar, Evaluation of Levels 3-4 Intelligent Compaction Measurement Values (ICMV) for Soils Subgrade and Aggregate Subbase Compaction, on April 18 at 10 a.m. CST, presented by Ceren Aydin, Michigan State University, and Raul Velasquez, MnDOT.

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Putting Research Into Practice: Fog Sealing Chip Sealed Roads Can Improve Performance

Applying a protective surface—or chip seal—to existing asphalt on relatively low-traffic roads is a pavement preservation method used by many transportation agencies. Yet despite its popularity, chip seals can cause various issues. Some agencies have found that applying a fog seal following a chip seal is a cost-effective strategy for improving asphalt performance and public satisfaction.

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Research Pays Off Webinar Series: Improving Field Moisture Monitoring of Recycled Bases

The National Road Research Alliance (NRRA) is hosting “Improving Field Moisture Monitoring of Recycled Bases” on February 21 at 10 a.m. CST, presented by Ceren Aydin, Michigan State University and Raul Velasquez, MnDOT.

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete’s Potential as a Performance Engineered Mixture

Reinforcing concrete pavement with structural fibers improves its durability and helps protect against potential faulting and cracking. MnDOT has used fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) on some concrete bridge decks and pavements. Winter weather, freeze-thaw cycles and road salt, however, still hasten concrete deterioration. In a recent study, researchers evaluated FRC in the context of performance engineered mix design methods, giving MnDOT confidence in the parameters that FRC needs to meet to help withstand Minnesota’s harsh weather. 

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Improving Asphalt Performance and Durability With Superpave 5

Minnesota’s harsh climate requires dense, durable asphalt to avoid frequent maintenance and replacement. Asphalt mixes as designed in the laboratory, however, don’t always perform consistently in the field. A new Superpave mix shows promise for providing cost-effective, high-performing pavements for state roadways.

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Research Pays Off Webinar Series: Intelligent Compaction Technology as a Service and for Compliance

The National Road Research Alliance (NRRA) is hosting “Intelligent Compaction Technology as a Service and for Compliance – How ICT Research has led to the Removal of Technicians from Construction Sites in the UK” on July 19 at 10 a.m. CST, presented by Ruairi Charlesworth of Highway Data Systems.

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Increasing Cold In-Place Recycling Efficiency for Pavement Rehabilitation

New tools will help local road engineers reliably estimate the curing time of a cold in-place recycling (CIR) layer. Researchers identified factors that affect asphalt curing when a CIR method is used to know when pavement is sufficiently hardened, which will minimize delays in road construction and reopening.

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