Midwest Transportation Center

About the research

This Performance-Engineered Concrete Paving Mixtures Transportation Pooled Fund—TPF-5(368)—brought newer concrete pavement technologies to state agencies and assisted states in the adoption of specifications and test methods that will help them deliver on the promise of concrete durability.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), 19 state transportation agencies, and 4 national associations representing the concrete paving industry came together to fund this project, which was dedicated to maximizing pavement performance. The focus of the work was to address mixtures up to the point of leaving the batch plant.

The objective was the deployment of performance-engineered mixtures (PEM), which involved building off the foundational work that the FHWA and PEM champion states have done. The emphasis was on implementation, education and training, adoption of specification language to increase the likelihood of achieving durable pavement performance in the field, and continued development relating early-age concrete properties to pavement performance.

This project covers the efforts, results, and accomplishments of this TPF. While progress was made, more work needs to be done. With PEM approaches, concrete pavement should perform better and last longer with a lower environmental impact. This will enable agencies to lower costs by minimizing maintenance operations, keeping the flow of traffic undisturbed for longer periods of time and increasing safety for the traveling public.