In the end of October, the Federal Highway Administration announced that it would grant $3 million over the course of five years to the University of Nevada, Reno in order to "stimulate, facilitate and expedite the deployment and rapid adoption of new and innovative technologies relating to the design, production, testing, control, construction and investigation of asphalt pavements."

An article, found on forconstructionpros.com, relates that the grant is a "cooperative effort between the FHWA and the University to improve the quality and performance of asphalt pavements in the United States."

The work plan addresses several innovative areas that the university will focus on, including:

????(R)????"?(R)???U???(R)???AE???(R)???? identifying gaps in technology;
????(R)????"?(R)???U???(R)???AE???(R)???? risk/benefit analysis of adopting new technologies;
????(R)????"?(R)???U???(R)???AE???(R)???? define target audience for advancing technologies;
????(R)????"?(R)???U???(R)???AE???(R)???? market summary - who needs technical training or who are end users;
????(R)????"?(R)???U???(R)???AE???(R)???? message development;
????(R)????"?(R)???U???(R)???AE???(R)???? barrier analysis;
????(R)????"?(R)???U???(R)???AE???(R)???? performance measures and outcomes tools to communicate the new innovations;
????(R)????"?(R)???U???(R)???AE???(R)???? training;
????(R)????"?(R)???U???(R)???AE???(R)???? refinement of standards and specifications.

The Pavement Engineering and Science program will be in charge of spearheading the research and associate professor Elie Hajj is the project lead. The center is also home to the Western Regional Superpave Center, one of five centers established by the Federal Highway Administration to promote the implementation of superpave technology. https://tinyurl.com/yab74kat