Highway Design and Construction: The Innovation Challenge

This article explores some of the factors that affect highway construction, focusing on the innovations that need to happen for this industry to move forward. The author begins with a brief review of the history of materials used for highway and bridge construction, then considers the environment that is most supportive of innovation. Factors discussed include the ongoing increase in traffic volume and loadings; the need to keep traffic disruptions to a minimum during construction; more stringent environmental, community, and safety requirements; and rising costs. The remainder of the article describes the Superpave design system, which has improved matches between combinations of asphalt binder and crushed stone and the climatic and traffic conditions on specific highways. The author contends that the Superpave system demonstrates that a vigorous, sustained technology-transfer effort is often required for innovation in a decentralized sector, such as highway transportation. Other topics covered include the use of prefabricated components, specialty Portland cement concretes, waste and recycled materials, and the use of visualization and global positioning systems, as well as other new technologies. Specific examples are provided that suggest a wide range of innovations in the design and construction of highways.