UC Davis Pavement Research Center receives $32 million interagency agreement from caltrans

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has approved a $32 million interagency agreement to continue the work of the Partnered Pavement Research Center project, led by John Harvey, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis.

The University of California Pavement Research Center (UCPRC) is dedicated to using innovative research and sound engineering principles to improve pavement structures, materials, and technologies.

“The University of California Pavement Research Center is pleased to be working with Caltrans for another three years to make pavements better for all users and improve their cost and environmental sustainability,” said Harvey. “The center brings world-class expertise to each contract. That expertise evolves as problems are solved and new challenges and opportunities are identified.”

Harvey and his team at the center research, develop and implement support to help Caltrans improve the cost and environmental sustainability of the state highway network.

They work in the areas of design methods for materials and pavement structures, new technologies for pavement materials and structures, pavement asset management, environmental life cycle assessment, life cycle cost analysis, performance modeling, recycling, construction productivity, pavement smoothness and tire/pavement noise.

“A key to success for the people of California is that the partners work together, in consultation with industry, on the full arc of work necessary to move from conceptual ideas to research, development and solving the practical details needed for full implementation,” said Harvey.

An ongoing role of the UCPRC program at UC Davis is the training of undergraduate and graduate students who bring the expertise gained from working on Caltrans projects to their careers in the industry.

This work supports all aspects of pavement engineering and management. This leadership produces pavement infrastructure that has increasing cost-efficiency and functionality and decreasing environmental impact per unit of transportation productivity and per dollar of taxes spent.

This is being extended to inclusion of active transportation and aspects of quality of life besides road safety and smoothness. The benefits of this work are being transferred to local government as well through the newly formed City and County Pavement Improvement Center that is funded separately with SB1 dollars by the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies and the Mineta Transportation Institute.

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Harvey is the Director of the University of California Pavement Research Center and is the Principal Investigator on multiple projects for research, development and implementation for a wide range of pavement technology, management, cost and environmental topics. He joined the UC Davis Department of Civil and Environmental engineering in 2002 and teaches concrete and asphalt pavement design and rehabilitation, asphalt concrete materials and project management.