Long-Term Pavement Performance Program, known as LTPP, is a research project supported by

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program ...

(FHWA) to collect and analyze pavement data in the United States and Canada. Currently, the LTPP acquires the largest road performance database.

History

LTPP program was initiated by the

Transportation Research Board The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is a division of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, formerly the National Research Council of the United States, which serves as an independent adviser to the President of the Uni ...

(TRB) of the National Research Council (NRC) in the early 1980s. The

FHWA The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program ...

with the cooperation of the

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway design and construction throughout the United ...

(AASHTO) sponsored the program. The program was focusing on examining the deterioration of the nation’s highway and bridge infrastructure system. In the early 1980s, TRB and NRC suggested that a "Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP)" should be started to concentrate on research and development activities that would majorly contribute to highway transportation improvement. Later in 1986, the detailed programs were published entitled "Strategic Highway Research Program—Research Plans". The LTPP program collects data from in-service roads and analyzes it as planned by the SHRP. The LTPP aims to understand the possible reasons behind the poor or good performance of pavements. Hence, the effects of different parameters such as weather, maintenance actions, material and traffic on performance are studied. Data is collected in a timely manner, and then analyzed to understand and predict the performance of roads. It is worth to mention that the LTPP program was transferred from SHRP to FHWA in 1992 to continue the work.

Database

LTPP Data is collected by four regional contractors. New data is regularly uploaded to the online platform every six months. The number of the pavement test sections monitored in the LTPP program is more than 2,500. These pavement sections include both

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

and Portland cement concrete. Road sections are across different states and provinces of the United States and Canada.

Data analysis contest

The LTPP holds an annual international

data analysis Data analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, enc ...

contest in collaboration with the ASCE. The participants are supposed to use the LTPP data.

References

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External links

LTPP InfoPave
Federal Highway Administration Pavements Asphalt