View Important Policies and System Requirements for this course.

This webinar was co-sponsored by ASCE's Transportation and Development Institute(T&DI) and ASCE Continuing Education

This webinar is part of a 3-part series on Roadway Construction.

Instructor:  Timothy R. Murphy, P.E., M.ASCE

Course Length: 1 Hour

Purpose and Background

By far, North America has the most extensive networks of paved roads and highways in the world. In the U.S., more than 93 percent of the more than 4 million km (2.5 million mi) of roads and highways are surfaced with asphalt mixtures. Initial construction and maintenance of roadways generates a seasonally adjusted economic activity of $80.85 billion every year. Every year 500 million tons (453 million mt) of new asphalt pavement material is produced in the U.S. at approximately 4000 asphalt mixing plants. Because of the widespread use of asphalt mixtures in the construction of asphalt surface pavements, even small improvements in asphalt mixture production and construction practices can lead to significant savings. Cost-effective methods and practices are crucial to make best use of available funds allocated for roadway infrastructure. The quality of constructed roads becomes even more critical as transportation agencies need to maintain the facilities with limited resources.

Even with the most durable materials and the most effective pavement designs, the overall pavement performance expectations will go unrealized if poor construction practices or inadequate quality assurance are performed. The overall quality of the constructed pavement is reflected in both its structural and functional characteristics. For example, even a strong and durable pavement that has poor ride quality due to poor construction practices will result in relatively higher levels of user fuel consumption (and resulting vehicle emissions), lower levels of service, and may even increase average vehicle maintenance costs and damage to transported goods (or increases in required packaging costs). Considering the volume of activities for asphalt surfaced pavements in the US, the impact of improving construction quality on the nation's economy and infrastructure sustainability can be realized.

This webinar is part of a 3-part series of webinar on Roadway Construction, Inspection and Maintenance Techniques to Minimize Life-Cycle Costs. The complete series of webinars includes:

• Part 1: Roadway Construction Inspection Techniques: Easy Methods to Improve Pavement Performance
• Part 2: Roadway Construction Quality Control and Inspection Techniques for Concrete Surfaced Pavement
• Part 3: Roadway Construction Quality Control and Inspection Techniques for Asphalt Surfaced Pavements

This second webinar in the series Construction Inspection and Quality - Asphalt Surfaced Pavements focuses on the production, placement, maintenance and rehabilitation of asphalt surfaced pavements.

Primary Topics of Discussion

• Materials selection and production in the asphalt production plants (producing the right materials and proper quality)
• Surface preparation prior to laydown (i.e. milling, surface preparation)
• Laydown and compaction of asphalt layers

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Determine basic processes from material production at the asphalt plant to placement of asphalt mixture
• Discover the material selection consistent with project requirements
• Identify critical issues for material production process in relation to quality of produced asphalt mixture
• Recognize critical issues for surface preparation prior to laydown
• Identify critical issues for placement of layers
• Determine the relationship between the poor practices at any of the above processes and potential consequences
• Identify most effective inspection techniques to improve quality on-site and in-plant
• Recognize the role of specifications in terms of improving quality of constructed pavements and examples from different agencies

Webinar Benefits

• Learn practical tips to avoid costly errors for the contractors and agencies during production and construction asphalt pavements
• Learn the critical issues and challenges affecting quality of constructed asphalt surface pavements
• Find out the commonly experienced issues by contractors during the construction of asphalt pavements
• Examine possibilities to troubleshoot these problems
• Learn the relationship between the poor practices and potential performance consequences
• Learn best practices for the production and construction processes to improve quality and performance
• Develop a total quality management program for asphalt mixture production and construction

Webinar Outline

• Introduction to asphalt surfaced pavements (some statistics of their use, pavement types, and terminology)
• Overview of design principals of asphalt surfaced pavements
• Brief introduction to plant production and construction processes
• Material selection for different asphalt surfaced pavement applications
• Asphalt plant production processes
• Surface preparation methods
• Placement and compaction of asphalt layers

Assessment of Learning Outcomes

Students' achievement of the learning outcomes will be assessed via a short post-assessment (true-false, multiple choice and fill in the blank questions).

Intended Audience

• Engineers and technicians involved in roadway design, construction and maintenance
• State DOT and municipal agency personnel involved in the delivery of transportation infrastructure
• Trainers and educators involved in qualifying or certifying construction inspectors
• Contractors interested in advancing roadway construction technology

How to Earn your CEUs/PDHs and Receive Your Certificate of Completion

To receive your certificate of completion, you will need to complete a short on-line post-test and receive a passing score of 70% or higher within 1 year of purchasing the course.

How do I convert CEUs to PDHs?

1.0 CEU = 10 PDHs [Example: 0.1 CEU = 1 PDH]