AASHTO Journal - Michigan DOT Podcast Delves into ‘Road Building 101’

A recent episode of the “Talking Michigan Transportation” podcast produced by the Michigan Department of Transportation provided a “Road Building 101” primer, focused specifically on how the agency ensures the use of quality materials in its infrastructure projects.

[Above photo by Michigan DOT]

Jason Gutting, director of Michigan DOT’s Bureau of Field Services, discussed the standards and specifications for paving materials used by the agency and how Michigan DOT engineers confer with counterparts from across the country to ensure they are using the best possible practices.

Other road building topics touched in the podcast included innovations in road building; winter maintenance and operations; and ongoing challenges due to inflation and supply chain pressures.

“If there’s a magic elixir or if there’s something that’s working well in one state, we share that across our forums and say, ‘hey, this is working really well for us,’” he explained.

“But there is an immense amount of coordination with monthly meetings and yearly conferences to coordinate things nationally to make sure that we’re all utilizing the best practices, because the standards and the specifications that are put out are similar across the nation,” Gutting added.

[Editor’s note: AASHTO re:source – a technical service program offered by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials – helps ensure quality materials are used in road construction products through three major programs: the Laboratory Assessment Program, the Proficiency Sample Program or PSP, and the AASHTO Accreditation Program or AAP. AASHTO re:source also produces the “Q&A podcast” to help further disseminate information valuable to those in the construction materials industry.]

Michigan DOT’s Gutting added that his group regularly researches new items to ensure the agency’s infrastructure projects have long-term performance.

“The challenge with that is long-term performance and research for that takes time. So if someone comes up with a new process or a new material or some other building technique, we want to make sure that that is thoroughly vetted for application down the road,” he said.

“We design our pavements for 20 years and we want to make sure that this process is going to last that whole period of time,” Gutting noted. “So we need to pilot [test] it, we need to monitor performance, we need to report on that, we need to coordinate with other areas – and other states – to make sure that the performance is what we expect in the short term and that predictive analysis is there for long-term performance of those materials as well.”

To listen to the full episode, click here.