Transition Plan for AASHTO
May 2000

THE FUTURE

Future Challenges

Several barriers and challenges face the AASHTO Team that assumes the role of continuing the work of the ASR Lead State Team. These Potential Barriers are listed as follows:

No Current AASHTO Structure for ASR
No dedicated group for implementing ASR initiatives exists within AASHTO; neither does it have a structure for technology deployment across subcommittees. Specifically it has no dedicated group to address ASR and related issues. There will be a lag and loss of momentum as the program moves from the focused and specific ASR Lead State environment to a general oversight AASHTO committee environment. Therefore, the ASR Lead State Team recommends that AASHTO retains the current ASR Lead State Team with some minor changes together as a group for a period of two years to effect the transfer of the program. This will allow AASHTO to develop a group, which will be in charge of the ASR activities, and to determine specifically which technical section will be responsible for maintaining the guide specification.

Lack of Dedicated Funding
Money will need to be dedicated to the technology transfer initiatives and efforts. A reliable source has to be identified.

Undefined Personnel Requirements
With the primary responsibility for technology transfer shifted from the FHWA to State DOT personnel, and now to AASHTO Subcommittees, states must be able to attract and retain people capable of doing this work. Since some states don't have the personnel to do this work, and can't do it with voluntary effort or part time employees, consultants must be retained to fulfil the goals. Unfortunately, this requires additional money as described above.

Perceived Lack of Need
There still exists a perceived lack of need to expend effort on ASR initiatives. ASR continues to be identified in new areas, so there is a need for continued education at state and local levels. Fragmentation and turn over within state agencies leads to "pockets" of educated people and others who know nothing about ASR.

Who

Two AASHTO Subcommittees will be the recipients of the efforts of the ASR Lead State Team information, specifically the Subcommittees on Materials and Construction. They need to identify which technical sections within their oversight will be responsible for continuing the ASR program. They also need to identify their individual champions and liaisons that will work with the ASR Lead State Team during the transition. Together these individuals with the ASR Lead State Team will form an Ad Hoc transition team.

Both subcommittees need to identify a primary liaison, and, in addition the Subcommittee on Materials needs to identify a champion from each of the technical sections that deal with the various ASR technologies. The primary contacts should be selected before the Team sunsets, and the technical section champions identified in time for the Team to coordinate with them for the fall AASHTO meeting.

What

These Subcommittees will receive the information from the ASR Lead State Team, which may be summarized as follows:

1. Partially completed work in the area of problem definition by geographical limits identified in preliminary and informal survey work to try and determine the existence and immediate scope of the problems with ASR nationwide. The survey extent includes evaluated/known problems from those states whose work in the subject has been dictated by early failure/distress indicators revealed in completed facilities. The full scope of possible problems geographically and mineralogically has not been identified in this country, although survey results show increasing awareness of ASR presence.
2. Mitigation practices under evaluation or in use in other countries. This would include research currently underway, as known to members of the lead state team and networking with national and international entities addressing ASR problems.
3. Initial guide specifications to address mitigation of ASR and updated SHRP publications.
4. A small number of mitigation projects in this country using various mineral and chemical additives, which are being monitored to evaluate the mitigation methods.
5. A current web site for ASR subject areas (http://leadstate.tamu.edu/asr)
6. Procedures for identification of ASR in highway structures.

Where

Within the Subcommittee on Materials, the following Technical Sections could have significant involvement as the full scope of ASR presence is identified, testing methods are improved, guide specifications on material properties are revised, or concrete mix testing and evaluation is further developed.

1C - Aggregates and Stabilized Mixtures

3A - Hydraulic Cement and Pozzolanic Materials

3B - Concrete Materials and Fresh Concrete Properties

3C - Hardened Concrete Properties

When

During the two-year continuation period recommended above for the ASR Lead State Team, the Ad Hoc team would be responsible for the completion of the remaining action items. During this period, it is recommended that the Ad Hoc Team meet at least four times a year.

How

Under such an Ad Hoc team approach, close coordination within the full technical section agenda could be performed while making progress to the benefit of the community. The cost of such an ASR Ad Hoc approach would involve travel to joint meetings where there is technical section involvement, such as TRB, the annual Subcommittee on Materials technical section meeting, and also include other communication checkpoints with the technical section chair.

Contact with the world community involved with alkali-aggregate reactivity could be maintained by the ASR Ad Hoc team members and bring a broader scope of knowledge to bear on the concerns of the technical section. The technical section would become the conduit to transfer knowledge gained on a continuing basis during the two year time frame of the Ad Hoc team and would have an available tool for technical section use in research matters within the Regional Advisory Committees for research, and in a subject area not yet fully defined.

Future Key Players and Organizations

As stated above, AASHTO should keep the ASR Lead State Team (with minor modifications) together as group for the following reasons:

1. They will be an excellent resource to highway agencies as AASHTO implements the guide specifications and then refines it for particular circumstances.
2. They will be a focal point for the collection and dissemination of current information related to ASR in highway structures.
3. They will assist in keeping the guidelines up-to-date.

Future interagency coordination is recommended with the contacts shown in Appendix I.