Transition Plan for AASHTO
May 2000

THE PAST

Introduction

This transition plan is a summary of alkali-silica reactivity (ASR) related activities of many individuals from a multitude of public and private agencies. The contributions of these people and their various organizations have advanced the knowledge, awareness, and state-of-the-practice of addressing ASR through administration and technical support, financial and personnel contributions, and laboratory and field research. The network of ASR related communication and coordination has broadened over the years with key champions stepping forward when needed to spearhead initiatives and propel their efforts to new levels.

Even though the ASR program has evolved through several major transitions, there has been a thread of continuity in each effort due to interested and active participation and support of ASR experts in both public and private agencies. Now with the ASR program once again being handed to new participants, the ASR Lead State Team desires to continue this cooperation, and to continue critical efforts. To do so, the past, present, and future are presented, with the Team's ideas of recommended future activities.

Previous Efforts

SHRP
The Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) was established by Congress in 1987 as a five year, $150 million research program to improve the performance and durability of our nation's roads and to make those roads safer for both motorists and highway workers. Targeting those products with perceived high pay off, state transportation agencies played a key role in guiding this research performed under the National Academy of Sciences.

At the time SHRP concluded in 1993, it had developed 130 products in support of its mission. Five of these products addressed the problems of detecting, identifying, mitigating, and avoiding ASR in concrete structures and roadways. There were three publications:

• ASR: An Overview of Research, SHRP-C-342, SHRP Product 2011,
• Eliminating or Minimizing ASR, SHRP-C-343, SHRP Product 2011, and
• Handbook for the Identification of ASR in Highway Structures, SHRP-C-315, SHRP Product 2010.

Two rapid test procedures were also developed to detect ASR, and to screen aggregates in the laboratory for potential reactivity:

• Rapid Identification of ASR Products in Concrete, AASHTO T 299, SHRP Product 2013, and
• Accelerated Detection of Potentially Deleterious Expansion of Mortar Bars Due to ASR, AASHTO T 303, SHRP Product 2009.

AASHTO
In recognition that the SHRP program would create an unprecedented need for the rapid development and acceptance of new standards, AASHTO took two complimentary actions. AASHTO hired Dr. A. Haleem Tahir to facilitate and provide support to the various contributors to SHRP research implementation, particularly the Subcommittee on Materials. The Subcommittee created a new class of standards, labeled Provisional Standards. These were intended to be dynamic standards for immediate use by the states with the understanding they would likely be revised or updated more frequently than the mature standards. Ultimately, when these standards matured, they would be balloted as full standards. Some have already reached that point and have been established as such.

This is exactly what occurred with the Rapid Identification of ASR Products in Concrete, originally a provisional standard, it is now known as AASHTO T 299. Similarly, the Accelerated Detection of Potentially Deleterious Expansion of Mortar Bars Due to ASR, was originally identified as AASHTO TP 214, and is now a full standard as AASHTO T 303. The AASHTO staff person has been critical to the facilitation and management of the process in support of the Subcommittee on Materials.

At the completion of the SHRP research phase, AASHTO recognized the benefits that implementation of the SHRP products would provide its member Departments. Thus, AASHTO established a Task Force on SHRP Implementation. It was composed of executive level managers of member Departments from each of the AASHTO Regions. The Task Force on SHRP Implementation mission was to develop plans and proposals furthering the implementation of SHRP research, working as needed with the committees of AASHTO, the member Departments, the Federal Highway Administration and private sector organizations. Further, it was to propose, as necessary, to the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of AASHTO such actions as it believed would further the implementation of SHRP, including proposals for securing necessary resources, for their consideration and appropriate action.

FHWA - SHRP Implementation
When the SHRP studies concluded, Congress directed the FHWA to establish an implementation program for the SHRP findings. As a result, the FHWA established the ASR Implementation effort under the Concrete and Structures Program.

With an ASR Expert Task Group to provide guidance and assistance, the four-part program consisted of conducting ASR Showcases in all nine AASHTO regions and one in Canada, providing technical assistance to AASHTO states, an equipment loan program for the ultraviolet light kits used to detect ASR, and a SHRP verification program where a round-robin inter-laboratory study was conducted. At the end of six years, the FHWA concluded its implementation efforts, and handed the ASR program to the AASHTO ASR Lead State Team.

The Lead State Program
In 1996, the AASHTO Task Force on SHRP Implementation established the Lead State Program and invited more than 30 states to join lead state teams in seven technology groups; ASR being one of them. A Lead State was defined as a transportation agency that had used a SHRP technology on a sufficient scale to gain expertise on that technology and its procedures. The Lead State then volunteered to share its expertise, on a formal basis, to help those states that wanted help and to serve as examples for all the states.

In September of 1996, the first Lead State Conference was held in St. Louis, Missouri. The ASR Lead State Team included Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Dakota, and New Mexico. The ASR Lead State Team included members beyond employees of the named states. The FHWA, the Department of Energy, the lithium and concrete production industries, and academia were also represented. The inclusion and participation of all these stakeholders was considered critical to the success of the program.

The mission of the ASR Lead States Team, developed at the conference, was: To provide a clearinghouse to share and deliver information and technical assistance in identification, prevention, and rehabilitation of alkali silica reactivity to the public, private, and academic sectors of transportation.

The initial objectives of the ASR Lead State Team were modified twice over the years as meetings were held, yet the focus of the Team remained true to its mission. Appendix A lists the Team's initial objectives and membership. Appendix B shows the next year's revisions, and Appendix C documents the Team's final objectives and membership.

Lead State Program Transition

As with the SHRP studies and the FHWA-SHRP implementation, the Lead State Program was to have a beginning and an end. In establishing the program, AASHTO agreed that at some reasonable point in time, national implementation should have matured to a level where a Lead State Program was no longer necessary. It was thus decided that the Lead State Program would conclude in the year 2000.