Skip to content
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 29, 2017
Press Release: 17-1032
Contact: Meadow Bailey, (907) 451-2240, meadow.bailey@alaska.gov

ADOT&PF Awarded Funds to Expand Asphalt Testing

(JUNEAU, Alaska)The Alaska State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) recently awarded the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) $100,000 through the STIC Incentive Program. The program offers technical assistance and funds up to $100,000 per year to support the costs of standardizing innovative practices in a state transportation agency. ADOT&PF will provide the required 20 percent matching funds; industry will provide additional support, bringing the total project budget to more than $134,000.

The funding will be used to expand an innovative method of testing the compaction of asphalt on paving projects and to propose standards that may eventually be used statewide. Well-compacted pavement results in both an improved driving surface and lower long-term maintenance costs.

Last year, ADOT&PF researchers piloted density testing on asphalt on the Glenn Highway: Hiland Road to Eklutna project. They found that testing with ground penetrating radar was simple and provided a complete picture of the compaction of the asphalt. The result was delivery of a well-compacted, nearly defect-free pavement.

The STIC award will enable ADOT&PF to build on the experience gained from the Glenn Highway project to develop and test standards on a project scheduled for construction in 2018. These standards will be refined and, if adopted, expanded to projects across the state.

The goal of the STIC is to identify new strategies to respond to the challenges impacting Alaska's transportation infrastructure and to promote innovations that will deliver a safer, more efficient and sustainable transportation system.

STIC brings together representatives from all levels of the highway transportation community to effectively evaluate which innovations are most appropriate for Alaska. This cross-section of various stakeholders (ADOT&PF, Federal Highway Administration, state agencies, local and tribal governments and industry partners) will work together, build off each other’s insights to learn about new technologies, determine what is applicable to their respective areas, and develop plans to implement and adopt these new ideas and processes into current and future transportation projects as standard practice.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities oversees 237 airports, 9 ferries serving 35 communities along 3,500 marine miles, over 5,600 miles of highway and 839 public facilities throughout the state of Alaska. The mission of the department is to “Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure.”

###