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OU COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING STUDENTS SET NATIONAL STANDARDS

NORMAN – With just under $1 million dollars in funding, University of Oklahoma graduate students Caleb Riemer, PE and Dominique Pittenger are working in the Oklahoma heat to complete pavement preservation research that is unique not only to Oklahoma, but to the nation. Dr. Doug Gransberg, PE of the Construction Science Division is the Principal Investigator supervising their research along with Dr. Musharraf Zaman, PE, the Associate Dean of the College of Engineering. The planned result of this project will be increased sustainability for pavement practices on a national level, which will enhance the environment and increase highway safety.

The students are researching common pavement preservation methods, which are used to create a toolbox for maintenance engineers to make appropriate decisions based on each location, within their budget constraints. Riemer explained that they are trying to find out how to “use the right treatment, on the right road, at the right time … and we’re adding – for the right price.”

With the exception of some part-time help from other students, Pittenger, a graduate research assistant working on her master’s degree in construction science, and Riemer, who is working on his doctoral degree in engineering with an emphasis in construction engineering, are the only students working full time on the pavement preservation research project, one of the largest projects of its kind in the nation.

The two OU research assistants spend many days out of the year testing the 23, quarter-mile test sections between Norman and Oklahoma City on Highway 77H, known locally as Sooner Road, and Highway 77.

“We measure both the macro-texture and micro-texture of the surface treatment, for the life span of the test sections,” said Riemer, who has been working on the project since June of 2008. They will continue research for two more years, wrapping up the first phase of this project in May of 2011. “I hope to continue on the project until the test sections reach their expected life cycle,” he added.

Meanwhile, this fully funded project has garnered the two students major national attention.  While in New Orleans to address the Federal Highway Administration's Pavement Preservation Expert Task Group on the status of this research project, Riemer was elected to the board of directors for the Southeast Pavement Preservation Partnership, which includes Oklahoma and 13 other states. 

Funding was made possible through the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Oklahoma Transportation Center, OU and numerous contractor donations. For more information on the project, contact Caleb Riemer at creimer@odot.org.