PaveXpress Eases Pavement Design

Based on industry standards, new web-based tool aids in specifying technically sound pavements; introductory webinar set for Oct. 1

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Designing the right pavement for the job got easier thanks to PaveXpress, a free Web-based pavement design scoping tool for roadway and parking lot pavements. PaveXpress — pavexpressdesign.com — creates technically sound pavement structural designs for flexible and rigid pavements based on widely accepted industry standards from the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

PaveXpress is designed for use by local agencies, engineers, architects, consultants, and engineering students who need a reliable way to quickly determine the necessary pavement thickness for a given section of roadway or project. The software only asks users for inputs required to create technically sound pavement designs, and it suggests industry-accepted defaults where appropriate. Context-sensitive help and guidance are available at every step of the scoping process to aid users.

To introduce PaveXpress to users, a webinar highlighting the tool’s capabilities will be hosted by the Asphalt Pavement Alliance on Oct. 1, 2014, at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. To register for the webinar, visit www.asphaltpavement.org/webinar.

“Not everyone who is called upon to specify a pavement has extensive training as a pavement designer,” said Adam Hand, Vice President for Quality Management for Granite Construction Inc., who consulted in the development of the web tool. “With PaveXpress, some basic design parameters and traffic data, users can develop pavement designs that are technically sound for the chosen task within minutes.”

The simplified pavement design tool is based upon design equations from the 1993 AASHTO Guide for the Design of Pavement Structures and the 1998 Supplement to the AASHTO Guide for the Design of Pavement Structures. For parking lots, two approaches are used. For heavy-duty sections expected to handle truck and bus traffic, AASHTO design equations are employed; for light-duty sections, such as parking stalls, the tool provides access to state-specific flexible pavement designs based upon industry-accepted standards and guidance. PaveXpress also includes links to state and local guidance, as well as to Pavement Interactive, to ensure the right pavement is being selected for the job.

Projects created in PaveXpress can be printed, shared, and saved, and design options can easily be evaluated in a side-by-side comparison. As a browser-based tool, PaveXpress can be accessed from any computer or mobile device, regardless of screen size or operating system.

PaveXpress was developed by Pavia Systems, a leader in the development of software and technology for the transportation infrastructure sector, with funding from the National Asphalt Pavement Association and the State Asphalt Pavement Associations. Planned future updates to PaveXpress will add modules for the design of overlays, as well as tools for mechanistic-empirical pavement designs.

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