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Akehurst, Troxler Electronic Laboratories Inc.: "Contractors will need to meet basic applied performance criteria such as smoothness, rideability, lack of potholes, etc., as well as the laboratory performance measures that verify the mixes meet the design specifications. Longer term, where the applied performance may be adjusted over time, we suspect there will be increased requirements placed on the contractors to keep improving their product quality as well as the confidence level of the agencies."

Are there any new developments or trends in asphalt testing that producers/contractors need to keep abreast of in meeting emerging road agency specifications?
Apkarian, Transtech Systems Inc.: "The biggest trend I see on the testing side is development of your quality control tech and elevating the position to equal status on the crew. The development of non-nuclear density gauges has allowed crews to obtain a vast amount of information much quicker than traditional ways in the past."

Collins, Pavement Technology: "We believe the new trend for the future will be Real-Time Quality Control (RTQC) for asphalt and aggregate plants. RTQC simply means testing materials as their being produced, not after they've been produced. Today we have the ability to monitor moisture content, gradation, asphalt content, etc.

"RTQC will allow contractors to continuously monitor materials their plants produce and allow them to make changes to their plants in a timely manner. This will allow contractors to run more materials within specification and reduce their quality control cost."