The National Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn University (NCAT) will host the third Pavement Test Track Conference Feb. 9–11, 2009, at the Auburn Marriott Opelika Hotel and Conference Center at Grand National in Auburn, AL. The two-day meeting will highlight research findings from NCAT's 1.7-mile test track.

Participants will have a chance to tour the track, hear researchers and Department of Transportation (DOT) engineers discuss their latest results, and observe how they are being put into practice. Discussion will include laboratory tests that predict permanent deformation and cracking resistance in asphalt mixes; how surface treatments can be used to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification requirements for solar reflectivity index; and how lab tests can be used to estimate in-service friction behavior of asphalt mixes.

Conference attendees will learn how mechanistic-empirical pavement models can be calibrated and refined with structural section experiments; about the design, construction and performance of economical mixes formulated with more than 40 percent reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP); and how dual-layer porous friction courses improve drainage and highway noise.

NCAT operates five tractor-trailers for 16 hours a day, five days a week, on the test track to reproduce similar levels of traffic and stress a highway would experience in 15 to 20 years, or 10 million equivalent single axle loads (ESAL). The track is made up of 45 different 200-foot sections for field performance comparisons.

Additional info is available at www.ncat.us.