SHRP LONG-TERM PAVEMENT PERFORMANCE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) project is a major component of the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP). This 20-year effort is the most intensive evaluation of pavement performance since the AASHO Road Test in the early 1960s. Over 700 in-service general pavement sections throughout the United States and Canada have been selected to date for the LTPP effort. An additional 200 to 300 specific pavement sections will be constructed or modified to evaluate different pavement designs and maintenance treatments. Throughout the life of the project, SHRP will collect data for each section on material properties, environmental conditions, traffic, maintenance and rehabilitation, surface condition, and pavement response. Many of these measurements will use state-of-the-art techniques. On the basis of the AASHO experience, SHRP recognized that LTPP would produce a tremendous volume of data. In order to maintain these data in a form readily accessible to the research community, SHRP is developing a sophisticated information management system (IMS). The IMS is based on the ORACLE relational data base management system. The data base is distributed across several hardware platforms; a VAX computer serves as the primary data retrieval machine. The detailed structure and functions of the LTPP IMS will give potential researchers insight into the nature of this valuable resource.