The Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) was developed under the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) project 1-37A with an objective to provide the highway community with a state-of-the-practice tool for the design for new and rehabilitated pavement structures. This substantial effort produced the MEPDG that includes a Manual of Practice and companion AASHTO Pavement ME DesignTM software with documentation. The MEPDG Manual of Practice was prepared under NCHRP Project 1-40B, which became the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ balloted and approved design procedure. Development of the MEPDG is only the first phase. The next phase is implementation, adoption, and use of that design procedure by the AASHTO member states and Canadian provinces that have supported MEPDG development. Currently, State highway agencies are at various phases of the implementation effort. Based on a recent synthesis conducted by the National Cooperative Highway Research Board (NCHRP), three states have implemented the MEPDG and 30 additional states and several Canadian provinces plan to implement within 5 years.(1) Regional and National coordination between agency representatives will be critical in the next 5 years in reducing the duplication of efforts and help highway agencies adopt this new design procedure. A recent survey conducted by AASHTO revealed that 42 out of 51 agencies (83%) support the creation of regional peer exchanges and a National AASHTO Users group.(2) This pooled fund study will serve to meet the need for forums to discuss ME Design implementation efforts and will also coordinate implementation efforts on a regional and National level. These activities will aid in ME Design adoption.

The purpose of the peer exchanges and the AASHTO National Users Group meeting is to support State DOT and Canadian province implementation of ME Design procedures by (1) sharing information between, (2) identifying issues at the local/regional level with regard to implementation, (3) identifying needs or areas that still need to be researched relative to the MEPDG, and (4) organizing implementation efforts on a regional and National basis. The four peer exchanges will be limited to participation by governmental agencies, while the AASHTO Users group meeting will be open to industry representatives, academics, consultants, and others interested in ME Design. Funds from this pooled fund will only be used to support contributing agency travel and development activities. The peer exchanges and AASHTO National Users Group meeting will focus primarily on the efforts related to the AASHTO MEPDG and related Pavement ME DesignTM software. However, all agencies are welcome to participate in the pooled fund; as most topics covered are fundamental and applicable to all ME design procedures and pavement design in general.

This pooled fund will include the following tasks: • Conduct 4 regional peer exchanges in each of the 4 AASHTO regions each year. • Conduct 1 National AASHTO Users Group meeting each year • Provide funding for travel for 2 representatives from each participating agency to one regional meeting and the National AASHTO Users Group meeting. • Provide contract support for meeting logistics and documentation of outcomes • Develop regionally and nationally significant products that aid MEPDG implementation including technical briefs, synthesis of best practices, updates of MEPDG documentation • Formation of TAC to select and approve topics to be funded • Develop a charter to define the governance structure of the regional groups and AASHTO Users Group and expenditures from the pooled fund

Proposed Project Funding: 20 states @ a minimum of $10,000 per state each of five years = $1,000,000. Since many states are only able to commit one year at a time, the minimum funds required for this to become a pooled fund project and to be maintained as such each calendar year are $200,000 per year. State DOTs: • $10,000/year to allow 2 participants to attend 1 regional peer exchange and 1 National Users Group Summary of Requirements for Project Sponsors: • Financial support • Meeting participation twice a year for 2 participants from each state. • Active collaboration with each other and principal investigators to identify, instigate, develop, and author tech transfer materials and research initiatives. States may choose to contribute additional funds for specific tech transfer or research initiatives, beyond the normal pooled fund financial contribution. These initiatives may be funded either by individual states, or if multiple states have the same needs, then the initiatives may be funded and overseen by a group of states. • Championing the deliverables from the pooled fund such as providing technical material to key staff, and facilitating implementation of new technologies and practices References: 1. Implementation of the AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) and Software. NCHRP Synthesis Topic 44-06. 2014. 2. AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design Customer Survey. August 2013. http://www.me-design.com/MEDesign/Index.html