The 95th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) was held earlier this month in Washington, DC. More than 14,000 transportation professionals, academics and industry were in attendance, an increase of about 10% over the previous year. There were some 5,600 papers presented along with more than 750 lectern and poster sessions. Highlights included:

• The nanotechnology-based concrete materials task force will become a subcommittee of TRB’s Basic Research and Emerging Technologies Related to Concrete Committee.
• A paper was presented showing that the use of 0.05% carbon nanotubes could double the mortar stiffness without increase in strength.
• Another research showed that the use of 0.25% carbon nanofibers can help attain concrete strength in excess of 22,000 psi.
• NCHRP is likely to fund a research project on the durability and service life of cracked concrete.
• There was a paper on the use of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy to identify deleterious materials in aggregate and concrete.
• There will be a TRB Webinar on Minimizing Cracking in Concrete in Spring 2016 to be presented by Hooton, Streeter and Weiss.
• There were many workshops related to the use of sensors in concrete, RCC, recycled materials and long-life concrete pavements.
• There was a presentation that reported good performance of Portland limestone cements in sulfate environments.
• The 2017 TRB is likely to have a session on the case studies of projects using performance-based specifications.
• It appears more DOTs will start specifying the resistivity test method (AASHTO TP95) as an alternate to the ASTM C1202 due to its lower cost, ease, rapid use and non-destructive nature.

The national nanotechnology initiative’s strategic plan can be accessed here. The theme of the 2017 TRB meeting which will be held January 8-12 is Transportation Innovation: Leading the Way Forward in the Era of Rapid Change.

For more information, contact Karthik Obla at kobla@nrmca.org.