The Asphalt Materials and Pavements Program’s (AMPP) goal is to be the leading state and regional asphalt materials and pavements educator, research provider, and technology transfer program to the asphalt industry, including local, state, and federal agencies, material suppliers, contractors, and consultants.

The AMPP is a part of the Institute for Transportation (InTrans) at Iowa State University (ISU), and is a partnership among academia, the asphalt paving industry, and state and local transportation agencies. The AMPP focus is on scholarship, research, education, and training to generate knowledge leading to improved quality and performance, economical and sustainable asphalt materials and pavements. Specific focus areas for the program include:

• Improving asphalt materials and pavements through research and tech transfer
• Evaluating asphalt testing procedures
• Design, performance, and construction of asphalt
• Investigating “green” asphalt solutions
• Developing students’ technical skills in asphalt

Several current AMPP projects explore environmentally sustainable ways of making asphalt:

• Evaluating lignin from agricultural co-products as an antioxidant in asphalt
• Using recycled shingles in asphalt mixes
• Evaluating warm-mix asphalt made in Iowa
• Development of quality standards for inclusion of high recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) content in asphalt mixtures-Phase III

Other projects involve testing, quality control, and non-destructive evaluation:

• Early permeability test for asphalt acceptance
• Investigation of electromagnetic gauges for determination of in-place density of HMA pavements
• Evaluation of hot mix asphalt moisture sensitivity using the Nottingham Asphalt Test equipment
• Testing Iowa asphalt mixtures for the AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design procedure