Members of BIA’s Landscaping and Paving Council visited the offices of PathVu last week to refine the details of upcoming pavement roughness testing. PathVu is the company that was formed to carry on the work that began with the development of the PathMeT device during BIA’s latest paver research project conducted by the University of Pittsburgh’s HERL lab.
Ted Corvey of Pine Hall, Andy Karas and Mic MacAfee of Whitacre Greer, Doug Rose of Church Brick, Jim Piteo of Belden, Kevin Barry of Stiles and Hart, and Leroy D
anforth of BIA travelled to Pittsburgh to get an in-depth understanding of the measurement process, identify existing challenges, and cover short and long range research objectives.
During the meeting, three of the PathVu co-founders described their vision for the project, capabilities of the device, and inquired as to the type of project deliverables that will be of most value to BIA. The group then literally hit the pavement to show the BIA representatives real-time testing. This permitted the group, who have all expressed interest in serving as monitors during the testing program, to ask questions and provide answers related to issues such as how pathways are chosen within a sidewalk and how different types of variations impact measurements.
With the knowledge gained from this meeting, a research plan will be finalized and this year’s round of testing will begin. Ultimately, the roughness research program will establish the suitability of BIA recommended pavement designs via tested roughness values that meet the Access Board’s proposed roughness threshold.
Printed in the Brick News Online, Volume 13, Issue 5, May 21, 2015.
