Share your Pavement Story:

Ashlyn Torricelli (2021 Spring USA Student)

One of my most unforgettable road trips was last February to New Orleans, Louisiana. I headed down to New Orleans as soon as I got off work on Friday, February 14, 2020. The entire trip was spent on Interstate 10 all the way into the city. The road conditions for the trip were good. Interstate 10 is very well maintained through Alabama and Mississippi especially with portions that have just been repaved. Maintaining the highly trafficked roadways are a crucial part of the design process. Pieces of the stretch of I-10 in Louisiana were a little rough just from wear on the roadway. One of my favorite views of the trip was crossing over Lake Pontchartrain on the concrete I-10 Twin Span Bridge into the city. Once I hit New Orleans, traffic was at a standstill with the excessive amount of people in New Orleans for the Mardi Gras festivities. The roads in the city were pretty rough and many roads were closed for parade routes. I was detoured quite a few times before I finally reached my hotel.

Once I finally arrived at the hotel I met up with my friend Jody. Friday night Jody and I attended the Dermot Kennedy concert at the Fillmore. The concert was absolutely phenomenal. We were able to catch the tail end of a parade when the concert was over. The next day we met up with our friends Angela and Kyle on Magazine Street to watch the parades going on throughout the day. Dermot Kennedy and Mardi Gras all in one trip made for one unforgettable road trip.

Caleb Banks (2021 Spring USA Student)

During the peak of Covid when several days seemed to mash up into one single day, a friend and I decided to take a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee and hike within the Smoky Mountains. We were both sick of staying inside all day, and at the time it was announced that it was generally safe to be outside in the open air. This would end up being my first time ever seeing mountains. The trip to and from Gatlinburg was about an 8 and half hour trip, so driving to and from was an all-day event. We decided to only hike the mountain long enough to where we would have enough time to get back down before sunfall. We had enough time to hike to an attraction coined “Charlie’s Bunion” and it was absolutely beautiful there. During the hike there we ran into few wildlife besides chipmunks and we walked through several rain clouds so we were both soaking wet and cold. 

Despite my initial thoughts, I genuinely loved the trip and I can’t wait to go back when there’s no virus spreading around to experience all the tourist locations. Working at ALDOT, it was interesting to see the overall poorer quality of I-59 compared to I-65. However the poorness

of I-59, was only in the Alabama portion and it made me wonder why. I came to the conclusion that it was because, generally speaking, both Tennessee and Georgia have more money from taxes paid by tourist attractions, thus making it easier to keep up the condition of the road.

Mobile to Las Vegas: 27 Hours, Tareq Alajmi (2020 Spring USA Student)

One of the most memorable trips that I have taken while in the United States has been a road trip from Mobile to Las Vegas. The first two legs of the journey took 27 hours on I-40 W. as painful as the journey sounds, it was one of the best times I ever had in my life. Watching the world go by from the window of a car seems boring, but since I did not have to drive all the time, I was able to watch as the different climates, agricultural differences, and wildlife change dramatically from the eastern part of the United States into the West. We made this trip during the summer, so it was very hot outside, even though we were able to keep the interior of the car comfortable. I and two friends left Mobile, never realizing what it was going to mean to go that far across a continent.

Getting to Las Vegas from Alabama is relatively simple because it means after a few relatively short distances on other highways, eventually I-40 goes all the way to Las Vegas across the country. The first part of the trip was a ride on US-98 for a couple of hours. We were anxious to get on the road, but soon stopped for some snacks at a convenience store. We filled up on foods we should not have been eating, but decided to get anyway, and ended spent the first two hours full of energy and excited. By the time we got to the I-20 W. exit, some of our energy had died down and we were mostly each doing our own thing on phones and devices. 

After another 8 and a half hours, we got on I-40 W., which was going to make up the rest of our trip. We had to travel another 12 hours on that highway to get to Las Vegas. The first half of the journey had been rather uneventful, mostly because we spent our time measuring out the link from one exit to the next that we needed to take, making sure that we did not miss anything and get off track. Because we were unfamiliar with the roads and what to expect, we would look at the navigation information and spend most of our time seeking out the next exit, rather than doing anything other than looking around and talking a bit. However, where there were faster paced movements that we had to make in the beginning, by the time we got to I-40 W., we realized we were basically just going to be driving without having to think about any next moves until we got to Las Vegas. It was a long 12 hours, but the experiences that we had in Las Vegas were worth the travel time. 

The pavement along the various roads that we took changed quite a bit. Although most of the highways were very well paved, there were a few places where the pavement appeared to be suffering from quite a bit of wear. Just from looking up recent road conditions in I-40, it appears that at times during the next year they will be doing construction. Road construction seems to be an ongoing activity across the United States, so the problems of road wear are a constant issue. Pavement design is a critical factor in making sure that the roads in the United States continue to have consistent quality and facilitate the needs of transportation of both goods and people. Making sure that roads are safe, passable, and continue to be good for vehicle wear and tear are all issues that need to be taken in consideration when approaching pavement design. Although the roads were good during the time that we took this trip, I can see that they were only that way because time and consideration has been put into making sure that the roads are maintained. The fact that some of the roads were toll roads showed that funding for road repair and maintenance is taken very seriously. The trip was incredibly enjoyable, but part of that was because of the high-quality roads on which we were able to travel.

Cheaha Mountain Road Trip, Michael Jefcoat (2020 Spring USA Student)

On December 21, 2016 I took a trip with a friend to Cheaha State Park. My friend Alicia invited me to Cheaha with her brother and sister. Her brother drove while I was in the passenger seat, while the sisters were in the back seat. We drove along mostly State road 14 and 9 from Prattville Al, to Cheaha. The roads were under construction for some parts extending the road from a 2-lane to a 4-lane highway. The roads were well maintained and mostly asphalt concrete pavement, with concrete pavement for the bridges. When we arrived near Cheaha the road changed to a rather narrow road that scaled the mountain. It was still asphalt pavement, but it was a much rougher pavement. It most likely had a larger aggregate to help with rainy days and increase friction. I think this dilemma was brought up in the pavement design. This kind of problem solving is what we will be taught in this class. 

Continuing with my trip, my friends and I hiked to the top of the mountain and looked down at the lovely view. I love heights and liked getting close to the edge as you can see. We stayed there and ate lunch at the top and went back the way we came. 

My Most Memorable Road Trip,  Michael Chatham (2020 Spring USA Student)

When I think of all the road trips I have had in my life there is one that stands out more than any other. Last December 12 of my closest friends rented a cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee to celebrate the new year. The trip from Mobile to Gatlinburg is roughly 8 ½ hours long therefore we had to drive for an entire day. We put me and 2 of my friends in a Hyundai Sonata and left mobile about 6 am that morning to embark on our journey. Not even 30 minutes into the trip, we had to stop and get gas because my friend William forgot to put gas in his car. After we filled up at a gas station in Atmore, Alabama we were back on the road and ready to get to our destination. I made a deal with William that if we could take his car, he wouldn’t have to drive any so me and my girlfriend took turns driving about every two hours because we both hate driving for long periods of time. Around 11 am we reached the halfway mark of Birmingham, Alabama where we stopped to pick up another friend, Newman. Also in Birmingham we stopped to grab some chicken and a place that was oddly similar to Foosackly’s here in mobile. Before we got back on the road we topped our gas off and played rock paper scissors for who would drive. Newman lost so he had to drive this leg of the trip.

 All of the trip until now was pretty bland but when you start to get in the mountains in North Alabama and Tennessee, the scenery is beautiful. My favorite part would be right when you get into Chattanooga, Tennessee, Interstate 24 curves around the Tennessee river and its one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The engineering behind the roadways there is immaculate. The roadways in Tennessee are very well taken care of compared to most Alabama roadways. I think that the Tennessee department of transportation is highly considerate of the quality of their roads. No bumps, no cracks, no ruts just smooth driving. 

After a long 12 hours between driving and all the stopping, we finally arrived at our cabin. Excited to begin our vacation but so tired due to the long day of travel. While we were there we did the typical tourist things and Enjoyed downtown Gatlinburg on day and spent another entire day at Cades cove which is one of my favorite places to go. You can see bears and plenty of deer out there and the scenery is beautiful. I attached a picture of cades cove at the bottom of this paper. After 3 long days in Gatlinburg it was now time to take the long, dreaded drive back to mobile.  

Road Trip, Meshel Almutairi (2019 Summer USA Student)

A few years ago, in Summer 2017, we had a 4 days family road trip from my uncle's house in Germany to Austria. The trip was really pleasing and the dotted tale castles on the way boosted up our enjoyment. The scenery of mountain top gardens and the medieval villages along the way were eye-catching. We started our tour from Bad Homburg in Germany towards Salzburg in Austria, which took approximately 7 hours driving. On the tour, we had full experience of spending days and nights at different places, and we stopped at some historic towns such as Zell-Am-See and checked the tourist spots such as lakes and historical castles.

Our destination and the main point of this road trip were to visit the top of Salzburg that is 3029 meters above the ground. During the tour, we drove around 1 hour from our hotel, and we had to take 4 chairlifts in order to get to the top. We were very busy in enjoying the tour and having a chit-chat together, as one can imagine the time with all family members and having fun. Therefore, our focus was to enjoy instead of having pictures, so, I don’t have any pictures for the roadway or the kind of the pavement, but I had taken many pictures at the top of Salzburg as shown in Figure a.1 and a.2 below.

As I remember, the road conditions were absolutely favorable for the road tour and most of roads are asphalt pavement. The land was dominated by expansive landscapes. The best place that all of my family members loved was Lake Zell, which is a small freshwater lake that takes its name from the city of Zell-Am-See. We traveled around 580 kilometers of highway. The other interesting features of the tour were rainforest, rivers, sunburnt cliffs, and apostles. 

Halloween Horror Nights: Mobile, Alabama – Orlando, Florida, Bughaith, Abdulaziz (2019 Summer USA Student)

It was during the fall of 2015, when few of us decided to attend the world’s premier Halloween event at the Universal Studios, Orlando. We decided to drive from Mobile, Alabama to Universal Studios, which was approximately 500 miles and took us some odd 7 hours of drive. Subsequently, how the trip unfolded; it turned out to be the best road trip of my life. It was Hamad, Fawaz, Humod and me who took turns in driving across the cities.

While reaching the Universal Studios we left behind numerous enchanting valleys and cities. We stopped at intervals to refuel the car and also to try out some irresistible food at various famous food joints. On the side of the highway were lovely green meadows that grew off the side of small hills, speckled with yellows and whites. While travelling I felt a whirlwind of emotions that swirled around in me, feeling a bit like butterflies in my stomach. I have a lot of different traveling experiences but this one was the best.

While covering the distance we covered the beautiful Fort Walton Beach, visited the Apalachicola National Forest, the city of Tallahassee and Ocala. The road network varied from single lane country roads to modern motorways. It was noticed that the State roads were smooth and had been maintained very well while the roads at the outskirts of the city were found to have few potholes and cracks. The roads were found to have been built using harder aggregates with the use of granite and basalt, due to their intrinsic anti-skid properties and having a greater wear life.

I feel that being a Civil Engineer the in depth knowledge of pavement design is very crucial, this course would help us in designing, constructing and maintaining of streets or highways across the all geographies. It would ensure the practical implementation of quality and sustainable pavement systems that might element chances of a disastrous consequence due to discontinuities, cracks or low skid resistance by implementing the correct design materials.

Trip to Huntsville, Alabama, Lavell Johnson (2019 Summer USA Student)

On May 18 2019 I took a trip to Huntsville, Alabama which is a city in the northern part of the state. The original reason for taking this trip was to go to visit my sister and also to go to a comedy show. The comedian was Mike Epps which is a successful comedian as well as a successful actor. The booking venue had scheduling problems and the comedian also had a family emergency so the show was cancelled. Since the show was cancelled, my family and I road by the Davidson Center for Space Exploration to take photos. We did not visit the inside of the facility on this trip, but it is on my bucket list for my next visit. Next my family and I went to a shooting range and shot different guns at targets as a friendly competition. This was my first time visiting a shooting range and this was very exciting. Later that night my family and I went to a place called Top Golf. This place was awesome. It looked like a bowling alley for people playing golf. The way the points are scored is each person has to hit their golf ball to different sections of the course for nine different rounds. This is a three-story building with different bays for the families to play their game and there is also a bar on each floor. Waiters will come to your bay to take drink and food orders. The road conditions for majority of the trip were not that bad but when I got north of Birmingham, Alabama, the pavement was really horrible and construction had begun to replace the pavement. I think this class is related to the roads by teaching us the use of pavement, how pavement is made and its life cycle. I also think this class is to teach us how to design the pavement for highway use.  

Haley Pugh  (2019 Summer USA Student)

My road trip from Mexico City to Tolantongo, Mexico was one I will never forget. Last summer in August, my friend Jami, my stepmother, and I all traveled from Mexico City to Tolantongo to camp at the famous natural caves. The caves’ waters are naturally warmed by the heat of the volcanoes and are a crystal blue color. The mountains where the caves are found also feature a rocky river and waterfalls. The views were unforgettable, just like the over 4 hour trip to get there.

Jami and I had woken up at 4 a.m. to leave Pensacola for Mexico City, Mexico the same day we traveled to the caves. Once we landed in the great big city, we dropped our suitcases off at my stepmother’s apartment and headed to the other city by taxi. The taxi ended up getting us lost and added somewhere between 30 minutes to an hour extra to our already long trip. Jami and I were both excited to be in the busy country of Mexico but felt sleepy and jetlagged from our long trip. We both attempted to take naps in the taxi but the rough roads did not make it easy. 

If anyone has been to Mexico City and surrounding areas know that it their roads need much repairing. Their speed bumps are made too high and create scraping of the car and overall damage, not to mention the potholes every few feet. I know the reasons for the bad quality of roads there may be the lack of city management, no funds to keep them upgraded and maintained, the millions of people who live there and travel constantly, the extreme temperatures, and even maybe underground issues. Mexico City is an urban city built on top of a historical indigenous site. In some places of the city, Aztec ruins can be seen not very deep under the layer of the ground. I am sure preserving this interferes with creating good structures for things such as roads and buildings.

I think this class will help me understand the methods of pavement design to apply knowledge to places like Mexico City and why their roads are so rough. I do plan on working in Mexico, and would love to find a way to give the citizens a sustainable new method of pavement.

Omar Tahri (2019 Summer USA Student)

In the beginning of 2018, the weather was frigid during the whole winter in Alabama. My girlfriend and I decided to leave the U.S. to find the sun in South America during Spring Break. Compared to its neighbors’ history with violence, Costa Rica has been my biggest surprise in terms of hospitality, landscapes, beautiful beaches, and affordability for college students during that period of the year unlike other sunny destinations in the U.S. Once we arrived and secured our rental car, any concerns we had disappeared. Road shape and quality are the same than in Mobile, Alabama, lanes are well marked, and double solid lines are visible in most roads. Travelling from San Jose to Jaco, we used the well paved nice and smooth two lanes highway roads until our destination. Once in the city, of Jaco we experienced couple streets having potholes but nothing out of the ordinary. We were wondering why everyone advised us to rent a four by four-wheel drive car until we decided to visit national parks and the only park that is still in mind and which has the most horrific road is the road taking to Monteverde park. Not knowing that March is one of the driest month of the year in Costa Rica, the unpaved road full of gravel was an extreme challenge because of the dust that blocked our view. The bumpy road was very steep and had sharp turns without any guard rails all the way around and up the mountains. This made the whole drive to the park uncomfortable. This scary adventure was also a challenge to our rental car which was having difficulty during the entire climb. We did not notice any speed sign on the road climbing the mountain, so we saw multiple drivers getting mad at each other because of the speed they were driving. Large rocks on the side of the road made us think about the conditions of the people living in Monteverde and how dangerous this must be during extreme rain and wind. Once arrived to Monteverde, the beauty and the singularity of the place was so magical and incredible, and the hike in the mountain and the fact being at high altitudes on those hanging bridges made us forget the misadventure with the road. Costa Rica is until now my favorite destination.

This course will allow us to better understand and observe the different types of pavement and the challenges that each one of them face and it will also give us the ability to be in measure of understanding why certain type of pavement is chosen compared to others.

Cathleen Wales (2019 Summer USA Student)

Recently I visited the European country of Italy on summer vacation with my boyfriend as an early celebratory senior year trip.  We stayed half of the trip in Sorrento in the Amalfi Coast in the southern region of Italy and the second half of the trip was spent in Florence in Tuscany in the northern region of Italy. During the vacation my boyfriend and I traveled by means of airplane, boat, taxi, and high speed train. We encountered many different variations of pavement that were engineered for their specific purposes. 

The pavements used at the airports had to compensate for the weight of the aircraft as opposed to the pavement that lined the streets in rural Italy. The weight and speed of the airplanes could potentially damage everyday street pavement. Therefore the airport landing-strips had to be engineered to withstand the force of the landing planes.

The marinas the boats and ferries docked into were lined with pavement as passengers and vehicles made their way from port to port every day. This pavement most nearly resembled the material our concrete parking structures consist of in America. 

The most interesting part of the trip, related to means of travel, was the limited use of motor vehicles in Italy. Most residents walked to their destinations. Most “streets” were not streets by American standards. There were no lane markings and very little roadway signs. No speed limit signs were posted and there were no lines indicating were one street ended and another began. If the locals did not walk they rode small motorized scooters. Because of the traffic in Italy being mostly on foot, the pavement used on streets were not built as strongly as those we see in America. Italy also does not receive as much rain fall as Mobile, Alabama does therefore the pavement does not have to be structured to endure severe weather. Although the roads were not built to our usual standard, they were very well kept and maintained. Most cars in use were taxis that were transporting tourists as they were usually not accustomed to walking long distances between towns as the Italian locals had done their entire lives.

The Circumvesuviana train we took from Sorrento into Naples and the high speed train we took from Naples into Florence both operated on tracks built into pavement. The pavement used had to be reinforced to be able to not only withstand the weight of the trains but also the weight if the number of passengers reaches full capacity.

The food, art, and culture I experienced while in Italy were unmatched by any I had witnessed before, but one true surprise came from the ways Italians traveled and how their modes of transportation differed from that of America.

Seen Snow for the first Time, Abullah al hashil (2019 Spring USA Student)

The most unforgettable road trip I ever had was when I moved to the United States of America from Saudi Arabia in November of 2012. I just turn 18 years old, and before that, I spend most of life in a city in south of Saudi Arabia called Najran. I was studying English as a second in Cincinnati, Ohio at Xavier University. It was the most unforgettable trip because it was the most significant decision I’ve made in my life and it was the first time I saw snow in my life, it was memorable moment.

However, the driving, the rules of roads and the roads in Cincinnati were different from Saudi Arabia. I remember the types of pavement I saw has some potholes, and some roads have cracks but overall the roads were well maintained, and I learned for the first time that salt used as a snow removal tool. Driving in the snow different and harder than I thought it would be, I had a bad car, so when it snows a lot, my car kept swerving, but fortunately, I didn’t get into any car accidents.

ALodinan Majed (2019 Spring USA Student)

The most unforgettable road trip I ever had was in January 2014. I was going to Jeddah city in Saudi Arabia. It was a family trip to visit Jeddah city and shopping for my sister’s wedding. Some activities we did while there were: shopping, see the sea, eat from Egyptian restaurant, visit jungle land theme park, and visit Jeddah tower. The type of pavement I saw (concrete). It was very beautiful and designed very good. The time I was there, there was no precipitation. I would think pavement design in that road related to the walkways. It was designed to help people walking comfortably and feeling organized and fun when walking or running.

Gurcharan Singh: trek to sri hemkund sahib (2019 Spring UAB Student)

One day I was sitting with my cousins and one of them just out of nowhere said we are going to sri hemkund sahib tomorrow morning and everyone laughed and left but turns out the next day early in the morning there he is outside my house ready to go. I packed my bags and we left for trip which was planned in the spur of the moment which turned out to be the best trip of my life. The 287-mile journey on a motorcycle was amazing, lush green valleys and the feel of roads on a British engineered motorcycle was amazing on every different kind of road.

Most of the stretch of road was an asphalt paved which turned out to be very smooth and offering a higher amount of road grip than compared to the concrete paved ones, which were not great in terms of offering road grip and driver comfort experience. Once we reached the point where drivable or motor vehicle accessible roads were available, we started the 8.6-mile trek which was nearly vertical.

This stretch was majorly rock paved with small variation of concrete paved as well. The overall conclusion I had from this trip was that though majority of state highways were asphalt paved still a larger part of link road and country side roads were unpaved and the use of concrete roads in India is an upcoming trend, but a major part of the countries road network system needs development.

Apart from everything the trip was amazing though we had a lot of trouble with the motorcycle on the way but good food and beautiful sceneries made up for all of that.

Md Saiful Arif Khan: Road Trip to Banderban, the Hilly District of Bangladesh (2019 Spring UAB Graduate Student)

Whenever I get free time or long weekend break, I always try to make plan for outing. Fortuitously, being an Engineer of Roads and Highways Department of Bangladesh, in the past 6 years, I had to visit maximum portion of our country as a part of my official assignments. Though Bangladesh is a small country having 64 districts with different geographical and natural variety, to me Banderban is the most beautiful one. Thus, the most remarkable journey, so far I can ruminate, is the trip towards the district of Banderban. Before telling about the ride, I want to share the socio-political state of affairs of the district and a background of that tour. 

Among all other districts, the inhabitants of the three adjacent hilly districts are mainly indigenous people and there were some political conflicts between Government and aboriginal people. As such, the Bangladesh Army for security reasons is now controlling these areas. Because of the restrictions in movement, road network of these areas are not up to the mark till now and even after 47 years of liberation of Bangladesh some part of the districts are yet to be accessible by motor vehicle and the development work for new road construction is going on by Bangladesh Army. A project officer, one of these development projects of Bangladesh Army, my childhood friend Major Md Nahidul Islam, invited me to visit a new road construction project at Banderban to spend my weekend as well as to put opinion regarding proposed road alignment alongside of a hill. As the trip was not official, I along with my wife planned for the trip to enjoy the striking nature of the Banderban as well as to inspect new road construction work. It was 20th of April 2017, we started our ride by Bus early in the morning from Dhaka towards Banderban via Chittagong. After traveling around 250 KM via National Highway (N1) we reached to the Chittagong district at noon, where we took a break and had our lunch in a highway restaurant. National Highway N1 is the most important road of Bangladesh, which is called “the artery of the country”, as it connects two largest City Dhaka, the Capital, and the City of port Chittagong. Like all other national highways, the national highway N1 has flexible pavement. 

We again started journey after refreshment and lunch in the afternoon. The road Chittagong towards Banderban was spiral as well as bumpy with sharp bends, which was exciting and at the same time precarious. We travelled almost 100 km flexible pavement road from Chittagong to reach headquarter (HQ) of Banderban. As our final destination was to Bogalake, a lagoon of Ruma suburb of Banderban, and the road toward Bogalake is not under construction a heavy-duty vehicle of Bangladesh Army gave us the ride. The road, from Banderban HQ to Bogalake, was constructed only up to base course, there were no surfacing course. The ride was too risky and tiresome as the road was uneven and under construction over hills and there were several sharp bends. Finally, in the late afternoon, our exhausting and exasperating long ride ended and we reached to our destination. Bogalake, a beautiful natural lake, surrounded by local aboriginal people’s households and after observing the exquisiteness beauty of the nature, all of our tiredness gone. 

Apart from service road and local road, the length of road network of Bangladesh is around 21000 km, which are being constructed and maintained by the Roads and Highways Department. As most of the roads of Bangladesh are of bituminous pavement and having a subtropical monsoon climate with lots of rainfall, high temperatures and humidity, we, the engineer of Roads and Highways department are always facing the challenge for keeping those roads in a decent condition in order to provide smooth, safe and well-maintained road to passengers. I believe in future when I will return to my job the knowledge I acquire from the pavement design course will surely be beneficial for me to design a sustainable pavement with proper maintenance plan.

First Visit to Murray, Kentucky, Taniya Sultana(2019 Spring UAB Graduate Student)

When I was in my home country Bangladesh, I never went on any road trip. But after coming to the USA, I went for eight road trips within one and a half year. First one year, I was with my husband as he was a student and I was under spouse visa. But after the completion of his graduation, he got a job in Murray, a city of Kentucky and I got admitted into the University of Alabama at Birmingham. So, our journey of living separately started in Fall 2018. Since then, I was eagerly waiting for the Thanksgiving break so that I can visit my husband’s workplace, Kentucky. 

It was November 16th, 2018, Friday, the last business day before the break. My husband came to take me to his workplace and we together started for Murray, Kentucky from Birmingham. Though according to the google map, it should take only 4 hours and 36 minutes to arrive, we took more than 6 hours to reach in Murray. Usually, during road trips, we listen to music. But that day, I was so happy that I was singing almost every song with the recording. Moreover, when we take a break during road trips, sometimes we go for coffees, snack and lunch or dinner when the time overlaps. But this time, we stopped more than usual and tried new foods at every stop. That was the first time I tried the yummy pancakes of cracker barrel for the first time.

When I reached Murray, I received one luggage full of gifts from my husband including a tee shirt with the word ‘Home’. I felt like visiting my home after a long time from a student housing. However, we went there through Tennessee and ‘Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area’ of Kentucky. I am always overwhelmed with the pavement here in the USA because back in my country it is rear where I can see multiple lanes with proper marking. During this trip, I took some photos of the roads because the view of the roads was amazing with lots of trees (Photo on the left) and river (Photo on the right) in both sides. 

During the trip, most of the road pavements I saw were made of asphalt except the bridges which were made of concrete. Both interstate we drove through (I-24 and I-65) were in good condition. I think the road in the second photo (on the right) is related to this course because this road represents the fact that concrete pavement is used in bridge decks due to its durability and effectiveness whereas the adjacent roads are paved with asphalt.

Yudi Li (2019 Spring USA Graduate Student)

My most unforgettable road trip is trip on Zhang Long Highway. In the end of 2013, I  was going to start studying abroad. So I need to move all my luggage from my apartment to my hometown before I left. My parents decided to drive their car to help me to move so much luggage. The trip started on Fuzhou city, and destination was Longyan city, Fuzhou Province. The total traveling distance was 325 kilometers and spent about 4 hours. The highway system from Fuzhou to Longyan is made of several highways, and Zhang Long Highway is the final part of this highway system. But it is so pity that I did not take pictures on that trip, so I just found some pictures online to show here. 

Zhang Long Highway connects Zhangzhou city and Longyan city. It is a important part of transportation system on Fujian Province. There are two lanes on each direction, and the pavement is made of asphalt concrete. First half segment of Zhang Long highway is normal as every highway. It has relatively straight road, small slope , and only few tunnels. Due to frequent maintenance, the road condition was good. There was no bump in driving within the speed limit. But all things changed when I got within Longyan border. Because Longyan City is surrounded with mountains, highway has to pass several maintains to reach the destination. The road condition was still good even though there were a lot of bridges and tunnels on the latter half of Zhang Long Highway. Because the highway passed maintains, scenery was so beautiful and unforgettable.  

In my opinions, pavement design course is related to this road. As we known, it is difficult to design a highway on mountain area. To solve the slope problem, engineers need to design long tunnels or high viaducts. So engineers must master the professional knowledge well to overcome design difficulties and avoid design mistakes. 

Bike Ride to Reno, Clint Oestreich (2019 Spring UAH Student)

Every September Reno Nevada holds a biker rally. Every year my Dad and Grandpa would ride their motorcycles from Ritzville Washington all the way down in a single day. I had always wanted to join them, but unfortunately before I was able to ride my own Harley, they had passed. Finally I had an opportunity to make my own pilgrimage with friends from my hometown of Ritzville in 2015. I had just purchased my first bike, 2010 Sportster, and was not ready for the 700 miles ahead. I was fairly new and learned most of riding through trial and error but thanks to my two friends we were set. 

We decided to stick to the route my Dad had used down highway 395. It was an amazing scenic route that took us through Umatilla and Malheur National Forrest. The roads were fairly decent much through Washington till we hit the last half of Oregon. Pot holes where abundant and one of them was hidden well enough to send my best friend into the ditch. Luckily good riding gear and soft grass kept him safe. Looking back much of the pavement was asphalt through Oregon and turned to concrete as we crossed into Nevada. For the final leg of the trip most the roads were old concrete; split and cracked but manageable. 

Finally we reached Reno crossing off a bucket list item we all had been dreaming of since we were 14. While there we showed off our bikes and drooled over others. We mixed in with other motorcycle enthusiasts. I complained about the ride with older riders who had made the trip longer than I was alive. Though the roads were not perfect, I could feel nearly every groove and space through my bike. Reflecting on that long journey I can easily relate the first lecture of class with every mile of road I saw. Pavement design is important for the conditions and climates road are to be placed in. This course will hopefully explain why there was a transition from concrete to asphalt back to concrete. 

 Qinghai 12 turns, Xinyun Pan (2019 Spring UAB Student)

I usually join the road trip because I like driving and enjoy all of landscape. I am studying in America, and I road trip many places in here. However, only a road let me impressive. 

That was a summer family road trip in China in 2017. My parents bring me and my grandmother went to Qinghai from Chengdu where is my home. Actually, our line is Sichuan-Qinghai-Gansu-Sichuan. The landscape is breathtaking view. Mountain road to prairie road to desert road. That was fantastic. Especially, when I was driving at Qinghai 12 turns. The process of driving was exciting and dangerous. 

That is concrete pavement because the color is gray and had noise when I was driving. I think the road is relate with my course which is pavement design, because in this place is a poor place but many people in here. Which pavement should be cheap, easy to maintain and durable. On the other hands, how to design the pavement and can make it completely integrate with nature is important. 

Road of Chaos, Md Moynur Rahman (2019 Spring USA Graduate Student)

After finishing my BSc in civil engineering, I started my career in a multination consultancy firm in Bangladesh. As a starter, the company assigned me to one of the biggest projects in our country. The main goal of the project was to rehabilitate three existing bridges situated over a national highway. My responsibility was to assist the International experts on design and act as a local guide for a site visit. In the beginning, I was worried because I was not good at speaking English. The situation became worse when I found that I had to go to the site with the senior pavement engineer on my 2nd day of the job. On April 15, 2014, morning, he picked me up from my house. From the beginning of our tour, I tried to carry on the conversation with just yes and no, because I did not want to hurt him with my poor English. He was so nice to me, and somehow he understood my limitation. He tried to help me, and after a few moments, we started talking like a real close friend for the rest of our road trip.

One of the project sites was a three-leg intersection where three national highways were met. That intersection is the busiest intersection in my country. Most of the people in Bangladesh who normally travel from one part of the country to another part use this intersection as a transit point. Due to the extreme traffic demand, a huge number of local and intra-district buses always stop by the intersection and try to pick up as many passengers as they can. There is no physical parking facility, or bus bay exists in the intersection. The buses normally stop in the middle of the road without caring about the traffic behind it which creates a huge traffic jam in the upstream. In addition, lots of freight trucks make the situation worse as this is the only freight route from port to capital. Long lasting traffic jam is responsible for freight trucks to stand on the road for hours. Due to this situation, deep ruts are created on the top layer of the pavement. Those deep ruts are responsible for water clog which leads to numerous pothole all over the road. Pavement material shifts laterally to roadside exposing the base and sub-base to direct wheel contact. In one sentence the pavement nearby the intersection area are impossible for smooth movement.

There could be many solutions to this situation in different aspects. However, in my opinion, the pavement design plays a key role here. First, the flexible pavement is vulnerable to the intersection of an existing condition. Longer traffic stand over the pavement along with rain makes the situation unsuitable for flexible pavement. Drainage also plays a key role here. If the pavement can ensure enough drainage for the rainwater, then it would be easier to protect the top layer from impending destruction.

“Road Trip to Shenandoah National Park” TAUSIF (2019 Spring UAB Graduate Student)

It was the ‘Thanks Giving Break’ of November 2018, me with six brave souls from UAB being exhausted with our graduate level research and to rejuvenate our energy, took all the courage to drive 1500 miles back and forth road trip from Birmingham to Shenandoah National Park which extends along the Blue Ridge Mountains in the U.S. state of Virginia. We had some extraordinary experiences and some moments to cherish from the road trip for the rest of our life.

We started our journey along the I59 corridor which was mostly flexible asphalt pavement with some rigid pavement along the sharp exit way. We had three potential drivers to drive for the whole journey and we took break after around three hours interval for refreshment. I was really excited and enthusiastic, as I was driving for the first time in the interstate freeway facilities of US. The roads had very smooth surface and perfectly aligned transition curve. The roads were so smooth that I unintentionally violated some speed limits in I66 which resulted in 150 dollars speed limit violation ticket. We saw many deer along the countryside of Virginia. It was very panoramic and pleasure to watch. We finally reached to Shenandoah National Park early morning and was supposed to be tired after the long trip. But all my friends were so exuberant and ebullient to see the abundant wild life across the skyline drive that none of them showed any symbol of fatigue. 

The weather was very cold as there was snowfall couple of days back and we enjoyed a lot the cold icy winter morning of Shenandoah National Park. We were lucky to see woodland animals like deer, squirrels, and turkeys as they were foraging for food. Foxes and bobcats were also active. Snow on the mountains made it easier to spot tracks of mice, rabbits, and other animals. As there were almost no leaves in the trees, the cooler temperature improved the visibility to see the valleys below and mountains beyond were more spectacular than ever. Skyline Drive with twists, turns, and grades was designed to maximize the mountain views and the driving experience. I was really fascinated to see precise engineering application to build the curvy road along the skyline drive of Blue Ridge Mountain where the temperature varies a lot across the year. Although there was a bit snow on the road but it was never slippery and the light reflectance was also fair enough to drive smoothly.

I believe this course will be highly beneficial for the new transportation engineers like us to identify the challenges, requirements and feasibility of flexible or rigid pavement and design according to the guideline of AASHTO. I am looking forward to learn all these necessary knowledge and ideas from this course work and implement these in my near future when I will be working in the industry as a professional engineer. 

Gokmen Pacal (2018 Spring UAB Student)

I went to Artvin, Turkey in 2014. I think it is the most unforgettable road trip in my life. It is located north-east of Turkey. Artvin is one of the less populated areas in Turkey because the city is built a mountain slope. The slope is almost at a 60 degrees angle. I went there because it is famous for their highlands. I went camping there. When I was in this area, I was thinking how hard it must have been to build a road there for several reasons. Firstly, I mentioned before there was a high slope. Secondly, one side of the road is a cliff. I was scared to look over it. Thirdly, the ground of the road is stone, so I could imagine how hard it was to dig. 

This road was built using the technique of surface dressing. At the time, I thought how difficult it was to build this road with hot mixed asphalt. Using finisher is impossible with such a narrow and high slope. They used basalt as aggregate, so the road condition would be durable. This is an advantage for the road because basalt is more durable than limestone, but it is hard to find basalt mine. Fortunately, this area is rich for basalt mine.  Another advantage is that the ground of road is rock, so it is enduring. It did not need extra soil improvement. However, the problem is that drainage system quality is inadequate. Some part of the road had a damage. It needed a drainage canal. Moreover, when I checked the layer of the road I saw this had just one layer, this is probably sub-base and almost 20 cm. I suppose that was enough due to firm ground. Furthermore, they used the explosive substance to excavate the route. I did not take a picture while there, but I found may pictures on the internet to show and you can imagine the road. 

Hayden Wambles (2018 Spring USB Student)

The most unforgettable road trip that I have taken was a trip to my friend’s house in Clearwater, Florida. This is a town on the coast, right outside of Tampa. Two of my friends and I drove from Birmingham to Clearwater in August 2015. We took this trip as a vacation between summer classes and the fall semester. My friend’s dad lives on the bay and has a pool and 30 foot center console boat. We drank many beers beside the pool, went fishing in the bay and offshore, and went out on the town most nights we were there. I cannot remember if there was any cement pavement in Florida, but asphalt pavement was the one most commonly used on the roads we were on. We headed south through Alabama on the interstate, then took back roads east through Georgia, and then headed south through Florida on the interstate. This course would be related to these roads because of the different traffic volumes on interstates and backroads. Different volumes might cause the roads to be damaged quicker on the interstates and slower on the back roads. Another thing to look at with these roads is the heat in the deep south and how that affects the pavement. This might cause the pavement to expand and crack. Hopefully this class will address these issues to fully understand what exactly is happening and how problems can be fixed.

Phillip McKissick (2018 Spring USA Student)

It was August 7, 2016.  One week before the fall semester started.  Only 8 hours earlier, my wife and I had just been pronounced “husband and wife.”  Still recovering from the wedding reception, we slowly packed our bag, and then the car.  We headed off to Asheville, NC for our honeymoon.  We spent a whole week site seeing, hiking, driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, and visiting the famous Biltmore mansion.  Photo 1 shows my wife and I standing in front of the mansion with its sprawling front lawn. 

Smooth, comfortable, and well maintained is how I would describe the pavement that we drove on.  We traveled on the interstate the whole way there.  So, the roads were of typical interstate condition.  However, in South Carolina, we did run into some construction on the interstate.  The maintenance crew was removing the first few inches of the asphalt highway.  No doubt turning a portion, if not all of it, into a RAP.

The conditions of the road were great, especially on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Photo 2 is a snapshot of the condition of the entire Blue Ridge Parkway.  It also shows the curvature of a majority of the length of the switchback path.  The roads were well maintained, and they were a pleasure to drive on.  The smoothness of the asphalt, and the curvy switchback mountain roads made navigating a delight for me.  However, my wife would say differently.  She didn’t appreciate my racecar “road course” approach to navigating the mountain.  Other than the construction zone we passed through in South Carolina, the pavement of the interstate, the streets within Asheville, and the mountains were in great shape.  Asheville being a giant tourist attraction makes the aesthetics of the place a high priority.  So, everything was well manicured. 

The pavement design course would demonstrate how to attain and maintain a pavement mix design to achieve such an aesthetically pleasing and comfortable driving experience.

Sydnie Fiocca (2018 Spring UAH Graduate Student)

The most unforgettable road trip I ever had was a week trip, in March 2017, taken to Salt Lake City, Utah, by myself, to visit my best friends from college who moved there for work. Some activities we did while there were: driving through the mountains, hiking, TopGolf, a Utah Jazz basketball game, visited the Capitol Building, Temple Square and the Salt Lake City Library, and went shopping at the City Creek Center. The type of pavement I saw was mostly flexible pavement (Asphalt). There were areas that some cracking had occurred and some areas where potholes were present but mostly the roadways seemed functional and well maintained, especially after a hard winter. The time I was there, there was no precipitation so I did not experience the roadways when they were wet. In downtown, the TRAX light rail system is built into the roadway. I noticed that some areas were reinforced by rigid pavement. I think this class is related to the roadways in Salt Lake City because it will teach us about the types of pavement used, how they chose what pavement types to use for the different uses of the roads in Salt Lake, and will give us a better understanding of the pavement management programs that cities need to have in place and what kinds of problems they could experience. 

Favorite Road Trip Story – Wapella, Illinois November 2017, Tyler Moody (2018 Spring UAB Student)

Going through the civil engineering program at UAB tends to leave you with professors that give you homework assignments rather than vacation opportunities as you walk out of the door. During the fall semester of 2016, my Engineering Communication professor presented another student and myself with the opportunity to travel to their family farm land in Wapella, Illinois for a deer hunt. Combining the fact of never being out of the state to hunt with the reputation of Illinois deer being incredibly large, Hayden and myself were both anxious for this hunt to happen. With the idea of the hunt planned, the events that would unfold would leave us with a definite set of memories we will always hold. Before driving the first mile of the 590 miles each way trip, hunting tags and licenses were purchased, hotel room was booked, and my Chevrolet Silverado starts having engine problems. Grabbing the keys to my father’s 2007 GMC Sierra with 420,000 miles on the diesel engine that gets 15MPG, we packed up all the gear and headed out. Noting that the long-distance trip would take us up the center of Alabama before crossing Tennessee and finally cutting up towards the north-central Illinois, it was understood that all different road types would be used to reach our destination. A majority of the trip would be on interstate systems, followed by a good amount of Illinois county roads.

When noting how the road conditions faired along the trip, Alabama interstates were quite smooth once we got away from the Birmingham areas. From Birmingham to Tennessee and up through Kentucky, the interstate systems were smooth apart from the heavily populated areas, and once we got into Illinois the interstates were very smooth. Noting the smoothness to be more in rural areas, it was also noted that asphalt paved sections were considerably smoother than the concrete paved counterparts. The Birmingham concrete paved roads have a reputation of being extremely rough, while the remaining section of I65 towards north Alabama is considerably smoother. When the road conditions started to rapidly deteriorate is once we got off the interstate and moved onto the back-country roads of Illinois. With anxiety setting in as we passed through Illinois, the enjoyment of the trip declined tremendously with the introduction of the rough roads and low speed limits, which are strictly enforced by Illinois’s finest ($150 speeding ticket). 

Ultimately, the hunting trip turned out to be a total wash after being thrown off the property by my professor’s family. The trip ended soon after arriving in Illinois, causing us to pack back up and head back down the same path we came back to Alabama. Apart from the large amount of money lost, the next negative thing that stands out to our minds was the incredibly poor road conditions in Illinois. Although the interstate was smooth, the grueling two hours on the backroads added insult to injury as the truck continued to jar up and down on the rough roads. Even though resources are numbered for limited population roads in Illinois, the state of the concrete poured roads was extremely displeasing. Having spent over 20 hours behind the wheel of our pickup truck, our experience was that the asphalt paved roads were considerably smoother than the concrete paved roads. This rang true from Birmingham to Wapella, but the amount of concrete and asphalt varied as we made our way north. A large amount of concrete paved roads were present up north, as asphalt paved roads were more present further south. Although we did not venture off onto side roads apart from Illinois, it was found that asphalt was more predominately used on interstate systems rather than concrete.

Putting the negatives behind us, being able to travel across the country with one of my good friends and see some immaculate scenery was a blessing to do. Hopefully we can have a successful trip up there to hunt, one that will put this negative one behind us. Below are some of the pictures of the scenery.