Share your Pavement Story

What was your most Unforgettable Road Trip? What pavement and pavement condition did you experience? Seeing is believing. Bring your own road trip experience and let's design a better roadway.

Below is each story shared by students who took Pavement Design course with Dr. Wu. Students are graduate and undergraduate students from University of South Alabama (USA), University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH).

Basant Bhatt (2025 Spring USA Student)

I have traveled extensively by road. From grade three to grade ten, I traveled at least 200 miles each year. During high school and my undergraduate studies, I traveled about 430 miles (one way) annually. Through these journeys, I have experienced numerous road trips and observed various pavement conditions and road infrastructures. One of my most memorable field trips took place in February 2021, during the final year of my undergraduate studies in Nepal. Our college organized a transportation field trip along the BP Highway, also known as the Banepa-Sindhuli-Bardibas Highway (H06), which spans approximately 158 km (98 miles). A total of 96 final-year Civil Engineering students and 6 teachers participated in this trip.

We started our journey from Khwopa College of Engineering, which is connected to the Arniko Highway. This highway, being a major route passing through Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, was in relatively good condition. However, it had significant dust issues due to unpaved shoulders and a lack of vegetation. Once we entered the H06 road, the driving experience changed drastically. The highway featured numerous hairpin bends as it traversed steep slopes and hilly terrain. To address landslides and soil erosion, gabion walls were installed below the road, while breast walls supported the upper slopes. The highway incorporated various drainage systems to manage runoff effectively. Several causeways were constructed along the route to handle small waterfalls, and channels were built on the hillsides to collect and direct runoff water, preventing overflow onto the road that could disrupt traffic.

As a major route connecting the eastern region of Nepal to the capital city, the BP Highway experiences heavy traffic daily. Most of the highway is paved with asphalt; however, in high-slope areas and near causeways, concrete pavement was used for better durability. Some sections had potholes that caused an uneven ride, whereas newly paved asphalt sections provided a smoother experience. A key challenge of this highway is its narrow width. Despite being a two-lane road, it often felt insufficient for passing vehicles, especially buses attempting U-turns, which could only be performed at designated locations. The numerous sharp turns made driving somewhat uncomfortable, but the scenic views of nature and rivers made the journey worthwhile.

Overall, this field trip provided valuable insights into road infrastructure, highlighting key aspects such as pavement selection based on traffic and climatic conditions. It also raised questions about pavement thickness, as some areas experienced potholes while others remained intact. This advanced course will help me better understand these concepts and technologies, enhancing my knowledge of transportation engineering.

Zach Burkett (2025 Spring USA Student)

The road trip that I most remember the road that I drove on was when my friend Mathew and I drove down to Austin, Texas for a concert we wanted to attend. We drove down to Austin in November of 2022 in order to see a band he mostly wanted to see but we were also going sightseeing and rode down to San Antonio for a day as well. We started by taking I-65 down until we could get onto I-10, the road that would take us most of the way there, and started heading west. I first noticed for the most part that I-65’s asphalt seemed to be less degraded than that of I-10’s, I think mostly due to the vastly more amount of vehicles that pass along I-10. As we went along down I-10, I noticed that as we passed into Mississippi the roads started to get more degraded and worn. I attributed this most likely to be to a problem with lower government funding for roads, which lead to less frequent maintenance checks resulting in the state of the roads we saw. In Mississippi we stopped one time in Gulfport, in order to get some snacks and drinks for the journey ahead. We then carried on westward and south along I-10 into Louisiana where the roads improved but they too saw some of the similar neglect to the roads in Mississippi, as was seen in frequent rough spots and potholes. Wanting to get to Austin by a certain time we carried on all the way through Louisiana without stopping passing by New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette along the way. After getting through Louisiana, we were into texas and the roads seemed to drastically improve from there on forward. The roads in texas were mostly asphalt but as we came into Houston the roads could frequently be seen to be made of concrete due to the lighter grey material it was composed of. I reasoned that it was most likely constructed from concrete in the higher density section of I-10 in Houston in order to prevent rutting if asphalt were to be used. I was slightly confirmed in this theory when we had to stop in Houston for gas and asphalt roads off of I-10 could clearly be seen to be rutting, most noticeably at the stop lights. Once refueled and out of Houston, we carried on down I-10 until we got to texas state highway 71, where we turned off and went the rest of the way to Austin on. We arrived in Austin late at night, so we went straight to bed once we got into our Airbnb. The next day, we went driving around town to kill time until the concert that night. As we were driving around the suburban areas of Austin I saw lots of rutting, alligator cracking, and potholes on the roads around town, clearly due to the excessive amount of traffic that goes through on a daily basis. Later that night we got to see the band, it was a great time and something truly unforgettable. The last two days of our trip to Texas were spent in the inner city of Austin (Capitol Building) and San Antonio. I really liked Austin but San Antonio stole my heart with all the historical buildings, like the Alamo, and the architecture of the city along with the riverwalk.

After spending the last day in San Antonio, we left with a head full of lifelong memories. I believe this trip relates to pavement design because it showed me the importance of designing roads to the level of traffic expected to present upon it in the future and how improper design, maintenance, and funding can lead to suboptimal roads or even safety hazards. I also believe this course will teach me and others the proper techniques, design, and construction methods to create long lasting roads for our society.

Prajwal Chaudhary (2025 Spring USA Student)

One of my favorite and most unforgettable road trips was during my undergraduate studies in 2017, during the peak summertime in Nepal. The initial destination of the road trip was Markhu, Makwanpur, located 41.5 km away from Kathmandu. The purpose of the trip was to see Nepal’s largest manmade lake, Indra Sarobar, visit the Kulekhani Water Dam—an essential hydropower project for Nepal—and try their famous fish dish. However, the trip was extended to Sisneri, Nepal, 7.1 km further, to enjoy the natural swimming pool. A group of my friends and I had been discussing a one-day trip that could be both refreshing and enjoyable as a break from our daily routines. Markhu and Sisneri are easily reachable and popular tourist destinations around the Kathmandu Valley, ideal for those who love nature, adventure, and an escape from the hectic pace of daily life. It was a great opportunity for my friends and me to explore nature and adventure together.

For the trip, my friends (Nabin1, Oshan, Nishan, Lokendra, Milan, Nabin2, and Jitendra) and I decided to travel by road on our motorcycles. We left for Markhu around noon on what turned out to be a five-hour journey. For most of the trip, the roads were two-way, but the last 10 km leading to Markhu became a one-way stretch. We traveled on asphalt pavement roads for the majority of the journey, but near Markhu, the roads transitioned to unpaved surfaces that were irregular and difficult to navigate. Additionally, some sections of the asphalt pavement roads were worn out and riddled with potholes, which made the journey even more challenging.

After reaching Markhu, we spent the night there, enjoying the local specialties and taking in the stunning views of the area. The next morning, we decided to continue our trip to Sisneri, which was 7.1 km away. The roads to Sisneri were unpaved and irregular in some sections, with large chunks of aggregate. However, the roads closer to Sisneri were gravel-paved, making them somewhat better than those we had traveled on earlier. The journey took around one hour to complete.

This road trip helped me better understand the various types of roads and the different types of distresses they experience. While roads are essential for connecting places, the rideability of the road greatly influences the safety and comfort of travel. I am looking forward to this pavement design and construction class to explore potential solutions for creating effective roadway designs, ensuring that roadways are safe and comfortable for everyone in the future.

Robert Creech (2025 Spring USA Student)

A trip to the Smoky Mountains with my girlfriend and our dog was an unforgettable experience. On December 28th, we departed from Fairhope, Alabama, at 4 AM, taking the scenic route and stopping to visit several notable waterfalls along the way. The landscape was breathtaking, with dense forests, misty peaks, and winding roads. Our dog, Bronco, eagerly explored the trails with boundless energy as we hiked to the waterfalls, immersing ourselves in the beauty of the surroundings. After a day of travel, we arrived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and settled into the dog-friendly Moxy Hotel. The following morning, we visited Rock City, known for its unique rock formations and panoramic views that spanned seven states from the mountaintop. We then continued our journey to an Airbnb in Gatlinburg, a three-hour drive through snowy mountains. Upon arrival, we made ourselves comfortable, but on the third night of our six-night stay, the heater malfunctioned, and we woke up to an indoor temperature of around 40°F, with the outside temperature hovering near 20°F. Thankfully, our helpful host provided space heaters, which kept us warm for the remainder of the stay. Despite this setback, the trip was memorable as we hiked, played in the snow, explored downtown Gatlinburg, and concluded with a fun-filled day at Dollywood. One notable takeaway from the trip was the condition of the mountain roads—primarily asphalt with significant slope and visible cracking, likely due to the extreme cold temperatures. This observation sparked my interest in learning about asphalt binders that can better withstand cold weather and minimize cracking, a topic I look forward to exploring further in this course.

Ashish Gautam (2025 Spring USA Student)

I arrived in Dallas, Texas, on July 16, 2024, which was my first visit to United States. My primary reason for coming to U.S. was to pursue graduate studies, but I decided to explore some places of the country before my classes began, so on the day after my arrival, I went on a road trip with my family. Our journey started from Dallas and we reached Colorado spring that same night. On our way, we tried some of the American food which turned out to be even tastier than I had anticipated. I also found the vast ranches in Texas to be resembling a beautiful grassland. The following day, we visited Garden of Gods and Mesa Verde National Park before spending the night in Boulder.

On the third day, we explored the Rocky Mountain region and, on our way back to Texas we stopped at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, which felt like a mini desert. I was impressed by the quality of the roads in America. They had adequate lanes, clear road markings and well-placed signs. Coming from the developing country like Nepal where the road conditions are not that good with no proper signs and road marking, I found the roads in U.S. to be exceptionally well designed. Most of the routes we travelled were paved with asphalt, and we only encountered a short stretch of off road terrain. While driving in Colorado’s hilly area, I expected the road to be with concrete pavement since in Nepal the steep road are paved with concrete for its durability as the drainage system is not that good there. I was also fortunate to observe some undergoing road maintenance work on our road trip as well. It was satisfying to see how safety equipment and signs were placed around the working zone to assure the safety of other drivers. The system of express lane to facilitate the people in rush was quite impressive.

However, the highlight of the trip was the flyovers in Dallas, which effectively eliminated delays caused by the intersection, making travel incredibly efficient. Although most of our road trip featured smooth, well maintained roads, we did encounter some roads with few bumps and the pavement that required maintenance. Certain freeway also seemed to need additional lanes to handle heavy traffic more efficiently. Along the way, I noticed several vehicles involved in accidents, which highlighted the importance of road safety. Despite these minor issues, I was thoroughly impressed by the overall quality of the roads and the traffic management system in America. This road trip had a strong connection to our pavement design course, as I observed many well-paved roads with clear markings and properly placed signs. It also made me realize how improper road design can lead to traffic delays and, in the worst cases, accidents. This experience gave me a deeper appreciation for the importance of thoughtful road planning and maintenance.

Martina Gurung (2025 Spring USA Student)

I went on vacation last year to my native land, Nepal. While there, my friend and I decided to embark on this journey after hearing about the experience from my mother. Ghandruk Village is occupied by the Gurung tribe, and I thought it would be interesting to see where my people come from. They have lived there for over 200 years! Our trip started in June of 2023 in Pokhara. There were 26 miles of asphalt highway which was smooth and well maintained until we reached Nayapul, then the road was not smooth and was graveled. At this point, we had the choice of trekking 6.2 miles to the village, or continue in the jeep on a winding, narrow, dirt road that was barely wide enough for one vehicle. On the side was a sheer cliff face. Usually, the tourists like to trek the rest of the way, but we chose to ride in the jeep.

This road was narrower than normal due to the heavy rain from monsoon season. The edge of the road fell away because of landsliding after the rainfall. We were relieved when we finally got to the village! Upon arrival, we still had a short 30-minute uphill trek to the Gurung Cottage, 6,601 feet in altitude. The view was truly amazing. It was great to experience the traditional way of life including the ethnic dress and food. We woke up extra early to observe the magnificent sunrise. It was already time to leave after only spending one night. The views of the mountains were even more amazing on the way back to Pokhara and we even encountered a beautiful waterfall!

The roads in Nepal are not as good as the roads in the United States of America. I hope this course will help me observe what causes the problems with the road surfaces in Nepal, and also to equip me with more knowledge so that I can identify any possible solutions.

Sajid Md Intesher Karim (2025 Spring USA Student)

One of the best road trips of mine was to Cox’s Bazar, which is the longest sea beach in Bangladesh. Cox’s Bazar is one of the best tourist spots in Bangladesh. It happened on 24th December,2024 with some of my friends. The road trip happened as a friendly tour as I were visited to Bangladesh after so long. We were travelling through marine drive to visit Inani beach.

We started our journey at 8 AM by an auto rickshaw. And it took almost 3 hours to reach the destination. In this 3 hour, I noticed the road was constructed so nicely. Almost the whole road was paved so smoothly. The authority had taken well care while paving the road.

The pavement of marine drive was well maintained. That pavement is made of hot mix asphalt mixtures. And the road was a two-way road. But in some places the roads were fractured because of overloaded vehicles.

The pavement design course has the most impact with the paving road of marine drive. Without the design course it would be tough to pave the road so nicely.

Pratik Neupane (2025 Spring USA Student)

On May 11, 2020, nine of my friends and I embarked on a thrilling journey to Mardi Himal Base Camp, located in the Annapurna region of Nepal at an altitude of around 4,500 meters. This unforgettable road trip and trek originated in Kathmandu, where all of us live. It was a journey filled with adventure, challenging road conditions, and breathtaking views that remain etched in my memory.

We began by taking a bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara, a journey of about 200 kilometers that took a grueling six hours due to the challenging road conditions. The road from Kathmandu to the Muglin area consisted of flexible pavement, but several sections were unpaved and riddled with potholes, making the ride rough and time-consuming. From Muglin to Pokhara, the condition of the road deteriorated further. Dust pollution was at its peak, and navigating the hilly and curvy terrain required patience and caution. However, as we approached Pokhara, the road conditions improved, with well-maintained flexible pavement ensuring a smoother ride.

After reaching Pokhara, we switched to a bus that took us to Milanchowk, where we stopped to have some food. The road on this segment was in good condition, but the true adventure began when we hired a jeep to take us from Milanchowk to Siding. This stretch of the journey was unforgettable, as the road was unpaved and full of challenges. Waterfalls cascaded across the road, turning it into a muddy track, and at one point, we had to push the jeep when it got stuck in the mud. The ride was bumpy and uncomfortable, leaving us sore, but it added an element of fun and excitement to our trip. Occasionally, we encountered sections of concrete pavement, offering brief respite from the rough terrain.

Upon arriving at our guest house in Siding, we began our hike early the next morning at an elevation of 1,900 meters. Despite the light rain and the persistent nuisance of leeches, we hiked all day, taking only a short lunch break, and reached another guest house at an elevation of 3,900 meters. The following day, we resumed our trek at 2 a.m. to witness the sunrise from the very top of Mardi Himal Base Camp. Reaching the base camp at 8 a.m., we were rewarded with a spectacular view of the sunrise that will forever remain in my heart. We spent two hours there, enjoying expensive tea, marveling at the sight of yaks, and soaking in the incredible landscape.

Afterward, we retraced our steps, descending to our initial guest house for lunch before continuing our return journey. This trip was not just memorable but also an eye-opener regarding road conditions and their impact on travel in Nepal. The experience made me reflect on how pavement design is crucial, especially in hilly regions with steep gradients. This design course will help me understand how roads in such challenging terrains can be constructed and maintained effectively. For example, the limited use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) on Nepal’s roads is an area I am eager to explore further. Implementing sustainable and efficient pavement techniques could significantly improve road quality and enhance travel experiences in Nepal.

Overall, this journey was an adventure of a lifetime, filled with challenges, camaraderie, and unforgettable views. It tested our endurance and deepened my appreciation for the importance of proper road design and construction in enhancing accessibility to remote and beautiful regions like Mardi Himal.

Arash Pashazadeh (2025 Spring USA Student)

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by” Robert Frost

As I love nature, I believe road trips help me connect better with the landscape. We can see the details of the journey, while other types of trips like flying cannot provide this experience. The most unforgettable road trip I have experienced was in 2022 with my colleague when we decided to go to Daryasar Forest in northern Iran for vacation.

We started the trip in my 1960-Willis Jeep, an old car that lets you feel close to nature. Our trip took about one week, and all of those days we drove on this beautiful road. The northern part of Iran has a beautiful landscape with many huge dense green trees and plants.

This road starts with a high quality, six-lane highway with asphalt pavement. As we moved away from northern cities the road became narrower so that in the middle of the trip the road turned into two-lane asphalt pavements. One of our problems on this road was the lack of parking spaces, so we lost several beautiful landscapes, and drove long distances to find a place to camp. This road goes through the high mountains with steep slopes and sharp road bends. The elevation in some places was about 2000m with cold fresh air, the snow on the mountains which shone like gold under the sunset was unforgettable. Stars at night seem so close that you feel like you could reach out and touch them. Along this interesting road we enjoyed eating the local food, visiting ancient structures, finding places for camping and fishing.

My understanding about road trips is that a road has a special role in shaping your and the memories afterward, the roads are the inseparable part of your trip memory. When you think about a trip taken by a vehicle, the first thing you undoubtedly imagine is the road you traveled.

Elaine Chung (2025 Spring USA Student)

In the summer of 2024, I embarked on a road trip from Mobile, Alabama, to Houston, Texas— the longest solo journey I’ve ever undertaken. This eight-hour drive along Interstate 10 (I-10) and Interstate 12 (I-12) marked a significant moment in my life as I relocated to Houston to begin a new chapter in my career. While it was a trip born out of necessity, it became an unforgettable experience that taught me valuable lessons about both road travel and infrastructure.

The journey began early in the morning, with my car packed to the brim with everything I owned. Leaving Mobile, I drove along well-maintained sections of I-10 that offered a smooth and comfortable ride. Crossing the Mobile Bay on the elevated bridge was a highlight of the early stretch, with the water shimmering in the sunlight, providing a serene backdrop. As I entered Mississippi and Louisiana, the road conditions started to vary. Louisiana, in particular, featured some rough stretches with uneven pavement and occasional potholes, especially near Baton Rouge. These sections required my full attention, as they disrupted the otherwise steady rhythm of the trip.

Driving solo meant that I had no distractions, giving me plenty of time to think and enjoy the changing landscapes. Passing through Louisiana, the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge stood out as a remarkable feat of engineering. Stretching over swamps and wetlands, it demonstrated how road design must adapt to different environments. Despite the challenges of the road, the sheer scale of the infrastructure impressed me and made me curious about the planning and materials involved in such projects.

This road trip gave me a deeper appreciation for pavement engineering. The smooth sections of I-10 made for an effortless drive, while the rough patches in Louisiana highlighted the importance of regular maintenance and thoughtful design. Pavement design courses likely cover critical aspects such as material selection, environmental considerations, and traffic load—factors that directly impact the quality and longevity of a road.

By the time I arrived in Houston, I felt a sense of accomplishment. Though it wasn’t filled with interactions or major adventures, this solo journey taught me resilience and provided a new perspective on the roads that connect us. It may not have been glamorous, but it will always remain my most unforgettable road trip.

Ryan Cooper (2025 Spring USA Student)

One of the most unforgettable road trips I’ve ever had took place on January 14, 2022. The journey began in Pace, Florida, and stretched all the way to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, as we set out to explore the Appalachian Trail for the first time. I shared this adventure with two of my best friends. Our trip kicked off on a Friday afternoon, coinciding with the long MLK weekend. Throughout the drive, we encountered a wide range of weather, from clear skies to heavy rain. In Tennessee, we even drove through a light snowfall. However, wet conditions were a consistency for most of the trip.

Throughout the trip, especially in wet conditions, we relied on the performance of the asphalt for a safe and smooth ride. Much of the journey was along Interstate 10, where the pavement is smooth and well-suited for high-speed travel. As we made our way to Tennessee, we transitioned to Interstate 75, which also features smooth, high-quality asphalt designed to accommodate fast travel, even in wet or snowy weather. At times, we had to navigate state highways, which tend to have narrower lanes and more winding routes, particularly through varied terrains. In mountainous areas, the asphalt can show more wear and tear due to the challenging conditions.

For the long-distance trip from Florida to Tennessee, hot mix asphalt (HMA) is the optimal pavement choice for major highways like I-10 and I-75. This pavement type offers a smooth, durable surface that performs well in both warm and cold climates. HMA provides comfort for high-speed travel by reducing vibrations and bumps and provides excellent skid resistance in wet conditions. With proper drainage and a slight crown for water runoff, HMA ensures safety and minimizes hydroplaning risks. Furthermore, crowning the centerline of the roadway can ensure rainwater properly and efficiently flows off the sides of the road and minimizes pooling. Periodic maintenance, such as repair and resurfacing, helps maintain its performance over time. Ensuring proper maintenance makes it ideal for heavy traffic and varying weather conditions due to wear-and-tear that occur overtime.

While hot mix asphalt is the best pavement choice for long-distance travel, other pavement types can be utilized in specific areas. One example is Portland Cement Concrete (PCC). PCC is not commonly used on interstates, but this pavement choice is often used in regions with heavy truck loads and provides long-lasting durability. This pavement does appear on interstate interchanges and urban areas. Seal coats can be utilized to prevent poor drainage and road performance.

A pavement design course provides transportation engineers with the knowledge to create durable, cost-effective road surfaces that can withstand heavy traffic and varying weather conditions. It teaches the principles of material selection, structural design, and maintenance strategies to optimize pavement performance and safety. By understanding these concepts, engineers can improve road longevity, reduce maintenance costs, and enhance overall transportation infrastructure efficiency and safety.

Ammar Hamadeh (2025 Spring USA Student)

One of the road trips I’ll never forget was back in 2017. My family was invited to attend my cousin’s wedding in Paterson, New Jersey, which became the highlight of this memorable journey, as we traveled by car. The drive was a long one, taking approximately 24 hours with breaks. To break up the trip, we stopped in Richmond, Virginia, and stayed at my uncle’s house for a day of rest before continuing the remaining five-hour drive to New Jersey.

The scenery along the way was beautiful, especially the lush green mountains and the steep uphill and downhill roads. At one point, we encountered a heavy rainstorm while driving toward Virginia, which made visibility challenging. The rain became so intense that we decided to pull over at a gas station and wait until it was safe to continue. The journey itself was an adventure. The roads were primarily made of asphalt and weren’t in the best condition, as many showed visible cracks. Additionally, there was significant roadway construction, with numerous areas undergoing renovation. This led to multiple detours, particularly in New Jersey, which added to the challenge.

When we reached New Jersey, we noticed that the roads were much narrower compared to other states. A particularly memorable moment occurred when we saw an 18-wheeler truck struggling to make a right turn at a stop sign. The driver had to maneuver over the sidewalk, accidentally knocking down the stop sign in the process. Later, I learned that truck drivers often avoid areas like New Jersey because of such challenges, and they usually receive higher pay for taking loads to these locations.

The wedding itself was amazing. It was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with family members I hadn’t seen since 2010. It was full of celebration, delicious food, and joy. One of the highlights for me was the Middle Eastern restaurants in Paterson, which were not only delicious but also surprisingly affordable compared to other states. Looking back on this trip, I’ve gained greater appreciation for the importance of proper pavement design. A well-designed road isn’t just about ensuring a smooth ride; it’s about safety, durability, and accommodating various types of vehicles. Taking a pavement design course would give me valuable insights into creating safer, more efficient roads that can handle different conditions and ensure the safety and comfort of travelers on journeys like this one.

Nafiur Rahman (2025 Spring USA Student)

Last December, I went to Inani Beach situated in Chittagong with my wife for a three-day trip. We went to Chittagong to visit our uncle as he had invited us to his house and spend some time on the beach. We enjoyed ourselves a lot at my uncle’s house. After that, we went from my uncle’s house to Inani Beach which is a 4-hour trip. There we had fun with my cousins and had an amazing time together.

This trip was unforgettable because of the mesmerizing scenery of the road along with the beach. We started the trip at 10 am by car with my wife, my uncle and my cousins. The road situated along the coastal area of Inani Beach was 100ft wide. On one side of the road, we could watch the beach stretch along the path of the road while on the other side of the beach, there were hotels and restaurants along the road. The view of the road along the beach was beautiful. We could not take our eyes off it. The pavement of the road was flexible, so our car went smoothly along the road. However, some parts of the road had cracks because of the high range of traffic moving along the road. The weather of that particular road experiences a lot of rain throughout the year, for this reason, the road has a very good drainage system. The pavement was curved horizontally to allow the rainwater to drain from the road. This trip was etched in my memory for the beautiful view and the comfortable ride we had during the trip.

Hunter Daws (2023 Summer UAH Student)

Most people have taken a memorable road trip at some point in their lives, however I have been fortunate enough to have taken numerous road trips that I remember fondly. I believe that the most memorable road trip that I have ever taken was in September of 2019. A group of my friends and I had been discussing the logistics of going elk hunting in Colorado for several years. 2019 was the year that we decided to make that dream a reality. Elk hunting is a large industry in Colorado, therefore many people come from all across the United States to hunt elk in the state and federal public land areas; so many in fact that the state wildlife management agency does not limit the number of tags that are available to out of state archery hunters. So myself and several of my friends (Andy, Gary, Keeton, Nick and Tyler) loaded all of our gear into two Dodge trucks and left Athens, Alabama at 7AM on a 20 hour journey to Alamosa, Colorado.

At the time I was working in transportation but I was not working in a department that did roadway or pavement section design. I was familiar with different types of pavements but I was not used to looking at the finer details. The majority of the journey was driven on the US interstate system so there was a lot of asphalt surfacing, although when driving through Texas and Oklahoma there were stretches of concrete roadways. When we arrived in Colorado there were narrower low volume chip seal roads. The majority of the roadways that we encountered were in fair to good shape, however there were several roads that we drove on that I would consider to be in poor condition (primarily poorly maintained stretches of the interstates in large metropolitan areas). I would assume the widespread damage is due to the amount of traffic and the need for that road to stay open to keep traffic flowing in and out of large metro areas.

While traveling individuals of all professions encounter rough roads and adverse road conditions, but the majority of those individuals do not know what causes the damages on roadways that they are traveling. I believe that this pavement design course can further my knowledge and understanding of roadway conditions and how different surface types are best suited for specific scenarios.

Garrett Jacobs (2023 Summer USA Student)

One of my favorite road trips was during spring break in 2020 to St. Augustine, Florida. This was just before the coronavirus outbreak affected in person attendance at universities nationwide. We went to visit family, relax on the beach, and see the sights of the oldest city in the United States. I have made this trip to St. Augustine quite a few times, but this trip was unforgettable as it was the last time I saw certain family members for a long period of time before the pandemic.

We left from Mobile, AL utilizing I-65 South, I-10 East, and I-95 South before getting off the interstate system for a short drive to St. Augustine. The entire trip was less than a 7-hour drive, although it lacked variety as more than three hundred miles are on I-10 East. Most of the drive was a 4 to 8 lane divided highway with an asphalt wearing surface. Certain parts of the interstate in Florida, as we approached major interchanges, were concrete pavement. As most of the drive was on the Interstate system, the roadways were well maintained. We experienced congestion from the construction of a new overpass just before reaching Jacksonville, where they were pouring new concrete bridge decks.

While we were in St. Augustine, we were able to experience some of the history in the downtown area including Aviles Street. This street is claimed to be the oldest in the nation and is currently the main thoroughfare between century old shops, restaurants, and bars in the heart of the downtown area. The street is currently made up of manmade bricks that have been preserved over the years. There are a few other brick paved roads in downtown St. Augustine that are still maintained for historical purposes. Downtown streets are a mix of old narrow alleys only wide enough for one way traffic and modern roadways with on street parking, sidewalks, and landscaped islands. The St. Augustine area is also home to the A1A Scenic Highway that runs along the west coast of Florida, sometimes a few hundred feet from the Atlantic Ocean. The road was overall in good condition though major backups can occur as it is only a two-lane road in some places. The construction of this road is impressive as parts of the road may sit within an active wave climate during storm surge conditions. Beach erosion next to A1A during extreme weather events has the potential to undermine the integrity of the roadway.

This road trip included exposure to many different types of roadways with very different designs and potential environments. I look forward to this pavement design class further exploring different types of roadway designs and new technologies to improve road trips for all.

James Smith (2023 Summer USA Student)

My favorite road trip was in December of 2022, Trey Gerhardt, Lawson Peoples, myself and our two dogs went on a 18 hour car ride to Kansas. In Kansas, we quail and pheasant hunted there for a week and in one day walked over 30 miles throughout the fields and along the dirt roads. We had little success due to the bad drought throughout the year, but we had a blast. The dirt roads in Kansas are flatter and smoother than our asphalt and concrete roads. On our trip to and from Kansas we went through Jackson Mississippi, Dallas Texas, and many other cities. We began the drive at night and we noticed the amount of road work happening all the way from Mobile to Dallas. The roads were either new and smooth or old and filled with potholes, until we got to Dallas. The roads in Dallas were smooth but narrow, many of the interstate roads in Dallas have Portland cement on the entrance and exit ramps. Many of the roads were elevated in Dallas making it a crazy area filled with roads, bridges, and a million people. After Dallas and throughout the Texas panhandle the roads became smooth and long, the roads were asphalt that rarely had potholes or even breaks in the asphalt. Also every state west of Mississippi and through the midwest has a higher speed limit and better quality roads.

Chester Williams (2023 Summer USA Student)

My most unforgettable road trip that I’ve ever had was the trip that my family and I took to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. My girlfriend decided that since I had never been to Universal, that it would be a good idea for us to take a trip there during my previous spring break. My girlfriend, our two kids (Kenslie and Khaza), and I hit the road that Friday to meet up with my older nephew and his girlfriend in Florida. Once we arrived to Universal, I was able to see all the entertainment and fun that was advertised by the commercials and my girlfriend as well. Our activities mainly consisted of riding roller coasters and simulators. We also ate at a few new restaurants that we’ve never tried before. The trip took us 7 hours to arrive in Orlando. During the 7-hour span, we were able to see a lot of pavements of course. From what I remember, most of the highway were similar to what we see on our highways in the mobile area which is asphalt. However, I remember seeing some areas in Florida where they used concrete as their pavement type instead. During the spring break trip, the weather was great, so road conditions were normal throughout. I think that the roads that we traveled on are surely directly related to this course. Especially, being that we passed areas where the city/state were currently working on these roads to either extend or widen them. Some of the places where they stopped working at, I believe, would’ve been greatly relatable to this course being that it exposed the different levels of bases that are placed first before the final surface layer.

Road Trip Essay - David Smith (2023 Summer USA Student)

What makes a road trip a road trip? Is it a matter of your gross mileage or is it more of a tally of passed pavement stretches? Perhaps it is actually a matter more concerned with your ultimate destination, however grand and expansive it may be. While I can not give you a definitive answer, I can give you personal experience and opinion. I believe there are many things that give a road trip its essence but perhaps the most important are the bonds shared and the memories made. I can think of no better way to demonstrate this than to provide two examples of my own.

While I have not yet had the opportunity to embark upon any grand cross-country expeditions, I have had the pleasure of taking quite a few interstate road trips to Mississippi and Florida alike. Two of these trips in particular (one to Bay Saint Louis, Ms and the other to Ponce de Leon, Fl) would be in direct competition with each other in terms of being the longest/most memorable road trip I have ever taken. I mention both of these trips as they were each roughly 100 miles of driving, being the longest I have ever driven, and shared many of the same pavement characteristics/type. Not only were these trips the longest, they provided me with some of my most cherished memories as well. I will begin with the trip to Ponce de Leon, Florida, as it is of more personal importance. Roughly two summers ago, a group of my closest friends and I decided to take a weekend getaway at Vortex Springs Recreational Park in honor of our late friend, Sonny Garmon. The road trip itself was rather boring and somber but the memories we made when we finally arrived were anything but. We spent the weekend diving/swimming and singing karaoke rather badly.

The other road trip I wanted to share was my short foray into Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. While it was a shorter trip overall, it was just as rich in good times and fond memories. The same group of friends I mentioned in the previous story would join me again for what was supposed to be a simple, single day trip to Bay Saint Louis to take in the sights and show me where they used to live. Where the previous trip was boring until we reached our destination, this trip proved to be the exact opposite. Along the way we began experiencing various mechanical issues and as such were forced to take many pit stops. That one day trip would ultimately end up taking all weekend and being a major financial setback. We were surprised, however, as we found that the overall mood of the trip had not been stifled and turned sour, but had instead been somehow improved. We laughed at our miserable luck and discovered that it's not the destination or the miles, but it's the journey itself that mattered the most.

On a more technical note, I found the pavement and road condition to be mostly the same on both road trips, appearing to be a sort of flexible asphalt mix. However, the road conditions in Mississippi appeared to be slightly worse as there were large portions of the interstate with sizable cracking and visible damage.

My Favorite Road Trip – Caleb McGuire (2023 Summer USA Student)

My favorite road trip I have ever taken was to Delacroix, Louisiana on spring break of my sophomore year. For my 20th birthday, my grandpa took my brother and me on a 2-day fishing trip to Delacroix. It was not a very long road trip, it only took us about two or two and a half hours to drive from Gulfport, MS to our cabin in Delacroix. We pulled my grandpa’s bay boat with my Tacoma because he has an F350 diesel that does not get good gas mileage.

The asphalt pavement of the Delacroix Highway is not well maintained. The pavement and striping were worn out and the small concrete bridges looked old. This is likely due to the city’s lack of funds and its remote location. Although it is one of Louisiana's most visited inshore fishing destinations, there are only 48 permanent residents according to the 2020 census. At the end of the Delacroix highway, a cool sign reads “the end of the world”. I have attached a picture of the sign that I found online.

The Louisiana Marsh is basically one gigantic maze. If you do not fish in the area frequently, you will get lost or get your boat stuck in shallow water. The marsh is constantly changing from erosion from hurricanes. My grandpa had been to Delacroix many times with friends who were familiar with the marsh but never by himself. We had to get help from the workers at the bait shop on which routes were safe to navigate.

The spot where we caught most of our fish was called Four Horsemen Lake. While fishing we saw many alligators and nutria rats. Unfortunately, we went in very bad fishing conditions. The wind was blowing 20 mph and due and the water was muddy with a visibility of about 6 inches. Many fishermen did not catch much. We ended up with 5 redfish, 1 black drum, 2 speckled trout, and a blue catfish. We had hoped to catch more than we did but we still had one of my favorite fishing trips and made many memories.

Stazya Szeredy (2023 Summer USA Student)

The road trip is a quintessential part of American culture. I have been on road trips to Texas, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and even the edge of the east coast in Florida. In my trips, I have experienced dirt roads to gravel driveways, smooth asphalt pavement to jointed concrete pavement on overpasses, and a lot of bumpy roads in between. My most unforgettable road trip was a visit to New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

During the winter break in 2018, my friend Sue had extra vacation points to burn and set up a trip out to the coast to get away from it all. She wanted me to enjoy someplace different and brought my dad and I to take the trip with her. We stayed in a condo on the water and enjoyed the sounds of the waves crashing every night while we slept. Most mornings we started with a walk on the beautiful beach passing by jellyfish and flocks of seagulls. One day we went to a turtle sanctuary and visited the Ponce de Leon Inlet Museum and Lighthouse. The view from the top of the lighthouse was breath taking. On other days we went to Universal with friends who lived down there. A unique part of our trip was going to universal on Christmas day and seeing hardly anyone in the park. It was so easy to walk around and see all the beauty of the park. The rides were so much fun and there was constant music playing as you walked around the park.

Two parts of the trip were amazing. The first one was driving on New Smyrna Beach, which was an exhilarating experience. We paid $20 for a day pass on Christmas Eve, allowing us to enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the beach while behind the wheel. Before embarking on this memorable drive, we decided to visit a restaurant that holds significant historical value as it marks the starting point of racing on Daytona Beach. Today, this establishment is recognized as a historical landmark, serving as a reminder of the beach’s racing legacy. Inside the restaurant, there is a museum dedicated to showcasing the rich history of racing on Daytona Beach. The second part was going to see the Daytona International Speedway. Looking at the marvel of a complex was incredible, let alone the engineering feat of the place. Racetracks use special blends of asphalt meant to withstand the impact of high-speed racing. Even the machines used to pave the track have to be modified not to slide down the 31-degree incline in turns. When they repaved the asphalt track it cost $20 million and they had to construct a mobile asphalt plant to pour the special mixture at a high enough temperature so it would cure correctly. The simple southern pastime of watching cars going fast on a track has so much engineering in it. I never realized until I took apart all the components related to engineering, including the design of racing pavement. The safety of roads greatly relies on our willingness to learn about them and study how to improve their lifespan.

Laurentiu Pirvu (2023 Summer USA Student)

One of the most unforgettable road trips I have ever had was through the Transfăgărășan road in the southern part of the Carpathians Mountains in Romania. My family and I embarked on this trip as we were back from the States and wanted to experience the beauty of the natural and built environment. The Transfăgărășan was built during the communist era and it is one of the most beautiful roads I have ever seen. The road is asphalt, with numerous concrete structural members to support the design and intricate construction. It is in great shape, and considered in the top 10 most beautiful roads in Europe by numerous sources. This pavement design road is related to the construction of the road because transportation engineers, road design and calculations were most definitely the backbone of the project.

Snowy Road Trip - Warren Lee (2023 Summer USA Student)

Embarking on a road trip can be an adventure, filled with unpredictable obstacles. As my parents and I set out on a memorable journey, I discovered that the condition of the pavement played a role in navigating through the weather conditions. This paper recounts my road trip experience, highlighting the profound impact of varying weather on the pavement and how it influenced our travel.

Our road trip began with the pavement gleaming under the sun. The smooth and well-maintained rigid asphalt stretched out before us, inviting us to embrace the open road. We were heading to Columbus, Ohio so that I could compete in a national BMX race in 2016. This was roughly a twelve hour drive, maybe a little longer due to the weather conditions. The weather then took an unexpected turn when exiting Kentucky. Snow began to sprinkle lightly at first, progressively covering us more until we were in what felt like a record breaking blizzard. The road became engulfed in snow rather quickly and the pristine pavement became a slippery challenge, demanding heightened caution and adaptability. The snowy and icy surface threatened to compromise our safety. The significance of the pavement's composition became apparent as we felt its grip diminish with more and more snow. Although the snow was a variable in the grip of the pavement it did illustrate how important it is to have quality pavement when driving in these conditions.

Just as the weather seemed relentless, the pavement too proved its adaptability. In these regions accustomed to snow, we witnessed the efficiency of road crews in clearing the pavement promptly. This was very different than in Alabama as we are not equipped with the crews to salt roads and not as many people factor snow into account when purchasing a vehicle. They utilized various techniques, including salting and plowing, t o restore traction and ensure safer travel. The pavement's ability to withstand harsh weather conditions and recover quickly demonstrated its vital role in maintaining connectivity and facilitating safe passage for travelers.

Throughout our road trip, the pavement served as a silent companion, evolving and adapting alongside the changing weather conditions. It showcased its importance in determining the quality of our journey, influencing our safety and the overall experience. These well-maintained, smooth surfaces uplift our spirits during clear skies, while the challenges posed by rain, sleet, and snow remind us of the crucial role the pavement plays in ensuring safe travels. This will play in with the importance of this pavement design as the road was flexible and rigid with snowy weather conditions and we will cover weather conditions with different

compositions. This road trip served as a poignant reminder that weather conditions and the condition of the pavement are intertwined elements that greatly impact our driving experience.

Jillian Myers (2023 Summer USA Student)

Growing up a military kid, I have been on numerous road trips with my family. We would often move every five years so we always tried to make the most of the surrounding cities while in an area. My most memorable road trip, however, was my final move.

I learned to drive on gravel roads and twisting mountain roads where morning traffic was only being caused by a cow or sheep in the road. In August of 2020, it was time to move to my dorm for band camp at the University of South Alabama. An eleven hour drive to one more new home. When I walked out of the house, I found my dad sitting in the passenger seat with my mom in the back. It was going to be my turn to drive the interstate. For the first time, I noticed so much about our roadways and how quickly the scenery changed. Going from twisting, cracked mountain roads with chain link fences on precariously placed rocks to long pine lined roads with beachy billboards was a beautiful juxtaposition. From roads lined with salt to prevent icing in the winter to roads swept of their salt to prevent cars close to the water from rusting away. The roadways gaining lanes as we got closer to the bigger cities with more overpasses and thinning back out to two lanes as a continuous cycle. Everyone in my hometown is proud of which area their gravels for their mile long driveways came from, but the interstates show their own array of colors. The sun bleached, smooth asphalt of the south compared to the tire gripping limestone roadways of the mountains show the diversity only a few hours of driving can give.

Abeeb Oyelere (2023 Summer USA Student)

Little did I know that my perception of long-distance road journey would be forever transformed during my longest road trip. It was a road trip from Ibadan, the largest city in Nigeria to attend a friend’s wedding ceremony in Abuja, which is the state capital of Nigeria. This was toward the end of July in 2022 and I went with two other friends in a public interstate bus. As we set out on this journey, my initial reservations about the boredom and fatigue of sitting in a vehicle for extended periods slowly dissolved, giving way to a breath-taking odyssey through mesmerizing landscapes.

As we depart Ibadan around 8am, the urban hustle fades away and we venture through the historic town of Ife, where nature's beauty reigns supreme. The view transforms into a stunning blend of hills beautify with vibrant green fields. However, it is the asphalt road itself that adds a unique character to our journey. Weathered and worn, it bears the marks of time and neglect, with potholes and cracks scattered along its surface. The local communities along this route have made the most of this situation. They transform the roadside into vibrant hubs of activity with roadside vendors offering refreshments and local delicacies, providing a welcoming respite for travellers.

Moving forward, we passed through Akure and then Owo, two towns where history and architectural marvels converge seamlessly. Passing through its streets, we were greeted by the sight of ancient buildings embellished with intricate carvings. Unlike the road we left behind, this stretch of our journey unfolded upon a relatively smooth asphalt pavement, offering a comfortable ride that complemented the awe-inspiring sights that is set before us.

Leaving Owo to Kabba and approaching Lokoja, the road underwent a transition to a sturdy concrete pavement, where we were accompanied by the presence of variety of trucks engaged in the operations on the cement factory located along this route. While the concrete pavement provided a smooth surface, I couldn't help but notice the occasional patches of asphalt, resulting in a contrasting mosaic of colours on the road. There was also, little traffic congestion on getting to Lokoja where we had almost an hour stopover and took the time to stretch out and enjoy the local delicacies.

The road from Lokoja to Abuja proved to be the smoothest. The newly paved asphalt road coupled with the captivating vistas of rocks and mountains, made this leg of the journey truly comforting. It was a testament to the importance of remarkable engineering and infrastructure development that seamlessly integrate with the landscape. We eventually got to Abuja around 9pm and made our way to the hotel 30 minutes later. At this time, the little fatigue from the road had begun to take its toll on me and I didn’t waste time to take a shower and went straight to bed. The next day unfolded with love, laughter, dance and cultural splendour, as we celebrated the union of two loving souls.

A Grand Trip – Britton Roland (2021 Spring USA Student)

My favorite road trip that I have ever taken was for spring break my sophomore year in 2018. On this trip myself and three of my best friends drove from Mobile to the Grand Canyon. This road trip took us 27 hours and across six different states until we finished at the Mather Campground which is located on the South Rim of the canyon. Along the way, we made on stop in San Antonio, Texas where we stayed with one of the guys’ family. While in San Antonio we got to visit the Riverwalk, the Alamo, and on the way back attend a free concert. The next day, we drove the remaining 18 hours to the campground. Once we arrived, we had to set up our tents and blow up our air mattresses all in the dark. Over the next few days, we hiked 4 different trails for a total of 28 miles, cooked our food over the fire, and used water bottles to shower. While we were there it even snowed one day! This road trip happened because we all wanted to have a new experience. For most of the guys on the trip, it was our first time going past the state of Louisiana. Below are two pictures, the first is the route we took and the second is us in the Grand Canyon.

During this road trip we spent 54 hours total in the car and traveled on 3,564 miles on various types of pavement. The type of pavements we encountered varied from state to state. We traveled over rigid and flexible pavements before we even left the state of Alabama. Mississippi and Louisiana had similar pavements to Alabama, but I remember the road conditions were worse with many bumps and potholes as we travelled across them. Once we reached west Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona however, the roads had much more cracking.

The road conditions relate to pavement design because the different weather patterns in each region. The western states are arid and no freeze conditions while the south eastern states are wet with no freeze, both conditions impact the design and performance of the roads.

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.

Chandler Grace (2020 Spring USA Student)

I enjoy fishing and being outdoors. When I was young, my grandfather would to take me on fishing trips. One trip in particular included a series of winding dirt roads and rough terrain. The trip was to a remote cabin located on my grandfather’s land which had a lake for bass fishing. Along the way, we encountered multiple different styles and designs for pavement and roadway. In the beginning of our journey, the path included mostly asphalt paved roads. As we ventured deeper, the path changed to a more urban like trail. The road changed from asphalt to gravel-mixed with red clay. The path became only dirt road before finally delivering us to our destination. Once at the cabin, I was able to fish with my grandfather at the lake located down the hill from the cabin. The road leading from the cabin to the lake had been washed away and eroded by rain causing us much difficulty when trying to carry our poles and tackle to the lake. One suggestion could be to add some coarse sized aggregate to the destroyed path or even boulders. The trip lasted three days and my grandfather and I traveled back home and back to civilization.

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.

My 2019 Western United States Honeymoon, Charles Southerland (2020 Spring USA Student)

My wife and I decided to do a huge road trip for our honeymoon from May 4, 2019 to May 19, 2019. We both love road trips and having the freedom to do and see whatever we please, unlike a cruise, where you must follow a specific schedule. The following image shows are exact route of over 8,000 miles travelled. The trip’s highlights were the following: Mt. Rushmore, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Badlands National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Seattle, Olympic National Park, Redwoods National Park, San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, Four Corners, and Mesa Verde National Park. Here is the route we took:

On this trip, we encountered every type of asphalt/ concrete pavement imaginable. We saw very mountainous regions with snow in Idaho and the asphalt had many cracking issues as I can remember. There were also very bumpy roads going through Arizona that is a very dry region. One area that stood out the most was the North and South Dakota state line where there were major rutting problems next to the welcome signs. We drove down many national park roads as well that were not designed as good as more commercial roads, so their condition varied very much from park to park. I’ve tried to find a few pictures of our trip that you can see the pavement in as follows:

Unforgettable Trip - Asphalt Conditions, Christian Springer (2020 Spring USA Student)

During the summer of 2014 before I began my college career at the University of Mobile, I accepted a position to play as the drummer for a small worship ensemble. We took several trips over the summer, but none came quite as close to our trip to Nebraska for a performance. We began in Saraland, Alabama, and made our way up to Springfield, Missouri, in the midwest. Roads were long and dry, and we didn't see any rain the whole way up. From what I remember, the roads were fairly flat too. We drove through plenty of small country towns with roads that didn't seem to have been maintained in years. Especially on stops for gas, roads were rough and upkeep was minimal.

Most roads were portland cement concrete, especially along the backroads. However, while traveling on the interstate north, asphalt could occasionally be seen as road work was being done. Composite pavement could have been used to replace old portland cement concrete as maintenance and general upkeep was being done, but for the most part, especially with all the dry conditions in Nebraska and areas surrounding, portland concrete would be the best bet as far as minimal upkeep and longevity are concerned.

Once we got to Nebraska, rolling hills could be seen on both sides of the car with plenty of sudden drops and high inclines. Still very dry conditions, with hay rolls being seen for miles out both sides of the window. Because there isn't much rain, freezing conditions in the winter do not attribute to as much degradation as areas such as Oregon on even Vermont, where water seeps into concrete, freezes, and then thaws, breaking apart concrete at a much quicker pace than in drier conditions.

Overall, the trip was one that I won't ever forget, and allowed me to experience the amazing terrain found in the midwest, as well as observe pavement conditions different than those in Alabama.

Hamad Alhumaidan (2019 Summer USA Student)

It was this last spring break that I visited the state of Oregon specifically a city called Eugene. I went there by myself to see few of my friend that I have been knowing them since I came to United State. I really did not do much there because it the trip meant to be kind of catching up with my friends and hanging out with them. However, I got to experience my Civil Engineering knowledge, where I saw different kind of bridges, buildings, Streets, and use of different Civil Engineering materials. As for photos, I have two photos that I would like to present, which show the streets in Eugene. I believe on Photo #1, the kind of pavement is asphalt pavement, and there are few cracks shown in the photo which make the condition of the street kind of bumpy. However, Photo #2 the kind of pavement I believe it is kind of mix between asphalt pavement and concrete pavement, but the condition is smooth like there is no feel of bums. I think pavement design course is related to explain the difference between the two type of pavement (asphalt and concrete), in which we can know which one is more suitable to the road or the street that we going to design. Also, pavement design course can help with explaining why these cracks appearing on the roads or the streets.

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.

Amro Alsubhi (2019 Summer USA Student)

Last year in summers, I planned a trip with my family from Mobile, Alabama to Great smoky mountain. It is at 520 miles from Mobile, Alabama and it takes about 8 hours to visit Smokey mountain from Mobile. Before Great smoky mountain I visited Little river Canyon too, it was on the way, and nice place. I had always heard about the fascinating Smoky mountains but had never visited them before last summer. Smoky mountain is located in between Knoxville and Asheville cities, Tennessee state. The Little river located in Fort Payne, northeast Alabama state. There was nice river in Canyon, and we swam there. Smoky mountain has a lot of activities to do. For example: walking about one mile in mountain for nature and rivers nice view, Zipline, and there is a nice zoo. Our cabin was in the top of the mountain. This road trip made us to visit more than one place.

The road which leads to Smoky mountain constitutes of asphalt pavement as of many other roads in United States. The asphalt pavements are known for its long life even though its maintenance cost is higher than concrete pavements. It carries more fatigue and are considered more durable than the concrete pavements. The design of roads to be studied in this course will help a lot in understanding different road structures around the world.

Ben Burton (2019 Summer USA Student)

After recalling past road trips, only one comes to mind as being the most memorable. My trip began at 6:00 a.m. on July 7th, 2018 in Mobile, AL with myself, my younger brother, my older brother, and my dog. We were heading to Denver, CO to see my sister and her family for the first time since their move from Mobile. The original plan was to stop at a hotel after about 10 hours to rest before continuing the next day, but we were not tired and decided to drive straight through. The drive consisted of 1,400 miles of roadway and lasted for just over 24 hours. I was proud of my dog who, before this trip, had only spent a maximum of three hours riding in a car. It was my first time visiting Denver and I enjoyed seeing the state and visiting with family. I climbed my first mounted, chief mountain, and reached the top at 11,709-feet. We went white water rafting and visited Elitch Gardens, an amusement park in Denver. We explored the city nightlife and ended the trip with five of us getting tattoos before making the long drive back to Mobile. I do not recall much about the pavement types or roadway conditions. The 6% grades on the highways in the mountains were interesting to see; there would be segments of roadway jutting out from the main road that served to gradually slow down 18-wheelers in the event of their brakes overheating. I also navigated steep grades on smaller roadways that went higher into the mountain. I did not get to drive on it, but Colorado is host to the highest paved road in North America, with pavement ending at just over 14,000-feet. I imagine the pavement design of these roadways takes special consideration to account for the roadway conditions. The pavement near the mountains must be able to withstand freeze/thaw cycles. I also believe the pavement near mountains should be stronger than typical roads because 18-wheelers on steep grades will place more loading on the front/rear tires versus flat terrain or milder grades. The pavement mix design will be different at 14,000-feet than at sea level.

Thomas Diemert (2019 Summer USA Student)

In September of 2004 hurricane Ivan made landfall in the south eastern United States causing massive property damage in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. At the time Ivan was the second costliest storm to ever hit the Gulf Coast. Mandatory evacuations were issued for all areas south of Interstate 10 in Baldwin County, Alabama. I lived and attended school in Daphne so my family packed up and headed west to Houston, Texas to ride out the storm with some relatives.

The drive to Houston is normally around an 8 hour journey but in the rush to evacuate the path of the oncoming storm I-10 was inundated with traffic causing massive delays and traffic jams. There were times when traffic was at a complete standstill for so long that people actually got out of their cars and milled about on the interstate. My family had taken our pet cat with us and we used this time to let him stretch his legs. We had several scares were we thought he was lost in the woods. We had to improvise a collar so he did not run off. These long stops allowed me and my siblings to actually walk small tracts of the I-10. The interstate from Alabama to Texas is almost exclusivity concrete pavement from my recollection and in my experience has always been well maintained. Pavement design would obviously be a huge part I-10 especially given how important it is to commerce on a normal day but also how important it can become for emergency situations. Proper design and maintenance would be critical in making sure I-10 can hold up to the heavy traffic loads it experiences ever single day or can experiences given an emergency arises.

I would not say that this particular road trip was a very fun experience but it was very memorable. It was strange to see traffic at a complete standstill on I-10 in the middle of the night. The whole trip took more than 12 hours. We left in the late afternoon and did not arrive in Huston until dawn. We rode out the storm in Houston and upon returning we found that our house was completely undamaged. The whole trip was such an ordeal that when the time came to evacuate a year later for Hurricane Katrina we just decided to ride out the storm at the house. Luckily Katrina also did not damage to our house. We have not evacuated for a hurricane since.

Dalal Mohammad (2019 Summer USA Student)

It is undeniable that trips are landmarks of our most memorable and enjoyable moments as they change our life experience. It is impossible to take a trip to a new place, see new things, experience incredible adventures, and return to normal routines as if nothing happened. Some trips, however, are more remarkable. Some of these moments make us rethink our lives and discover new moments. I can remember all these experiences, although some in less detail. Nevertheless, it is impossible to forget the best and most unforgettable road trip that I took in 2015 with my elder brother and his wife in Iceland, a Nordic island nation in Europe. My brother wanted us to escape from the normal road trips and experience something extra ordinary. Those moments remind me of how my heartbeat, and the mixture of feelings that ran through my body. In August, my brother decided to give me a treat for my birthday, and I requested him to take me to Iceland. His wife could not be left behind, and since she was my best friend, the only thing I was guaranteed of was fun. After spending a few days in hotels in Hvalfjörður, the time had come to take a road trip via The Ring Road.

There has never been anything like the perfect road trip, especially when driving past roaring waterfalls, blue icebergs, active volcanoes, and magical northern lights on the Ring Road. Iceland is one of the most captivating countries, and the experience could not be equated to anything else. We rented a self-driving Land Rover Discovery 3, and the road exposed us to sparkling rainbows, icy glaciers, rugged mountains, geothermal springs, and massive waterfalls day after day.

For most if its length, the Ring Road is two lanes in width. However, as you pass through larger towns, the lanes increase to take care of the increased traffic. Paved with asphalt in almost its entire length, there is a short stretch in the Eastern part of Iceland whose surface is unpaved gravel surface. The smaller bridges are single lanes constructed of steel or wood. Where the road enters towns, the surface is smooth, but in the rural stretch, the surface is a bit rough, but free of potholes. When driving on a rough surface with the windows down, the sound made by the wheels as they touch the surface is breathtaking. Driving on the Ring Road gave us fantastic scenery. Since there are no trees in Iceland, we could see the farthest stretch of the road and some parts covered with ice. Lucky for us, the car could handle all those bad conditions. Sometimes I thought we would get stuck as we paved through heaps of ice on the road, but the for the most parts, the road clear. The roughness of the road was to increase the friction between the wheel and the surface especially in areas where ice covered parts of the road.

This course is meant to equip us knowledge on concrete pavement design and construction, as well as the principles used during design. In this case, I think parts of the road were rough since Iceland is prone to flash rains and ice, and if the road were smoother, cars would slide, especially when braking, which could cause accidents. Despite the trip being memorable, I also learned a lot about road design and terrain.

John Hamilton (2019 Summer USA Student)

The most unforgettable road trip that I have ever had was in the summer of 2017 when I was playing my first year on the professional beach volleyball circuit. As I was entering my first year as a pro I had few sponsors and ended up driving to most of the events. Gladly I do fly now. The trip started as a flight from New Orleans to Seattle Washington which was the first tournament of the year and was held at lake Sammamish State Park. Following this tournament we hopped into the car and started our journey down what we called “PCH” standing for pacific coast highway. This highway stretched down the majority of the pacific coast. We traveled through Oregon and played in a tournament called seaside, then heading further south to play in California for a few weeks. This trip concluded in aspen Colorado at the famous motherlode beach volleyball tournament which would end the season with myself holding a ranking of 53rd in the United States as an individual player. These drives not only taught me patience and showed me the beauty of the land, but also showed me the ways in which pavement is manipulated so that we may be allowed to travel across said land. It seemed that in most cases the pavement was designed for roads. Some used asphalt and some used concrete, but it had to be designed to run along the pacific coast. The most interesting was probably the drive from Denver into aspen, where we would ascend several thousand feet above sea level. The ways that the roads were carved around the mountain and hills as you ascended was incredible and thought out. The trip started on the little drive to New Orleans where you will notice the roads are rough, which is due to the fact that the changing sea levels cause ground shifts in New Orleans, which must be accounted for in the cities pavement designs. The importance of pavement design is seen everywhere that a car can travel and is important in the expansion of transportation.

Brenna Hewett (2019 Summer USA Student)

Back in 2015, my parents decided that they wanted to move to Alabama as their retirement home. In October 2015, my parents purchased a house on Dauphin Island, AL and on June 13, 2016 we started the long two-day adventure on our way to our new home. My sister, with much more driving experience, took the first turn to start the long journey. Between my sister’s annoying singing voice and my dog snoring, I tried to entertain myself by looking at all the new scenery. Starting in Delaware, the interstates were made with concrete and were rather old with many potholes. It made for quite a bumpy ride; even my poor puppy fell off the seat and bumped her head.

After the first day of driving, we conquered 4 states which included; Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Tennessee. This move caused me to leave behind very close friends and a boyfriend of two years. Sleeping during most of the drive made it easier to not dwell on what I would be missing back home.

When driving through Tennessee I noticed the interstate pavement conditions change; most of the interstate was made with asphalt. The condition of the asphalt was a little better compared to Delaware but still could use room for improvement. The northern part of Tennessee roads in which we drove on were made out of concrete. As the middle and southern parts of Tennessee roads were made with asphalt. I believe this is due to the climate in the different parts of Tennessee. The northern has more of a climate change versus the southern which doesn’t vary too much in climate over the course of the seasons. After a very long, exhausting drive we stopped in Chattanooga, TN to sleep for the night.

The next day I started the drive from Tennessee to Alabama. Wow, what a difference between the interstates. Alabama interstates were maintained much better and were built with asphalt pavement. Currently, Alabama has state funding for the improvement of road conditions. The climate in Alabama is also warmer and more consistent throughout the year which makes asphalt the better choice for material used when making roadways.

The importance of this course is to understand why different pavements are chosen to be used depending on location, economic readiness and current state of the road. The knowledge gained from this course will be very useful while an engineer is designing a roadway because they will need to know which option (“Rigid” concrete, “flexible” asphalt, and “composite” combination) is more appropriate in the current situation. An engineer must know how to design a road out of each material because they are completely different and have different variables to think about.

Daniel Hicks (2019 Summer USA Student)

The most unforgettable road trip I ever had was in the summer of 2012. I had the opportunity to go to Europe and play soccer for a month with a professional soccer club in Esbjerg, Denmark. I travelled in Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. The opportunity was offered to me by my travel ball coach who was originally from Brons, Denmark. He has close relations with the team I played with and that is how I was able to get in contact with the team.

On my trip I was able to site see and check out local attractions. In Denmark I visited LEGO Land and saw all the attractions made 100% from LEGO’s. I also visited the North Sea and even in the middle of the summer the water was ridiculously cold. I can remember when I dove into the water it was so cold it took my breath away. I did many other things in Denmark and I did not site see very much on my way through Germany.

On my way through Germany we charted by bus and I was given the perfect opportunity to see the terrain of Germany. I can vaguely remember the roads we travelled but what I do remember is that they were very similar to roadway system we have in the United States. Once I had reached Switzerland I played in a U16 tournament that included multiple teams from several other countries. The team I played placed 4th overall out of 32 teams. It was an awesome trip and I will always remember that tournament. In Switzerland I also visited the Rheinfall. The Rhienfall is the largest waterfall in Europe and it is a very beautiful attraction. Many of the roads that I travelled down in Switzerland were very similar to the ones I saw in Germany. The most diverse road I ever saw was in Brons, Denmark where instead of asphalt a limestone type rock was used through the community and it was very cool. Below is a few photos from my trip.

Richard Boozer (2019 Summer USA Student)

My most unforgettable road trip ever had to be when I went to see the Pittsburgh Penguins (Hockey) play against the Nashville Predators in Nashville, Tennessee. My drive started from Oxford, Alabama at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon and I took I-59 through Georgia and then got on I-24 to go to Nashville. The whole ride to me was amazing because I wasn’t used to seeing such beauty on a road whether it was the mountainside or the massive cliffs I was driving along. This trip wasn’t just filled with hockey, we played disc golf, and tried many new coffee places such as Red Bicycle Coffee (my favorite). Although the hockey game was the highlight of the trip the roads on the way there were horrifying. What I mean by this was it seemed like the road conditions haven’t been looked over in 20 years. They were very bumpy almost the entire way there with countless potholes and cracks throughout the road. Pavement design is very necessary to that road (or should be) in a sense that the road could use maintenance and reapplication of asphalt pavement.

California Road Trip, Husein Al Hashel(2019 Summer USA Student)

Three years ago, I used to live in Utah State because I was going to Utah Valley University. I was playing with my friends PS4, and one of my friends came and talked to us. He told us, guys I have a great idea. Why we don’t go to California State for a vacation, we have ten days for a spring break. So, we just agreed, and we just prepared our luggage, and go by my car. So, we drove about 11 hours from Utah to California. The road was not good and dangerous because it was of less quality than what I expected. it was leading us to the heights of the mountains. So, we arrived at San Francisco at midnight. After that, we slept till morning and we went to San Francisco beach, we stay there till afternoon, and then we went to Arabic Restaurant, we order some Arabic food such as Kabsah, Kabab and Shawerma. After that, we went to visit The Golden Bridge. It was something amazing for me because I have seen many bridges in my life, but I haven’t seen a bridge like that in my life. I was Watching Golden Bridge in some movies in my TV and it was like such a dream for me to see it in live. So, that why I was excited. I like the quality of the asphalt there I like how they designed the Golden Bridge, they put sidewalk for people so they can have a chance to take pictures and watch the design of this an incredible bridge. Also, we visited San Francisco zoo park. It was really nice to see all kind of animals in live. And then, we just drove to San Diego, It’s like two hours far from San Francisco. I like San Francisco streets more than San Diego streets because they made it with high quality asphalt. Also, San Francisco streets are bigger than San Diego streets. It was unforgettable trip. It was an insane trip because it was suddenly, and we didn’t even prepare well for this trip, but I like the kind of this adventures. This trip makes me fall in love with California State. After this trip, I visit California every year when I have a vacation. So, I think pavement course will teach us what type of asphalt we need to use in snow, rain and hot places. I expect to learn many stuffs in pavement course such as pavement drainage, design parameters and considerations.

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.

Brandon Mason (2019 Summer USA Student)

I have never had an unforgettable road trip, so I chose to write about my most recent. This past weekend, May 31- June 2, I drove to Starkville, Mississippi to see my girlfriend, her family, and the Mississippi State Baseball team play in the NCAA regional championship they were hosting. Mississippi State beat Southern University, Central Michigan, and University of Miami to advance from their regional playoff.

To reach Starkville Mississippi, I took US 45 all the way up to 82 which will bring you to Starkville. US 45 had some rough spots, notably when reaching northern Mississippi. However, roadwork has started to be done replacing the wore roads with new asphalt that can be seen in the below picture.

The new roads being placed were very nice, however, it sounded and felt like there were cuts in the asphalt like one would do for concrete. I am not sure why these cuts would be present due to asphalt not being a rigid pavement, but this could be something I could learn from a pavement design course.

The Most Unforgettable Road Trip, Zaid Nafea (2019 Summer USA Student)

I have always loved travelling, and when I first came to the United States, nothing impressed me more than the multi-level bridges in the cities, and endless roads that vanished into the horizon. The very first trip from JFK to my uncle’s place in New York gave me the thrill to take a longer trip. Lucky enough, my cousin had just graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Architecture, and we decided to give him the best experience of his life. Despite the fact that I was new in town, I was sure that the best road trip would be from San Francisco to San Diego. We took a flight to San Francisco on the 24th of December 2017, and our plan was to celebrate the New Year in San Diego. We were four cousins, and we knew we would have so much fun. We had already booked a Chevy Impala at Avis Car Rental, and we knew we were set for everything.

Started in the 1930s, the legendary Pacific Coast Highway remains a marvel of human effort that hugs more than 600 miles of ruggedness and beauty through the most scenic coastlines of California. This road is one of the most picturesque highways of all times, meant to be traversed slowly while gasping at the breathtaking mountain sites and coastal lines, expansive beaches, towering trees, and the endless sky. The road gave us unparalleled opportunity to enjoy all the character offered by California – from roadside kitsch, surfing villages, pioneer outposts, local wine, and farm-fresh foods to Hollywood glitz and bohemia.

In my country Iraq the roads are well maintained with a few potholes, but the Pacific Coast Highway is a small haven. Smooth as glass, the PCH is an icon of modern roads on which the engineers used modern materials to maintain quality and uniformity. The width of the lanes and shoulders of the road strike a balance between construction efforts and the comfort of the driver.

Filled with lush settings, we set off our trip at San Francisco, which is famous for its hilly swath of urbanity and greenery. Past the Golden Gate Park, we moved to Felton and Santa Cruz. Past the rugged mountains, we camped at Big Sur inn, which is blanketed inside the dreamy redwood forest. After Santa Cruz, our next stop was Morro Bay where we encountered the diverse fauna of California. The whole road trip was more than enjoyable. It took us 5 days of fun to get to San Diego.

In relation to the pavement design course, I would say the PCH was engineered to meet its economic, social, and environmental needs. During planning, the objectives of highway engineers include solving traffic problems between centers. The estimation of traffic also requires a prediction of economic activities and population growth. The PCH was designed to solve all these problems since the road never experiences high traffic at any time of the year. This course is meant to equip us with skills such as mechanistic pavement design and maintenance and rehabilitation. The PCH is well designed and well maintained since it serves as the main road connecting these two great cities.

Road Trip to Grand Lake Colorado, Chip Patterson (2019 Summer USA Student)

The most unforgettable road trip I have ever taken was through the mountains in Colorado to go ice fishing. Around the end of March in 2018 I flew to Colorado to visit some old friends from the Marine Corps. I was very excited about this trip because I had never seen snow before, and it had been over eight years since I last saw my friends. I stayed in Colorado for about two weeks, but the best part of it all was the road trip we took into the mountains to go ice fishing on Grand Lake. The drive to Grand Lake was only a few hours, but the scenery was amazing. Most of the roads in the city are well taken care of and provided a smooth ride. The same for the main highway that heads west out of Denver through the mountains. A portion of the trip required us to head north off of the main highway and travel through a mountain pass consisting of a winding road and steep drop offs. The quality of the road from this point on was not maintained as well and showed more severe signs of cracking with potholes. Once we got to Grand Lake, we stayed in a hotel room for the first night and gathered some fishing supplies at the local shop. The main road through the mountain in this area was one of few with asphalt pavement. All other roads around grand lake consisted of dirt gravel roads. The next morning, we drove out to the lake before the sun came up and spent the entire day fishing. The third day we drove back to my friend’s house, but the drive through the pass was a little more nerve wracking because it had snowed all night. Steep icy roads were something I was not used to being from south Florida.

The majority of the roads I remember traveling on in Colorado were asphalt pavement. The quality of the pavement varied between the city roads and roads through the mountains but were consistently cracking in all areas. Although, the city roads were maintained better probably due to higher traffic volumes and ease of access. The photos attached show the highway coming out of Denver into the mountain range with a quality surface, and a road off the highway in the mountains with several cracks that have been filled. I feel the way these roads relate to the pavement design course is through the choice of flexible over rigid pavement and the consideration of the effects of freezing/thawing have on the pavement. Also the terrain these roads navigate require analysis based on varying subgrade conditions, especially the stresses on the subgrade near steep drop offs. As cracking in the asphalt seems to be inevitable, a proper pavement design and maintenance plan can help reduce long term cost and provide safer roads for travel.

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.

Zachery Thomas (2019 Summer USA Student)

Last year, during Fall break, my family and I traveled to Lake Guntersville State Park in Alabama. We stayed in a cabin near the base of the mountain and next to the lake. While we were there, we hiked up and around a mountain and visited the Cathedral Caverns. We also enjoyed good food at a barbeque place in Auburn and Top O’ the River, which was a seafood restaurant.

While we were in the area, I noticed that the roads were being resurfaced. This was based on noticing that some of the roadway looked new and I also saw some paving equipment parked on the side of the road. The road throughout the park was paved around the base of the mountains with few paths up the sides of the mountains. These roads led to our cabins, a golf course, and the main office of the park, where we checked in and out of the cabin.

There were several things to consider when designing the roadways around the park. The construction and design would have to follow ALDOT specifications. First, the path had to be created through the existing forest. This would involve land surveying to ensure that the area where the road was built would not need much excavation and backfill. Both processes would be costly and time consuming. Next, the path where the trees were clear would have to be smoothed and compacted. This ensures that the roadway would be smooth and helps to allow water to drain into the soil without washing it away. The compaction density would be measured by using a nuclear gauge to ensure that the construction is following ALDOT specifications.

Next, the road would be designed. The design engineers would have to consider the following: the tilt of the road based on the mountains, how the road would handle rainwater, the load due to traffic. The road would be tilted based on the path in the mountain to ensure that the momentum of the car would not force it off the road, especially when turning. Also, the layers of the roadway would have to allow rainwater to seep through and drain out the side without causing erosion. If the water did not seep into the roadway, it would puddle on the surface, creating a driving hazard for motorists. Finally, the load due to traffic should be considered. The traffic loading causes most of the wearing away at the road surface. This results in rutting and cracking within the roadway. These ruts would have an adverse effect on the smoothness of the road and the cracks would cause issues with how water drains through the road.

There are other things to be considered when designing a road, especially within a mountainous region. I expect that all these design criteria will be discussed in the course. I am looking forward to learning about how to design roadways in CE 490.

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.

Shadi Almutairi (2019 Spring USA Student)

I have been part of a number of road trips some of which were full of fun while others turned to be disappointing. The last vacation I went to with my Friends, it was probably the most exciting and the most memorable. Initially, I had been hearing stories about the Miami South Beach. All these remained narratives until December 2018. As a way of celebrating the end of the year and the achievements throughout the year, as friends we decided to go for a one-week vacation at the Miami South Beach. The journey to Miami started on a Friday morning. Being almost a twelve-hour drive, we decided we would travel for two days to ensure we made several stop overs on the way. Honestly, I was not focused so much on the stop overs because I was anxiously waiting for the experience at the Miami South Beach.

During our first six-hour drive, the journey was just like any other. However, the road pavement was well maintained considering that we used the interstate road. The drainage of the road was well set up as well. The most exciting part of the journey was the story telling part. By evening on Saturday, we were at the reception of the host hotel. We checked in and had early dinner an hour later. From the dinner, I was already enjoying life at the hotel. Just few meters from the hotel, I could see people enjoying sitting outside as they sing different songs and others participated in other activities. I was already exited to be part of the activities at the beach.

Starting from the very first night at the Miami South Beach, the most outstanding activities were night activities. The night activities included eating in nice restaurants, walking around the beaches, playing on the sand, and listening to the waves. The visit to Miami South Beach was the best vacation I ever had.

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.

Turkey: The magical seal which unites Europe and Asia! Eissa Haidar (2019 Spring USA Student)

In the spring of 2015 I was seated in the passenger seat of our Fiat Linea when my sleepy and tired eyes opened to the glaze of a shining car; slowly trying to grasp the change and becoming aware of the surroundings it didn’t take me long to realise that we have reached Turkey, after a drive for almost 28 hrs and covering a distance of 1300 miles by road. Me and my family headed out to visit and experience the beauteous Turkey from Kuwait. While reaching Turkey we left behind numerous enchanting valleys and cities. We stopped at intervals to refuel the car and also to try out the irresistible local cuisines.

As soon as we reached Turkey we could easily spot the difference in culture, architecture and clearly saw footprints of the west. It clearly showed a transition from the continent of the rising sun to the western world. While heading towards Istanbul and Cappadocia the highways were easy to follow and the drivers understand that slower cars should stay to the right. 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. It almost resonated from me, which confused others as to why I was so happy to travel. For some, traveling is a dull heavy burden, while for others it is a fun exciting opportunity to see the world and its people. I have a lot of different traveling experiences but this one was the best.

We covered the Hagia Sophia, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar and Galata Tower in Istanbul. From there we drove to Ephesus which took about 7 hours. The road network in Turkey varied from single lane country roads to modern trans-European motorways. It was divided mainly into the Motorway, State roads and the Provincial roads. It was clearly observed that the State roads were smooth and had been maintained very well while the Primary roads in the outskirts of the city we noticed few potholes and cracked roads and their conditions varied. Bridges and tunnels were a very found at regular intervals. 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.

Kathryn Holley (2019 Spring UAH Student)

On May 10th, 2018, my two roommates and I took a weeklong road trip to the Colorado front range to witness a friend graduate from Colorado State University. One of my roommates grew up in Castle Rock, Colorado and she always talked about taking us to see her hometown. I had never been west of Memphis, Tennessee or north of Bowling Green, Kentucky, so this was a totally new experience for me. We left from Huntsville, Alabama, spent the night in Columbia, Missouri, and made the boring trek across Kansas to arrive at our destination. In addition to the graduation in Fort Collins, we visited the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, quaint mountain towns such as Manitou Springs and Estes Park, and the awe-inspiring Rocky Mountain National Park. Because Colorado was still in the snow season for a few more weeks, we were limited to how high in elevation we could go within the park. I have lived in the South all my life, so seeing four-feet tall snow drifts in the middle of May was quite a shock. In that weeks’ time we experienced all sorts of weather. We experienced warm, sunny days typical of springtime in the South, mild sunshine at Garden of the Gods, a cool, misty weekend in Fort Collins and Estes Park, and lastly a severe thunderstorm in Denver that produced several tornadoes as well as enough hail that snow plows were needed to clear the roads. Getting to experience different parts of the country and the different climates that come with them show how important different types of pavement are. Here at home we experience quite a bit of freeze and thaw, so a more flexible pavement is more necessary than it is in Denver. A major part of the design of the facilities at Rocky Mountain National Park was that almost everything needed to be made from local types of materials, while limiting any disturbance to the surrounding environment. This makes for a beautiful visit to a beautiful park, but the roads still must withstand significant loading, from the thousands of visitors to the weight of the mountain snow. It would take very knowledgeable engineers to design a road that fits all this criterion. It is also a safe bet that the roads at the park have a different design than the roads in a big city like Denver, or on Interstate 70 through Kansas. It is necessary to study pavement design to be able to determine the type of pavement best suited for all weather and loading situations.

Feng Pan (2019 Spring UAB Student)

I’m an international student from China, so every long-distance road trip was like an interesting traveling experience for me. My most memorable road trip was in 2014 which is the first year I came to the US. At that time, I was seeking for my bachelor’s degree at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo, ND. Compared to Birmingham, Fargo is a small town with low population density. By the way, the weather in Fargo is very cold, the city will be covered by snow in 4 months of the year. As time goes by, Black Friday is coming. My roommate and I decided to go shopping in Minneapolis, MN. through interstate highway 94 because there are very few malls in Fargo. We departure around 7 p.m. because the discount starts from midnight, and the journey would take about 4 hours. Although the speed limit is 70 mph, our speed is about 95 mph because there were no other vehicles on the highway and no street lights, so we hoped to reach the destination in advance. Unfortunately, we were forced to stop by police because of speeding. The police officer was pissed off, and he yelled at us: “Do you wanna kill people?” We were scared at that moment because we have no insurance, and I heard many news about international students being send back to their countries because of traffic violations. Finally, the police officer imposed a fine of $700 on us. This is my worst experience driving in the United States, but it helps me obey the traffic laws because you never know if the police are watching at you in the dark area.

For the pavement, I do not know how to distinguish the material of the road. My bachelor’s degree is construction management, and this is my first course about pavements. The road condition was pretty good, the road was very flat, no potholes, and driving noise was also small. I think the only drawback is that there were no street lights, and the visibility of the road is poor, especially when it is snowing. In my personal opinion, this course would teach us how to design a pavement logically. An example might be how to balance the relationship between vehicle density and road occupancy based on the collection of data.

Finally, I want to talk about my personal expectation of this course. I learned urban transportation last semester, and I’m taking traffic engineering right now, so I want to have a comprehensive understanding about how transportation works and how to build it rationally.

The Smokey Mountain Road Trip (2019 Spring UAH Student)

In the fall of 2017 my family and I traveled to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. This road trip was planned to give everyone a relaxing vacation before the holiday season. The area was chosen due to the scenery and mountainous terrain, which is not a normal sight in northern Alabama. The plan for the trip was to drive the most scenic route possible and take in all the natural wonders of the area. The leaves were starting to change color which made for a picture perfect time to drive on mountain roads. We rented a cabin on the side of a mountain which overlooked a colorful valley of trees losing leaves in preparation for winter. The following days were spent driving to old mountain settlements and learning the history and culture of the first settlers that came to the area. A major landmark and viewing area we stopped at was called Cade’s Cove. This particular cove contained many animals that lived without fear of all of the human interaction that they received. The road in the cove was gravel and only wide enough for one car at a time. The road was simple and served its purpose well without having a major carbon footprint on the land. The cost efficiency of maintaining the road correlates well with what will be learned in pavement design class. The course will likely cover the importance of a cost effective design for pavements. Other roads along the trip were along steep and winding mountain slopes. These types of roads likely were controlled by the terrain on which they were built. Thicker and more resilient pavement design methods were likely used in these areas to accommodate the enhanced traffic volumes in these areas. Pavements along these corridors were likely designed to last longer than average pavements due to the high cost of remediation and small time windows to actually work on the busy mountain roads. The pavement design course will likely also cover these types of real world design issues. The trip to the mountains was unforgettable and I will definitely plan to visit this same area in the future.

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.

Micah Weaver (2019 Spring UAH Student)

The most memorable road trip I’ve had in the recent past was a road trip to the beach this past summer with my family. The beach itself doesn’t entice me too much, water has never been my strong suit, but I’ve always enjoyed the easy-going mindset of the people down near Gulf Shores. It really puts me in a vacationing mood of just relaxing and not thinking about school or work by getting past the Alexander Shunnarah billboards and finally seeing the palm trees. Relating back to the assignment, ever since I’ve been a civil engineering major, I’ve always had a better appreciation and awareness of the infrastructure, and the pavement on the way down there, mostly I-65, was predominately smooth. The pavement was pretty much all flexible asphalt pavement, aside from some short bridges or fly overs. The only road condition that really stuck out to me was some road work that was being done where the top layer of the asphalt seemed to have been removed to prepare for resurfacing, so the ride in that area was a little bumpier than the rest of the trip. Pavement Design was related to my trip the entire way down from Huntsville to Gulf Shores. As we all know, Alabama has large fluctuations in highs and lows of the temperature, as well as bad weather that happens from time to time. So, the design of pavement can’t afford to be done without considering all these factors into account. Overall, the ride down there was mostly smooth and flexible asphalt pavement, with not too many areas that stood out to me.

I didn’t have any pictures specifically of the road down there because it was a road I’ve been down so many times, sorry!

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.

UAH ASCE 2018 Southeastern Regionals, Ryan Michael (2019 Spring UAH Student)

On February 28, 2018, me and 20 of my fellow teammates travelled to Gainesville, FL for the 2018 ASCE Southeastern Regional. The reason for this trip is for our ASCE chapter to be able to compete in concrete canoe, steel bridge, and other small competitions at the regional level. This is a trip that we take every year, but each year the location of the competition changes based on the host school. In 2017, we went to Boca Raton, FL for competition, but the trip to Gainesville, FL was the most unforgettable road trip because it was my last one with ASCE. The kinds of activities that I did were mostly events with the conference itself, but the time that we get to spend together as a team makes us stronger and builds our connection. Being able to go on a trip with a large group is always something that can make any trip unforgettable. The kind of pavement that I saw on this trip was mostly asphalt, but there were a few concrete roads once we were closer to or in Florida. The trip was over eight and a half hours of driving or around 550 miles. During this trip the road condition I experienced was mostly smooth roads except around the areas where there was road work going on and the roads would be uneven in these areas. Most of the roads that we stayed on were interstates or main highways since we were pulling a thirty plus foot cargo trailer with our concrete canoe, steel bridge, and other items. The way that I think this pavement design course is related to the roads that I traveled on is because in this class I hope to learn the process that goes into designing a certain road depending on the area, traffic, and properties of material around the road. I think that this will be a great experience, just as the trips that I go on are always a unforgettable to me.

Alex Hudson (2019 Spring USA Student)

The road trip took place from January 15, 2018 to January 20, 2018 in Alberta, Canada. My wife and I were on our honeymoon. We decided to visit Banff National Park and experience Canada’s beautiful winter atmosphere. At first, we traveled by airplane to the airport in Calgary, Alberta. From there, we drove a rental car to Canmore, Alberta. Canmore is a small town on the outskirts of the Banff National Park. We drove on the Trans-Canada Highway 1 from Calgary and Canmore. This is where the unforgettable road trip began.

As we departed from Calgary, my wife and I immediately noticed how the highway was very rough at some points. The pavement was incredibly bumpy. I began to recall the lessons about pavement from Dr. Wu’s CE Materials course. I explained to my wife that the roughness of the pavement was created by thermal cracks. It happens because as the temperature drops the restrained pavement tries to shrink. The tensile stresses build up to a critical point at which a crack is formed.

The road trip wasn’t over when we got to Canmore. That was merely the town our hotel was located. In order to get to Banff, the small touristy town in which the National Park is named after, we had to drive about 20 minutes on the same highway as mentioned earlier. The town roads in both Canmore and Banff dealt with another issue. On the highway, the snow that falls onto the pavement can be plowed to the side and salted to resolve the issue because of the excess space next to the highway. However, in the small towns, there is no excess space for the snow. The sides of roads were filled with massive piles of snow that felt more like cement. Maybe this is more of an issue involving spacing and snow removal, but I’ve seen a presentation on a possible solution by adding heating coils under the roads to remove the snow and would reduce the buildup. This technology is much like the use of heating coils under the turf in football stadiums, such as the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.

These observations of the pavement are relevant to this pavement design course because of the aforementioned thermal cracking and possible solutions to create safer road environments. I also remember from Dr. Wu’s CE Materials course that pavement design is based off of the maximum and minimum temperatures for the area. I’m sure this will be discussed during the pavement design course, as well.

Venkat Sai Kondapally (2019 Spring USA Graduate Student)

My most unforgettable road trip I ever had was an accidental road trip, in October 2017. I was supposed to travel to a hill station “Araku Valley” with my childhood friends but all of us missed the flight due to the heavy traffic in Hyderabad – my hometown back in India. The type of pavement I observed was mostly flexible pavement (bitumen) throughout the trip. There were several potholes on the pavement while I was crossing the rural areas. We mostly travelled on National Highways which were well maintained and the car could easily go up to 80 mph without any effort. Steep curves were observed while driving on the roads of Araku forest with lot of greenery around. The atmosphere was peaceful with a lot of tourist attractions and we were lucky enough to witness peacocks.

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.

Small Sat Conference in Utah, Jessica Shrontz (2019 Spring UAH Graduate Student)

Back in August 2017, I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the Small Satellite Conference in Logan, Utah for work. It was my first big business trip out of the state of Alabama and I got to go with my coworker and friend Olivia, and we were pretty excited. All of the hotels in Logan were booked and full for the conference, so we ended up staying an hour away in Ogden. This allowed us to have an hour commute every day through the Rocky Mountains. The roads and scenery on this route were amazing. US-89 is the main road on this route and it was very smooth, wide, and seemed to be asphalt. During the trip, we took US-89 to go all the way out to Bear Lake, and the roads were very twisted and had many switchbacks up and down the mountainsides. The mountains in Utah were not like Alabama “mountains”, they made me feel like if I got stuck or lost on them, I would be lost for days. There was barely any civilization through the mountains; however, the roads were very well maintained. I don’t recall many, if any, potholes or rough roads while out there.

Another major road Olivia and I traveled on was I-80 westbound to the Salt Flats. As opposed to the switchbacks on US-89, we passed the town Aragonite and the asphalt road opened up into a 60 mile long straightaway that had an 80 mph speed limit. From there we made sure we were good on gas, because there were warning signs that said there were no stops along the way. All around it looked like the middle of the desert, and there was nothing for miles. Giant mountains in the distance looked like small hills. It was by far one of the coolest roads I’ve ever been on. Along the sides of the road I noticed that there was water that came right up next to the road, however the road was well built because we never came across standing water on the road. The road itself was extremely flat though because it was in the middle of the desert. A funny and memorable piece of the trip happened on our way back from the Salt Flats. Olivia and I were rushing back to Salt Lake City to make our flight which departed that afternoon. We had never been on a road that was so nice, flat, and long, so out on this straightaway it was quite easy to speed and not feel like we were going that fast. Long story short, Olivia got pulled over for going 102 mph and received her first speeding ticket ever. Thankfully the cop was very understanding, and he let her off with just a ticket (typically for 20 mph over they would impound your vehicle…). So we made it to the airport just in time for our flight, and had quite the adventure.

“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.

Fabien Mondun (2018 Spring USB Student)

To begin with, I had many unforgettable road trips such as (Coca Cola, Georgia Aquarium, Six Flags, Abraham Lincoln Memorial, the White House and so on). Among all those trips, the first three are the ones where i really pay attention to the road condition. But I am going to talk about the trip to Six Flags in Georgia state. I went to there in August 20th , 2017 at 10 am. I was there with some friends from the Ivorian Student organization at Birmingham. The purpose of that trip was to have some fun and I had a lot of fun by doing the thrill rides such as Acrophobia, Batman: “the ride”, Superman: “Ultimate fight”, splash water falls, and the great American scream machine. they were scary, but I had fun of doing them.

For the road condition I have been there several times so there were some changes every time because of the pavement. At first, it looked like it had some concrete pavements because the base was the Portland cement Concrete (PCC). It was noticeable because of the degradation and it had a dark gray color. Now, it looks totally different because the pavement was different, because it had a black color which I assume to be the seal coat. So I think they might have done a composite pavement and driving on this new road was better than before. To conclude, the trip was fun, the road was a composite pavement which is the combination of flexible and rigid pavement.

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.

Hamad Alyami (2018 Spring USA Student)

Back in winter 2013, I was still studying English as a second language at an English school in Mankato MN. Few of my friends were there and I was about to graduate and transition to become academic student. After a continues seven months of nothing but English we thought it would be a good idea to take some time off and go for a road trip. The time was close to the holiday season and we had few universities in mind that we were interested in applying to. However, in order to choose which college to go to, we needed to visit and gain a first-hand experience of what is like, so we planned our road trip accordingly. We were planning to leave from Mankato MN to the following destinations: Chicago IL, smoky mountains TN, Dallas TX, and finally San Diego, CA with a few sites seeing stops along the way. In an eagerly attempt at escaping from the severe Minnesotans winter, we spared no time to hit the road and starting our journey. There were four of us and a long drive ahead, so we had to rotate drivers with me being the first at the wheel.

For the first three hours or so, driving out of Minnesota, everything was going smoothly, and the traffic was relatively light even though it was snowing and a little windy. An okay driving condition was sustained thanks to the frequent winter road treatment and snow removal techniques, such as salt and liquid spraying and snow blowers. While I was the one driving and thus far into the road trip, I still had a clear vision of the road in front of us, i distinctly remember the road condition depicting much distresses indicated by the pavement many potholes and cracks. These problems are mostly caused by the severe weather the pavement that far up north is experiencing resulting in issues couple of which is the freeze–thaws and thermal cracking that are considered in the pavement mix design. However, due to unfortunate and an expected change in the weather, we were met by strong snow blizzard that obstructed drivers vision causing many accidents along the way which rendering the highway unsafe as can be seen in (figure 1). Finally, the Interstate-90 which leads to our first distention had to be closed due to the bad driving condition. Consequently, we ended up taking alternative routes to reach Chicago that lasted for 12 hours on where it should only be taking six. When we finally reached Chicago IL, we all decided to kill the road trip, spend the holiday there, and to take a plane back home.

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.

Joshua Brown (2018 Spring USA Student)

The most memorable road trip that I took was when I was a little kid (about 6 or 7). My family was vacationing in December to the Blue Ridge Mountain Range in Georgia. My family likes to vacation to the mountains during the winter. It was a long time ago, but I do remember the roads and beautiful scenery of the mountain ranges. I remember that at one point of the trip while still on the highway, I believe, the road cut right next to a mountain. The shear face of the mountain was right against the shoulder. I remember looking at the face and seeing how the marks from the construction of the roadway. I thought to myself about how they would have done this (I just watched a documentary about Mount Rushmore for school) and how cool it would have been to do that. The pavement was flexible, and I do not remember much about the specifics of it. I imagine that the subbase and other layers would not have to be as thick since the subgrade was a mountain. This pavement design would have to be different from pavement from the other roadways. The pavement would have had to have been designed to withstand the cold climate of north Georgia and it would have to be able to withstand the traffic and the supporting soil/rock. This trip started my interest in building things and roadways/bridges.

Paxton Reiss (2018 Spring USA Student)

The following is in response to Homework 1 to describe an unforgettable road trip and the relationship it has to the pavement design course. My unforgettable road trip was a round trip from Uriah, AL to Cloudcroft, NM. My mother, step father, and I made this 1200+ mile (one way) trip via Interstate 20 in order to go elk hunting in the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico. I was around the age of 14 when we made the 18 hour road trip to New Mexico.

Over the course of the road trip, many different pavement types and roadway conditions were encountered. The majority of the roadway pavement was an asphalt pavement. However, when traveling through the Dallas, TX area the roadways consisted of more concrete pavement. This was my first time noticing the different riding conditions between an asphalt and concrete pavement.

Also, due to the different climate conditions the roadway conditions seemed to change with the climate. I can remember seeing a lot more cracking in the pavement in the areas of the desert parts of Texas and New Mexico, which made for an uncomfortable riding condition. It was also noticeable that the pavement was different on the roadways going through the colder climate of the Rocky Mountains.

I expect to learn how the climate conditions really affect a pavement design over the course of this semester. The pavement design methods for a roadway pavement in South Alabama differ from those in West Texas and the Rocky Mountains. Also, I expect to learn why the roadway pavement was a concrete pavement in the highly urbanized area of Dallas, TX.

I am excited to have the opportunity to learn and understand the process of pavement design over the next several months.

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.

Troyee Saha (2018 Spring UAB Graduate Student)

I have made a lot of trips in my life, but only some of these will be embedded in my memory forever. The most unforgettable trip of my life was when I journeyed, not only with my parents and my younger brother, but also with my grandparents, uncles, aunts and four of my cousins to the Cox's Bazar sea beach in my native country of Bangladesh.

It was February 28th of 2016 when we set out from Dhaka in the morning. The purpose of this trip was to celebrate my graduation. My father aimed to organize the trip immediately after my results were published online in early February, declaring me officially as an Honors graduate from the prestigious Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. We made this trip by bus and almost half of it comprised of our family members. The entire trip took approximately nine hours.

During our trip, we played various games and sang many songs, often in chorus; while the other passengers enjoyed and sometimes sang along with us. At noon, the bus stopped at a restaurant where we had our lunch. We reached our hotel in the evening and spent two days there to enjoy the beauty of the longest sea beach in the world. I also took a dip in the sea with all my cousins and even my grandmother played along with us. Furthermore, there was a rooftop swimming pool at our hotel, from where we relished the serene beauty of the beach and the glorious sunset.

Everything in that trip was perfect except for my grandfather, who suffered from several aching muscles due to the rough condition of some roads along the route. In the evening, when we reached near Cox’s Bazar, I observed that while some areas around the hotel were well lit, other locations had considerably poor lighting, making it difficult for vehicles to spot potholes or other road obstacles and conditions at night. As the type of the pavement was flexible, light reflectance quality was inherently very poor. However, the road was not slippery for most of the part, rather it was quite dry. This course would be very beneficial for a transportation engineer to learn to identify what type of problem a specific flexible or rigid pavement has and how to design these for longer life span according to AASHTO method or PCA, only requiring some routine maintenance. This course will also provide the knowledge about proper quality of pavement material, since it seemed that poor quality of asphalt binder was the cause of cracks in the road surfaces. When I shall return to my country after pursuing my MS, I shall definitely apply the knowledge of this course so that no further roads exist in my country that would provide anything but a smooth and pleasant journey to the people of Bangladesh.

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.

Yahya Almansour (2018 Spring USA Student)

I like traveling by car rather than any other types of transportation. I like that for some reasons. One of them is the fact that I’m an international student here in the US., and I have a limit time to explore such a big country before I go back home. Therefore, traveling by car gives me the opportunity to see as much as I can the natural and climatic diversity that this country has. I want to fill up my memory with lots of stories and experiences, and in my opinion, nothing can give me such a thing except traveling.

I traveled many times since I came to the US in XX. However, what I would like to write about in this paper is my longest trip because I experienced different kinds of weather, roads, and geographical terrain. It was on December 2015 after a long semester in Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN where I used to live before I came to Mobile. I decided to take my winter break with my wife and my little daughter in Santa Monaca, CA. So, in this 31 hours trip I passed through five states that between Minnesota and my destination, which, are Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. The worst thing I did in that trip is that I didn’t check the weather condition before I leave, so I have faced a bad snow storm ever especially in Nebraska. Therefore, it was hard to tell which kind of pavement at that time, but most of road when the weather got better is concrete. The other bad things happened to me in that trip is the black ice in some parts of the Utah highway and the rare of gas stations in that rout. I did not like that road at all. If there is anything positive I can tell about it, I would say the speed limit is 80 mph. I believe it will be nice if I entered the state before sunset. I hope I got this class before that trip because I travel from cold to warm weather, through desert, mountain, and agricultural areas. This class could have given me the ability to distinguishes the differences between roads based on weather and geographical terrain every state has. What I remember of something related to this class specifically the last lecture is the jointed plain pavement. I saw that kind of pavement many times in Minnesota.

Finally, in that trip I did not have much knowledge or good background of engineering topics to observe things related to my major. I was sophomore student at that time, but now and later I believe I could link things I learned from my courses to what I go through in my daily life basis.

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