Page 7 - Sept-Oct2023 Vol 41 No 3

• Advance warning signs for the double Bank with an appropriate Work Zone of nearby Signal Mountain. Hopper
S-curve and intersection Control Plan and made arrangements speedily dispatched a two-man crew with
• Other advisory warning strategies, such with Huang and his UTK graduate a truck and coring rig to Red Bank, and
as rumble strips prior to the speed limit student research contingent. the coring process ensued.
decrease On June 15, MTAS, CTR, and CEE After processing the collected data and
• Field checking chord distances in the team members arrived to find the performing lab tests on the core samples,
curve itself temporary traffic control plan in place and UTK’s Dr. Yeutan Ma shared a report
Other Factors Under Consideration police traffic control support standing by. with MTAS and CTR confirming their
MTAS Public Works Consultant John On that particular date, Red Bank had initial suspicions. The pavement surface
Chlarson, P.E. and CTR’s Matt Cate, P.E., no access to a coring rig for collection in question did, indeed, have a surface
Director of the Tennessee Transportation of asphalt pavement core samples, but friction or skid resistance that was lower
Assistance Program, (TTAP), concurred Chlarson asked for assistance from than desirable.
that sight distance was adequate for the Loretta Hopper, Public Works Director Continued on page 8
posted speed and that collected speed
data did not show speeds typically
exceeding the sight distance for safe
stopping.
Accident reports and personal
inclement field weather observations led
the team to believe the surface friction
of the subject road segment might be the
culprit, i.e., something changed when the
road was resurfaced. However, the team
wanted something more than instinct to
verify the diagnosis before recommending
possible solutions at Red Bank’s expense.
Surface Friction Tests Recommended
Chlarson, Cate and Brad Peters of
MTAS had discussions with Red Bank
staff including Seymour and Red Bank’s
Public Works Director Gregory Tate, then
recommended that surface friction tests Upper left: With assistance from the Red Bank Public Works crew, the UT engineering team soon had their
be performed on the appropriate segment testing equipment up and running collecting data.
of the road on Ashland Terrace. Cate’s Upper right: After a successful day’s work (l-r): Matt Cate, TTAP; Jimmy Ruffner, Public Works Laborer
UT contacts could field test the surface 1; Clay Boydston, Public Works Laborer 2; Johnny Ledford, Public Works Heavy Equipment Operator and
friction of the “suspect pavement” as well TCAPWA 2023 Murphy Snoderly Award Winner; John Chlarson, MTAS; Dr. Yuetan Ma, UTK; Jingtao Zhong,
as perform laboratory analysis of any UTK Graduate Research Assistant and Guantao Cheng, UTK Graduate Research Assistant.
pavement cores that might be collected. Below: Signal Mountain employees Daniel Givens and Nathan Harvey taking core samples for Red Bank.
Cate also asked for assistance from Dr. (Safety glasses were in place when the equipment was in operation.)
Baoshan Huang, Edwin G. Burdette
Professor of Civil & Environmental
Engineering at the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville.
Physical characteristics of the Ashland
Terrace study area would not allow the
use of typical skid resistance measurement
equipment, due to the slope being too
steep. (Typical equipment to take these
measurements requires that the slope be
nearly flat.) Luckily, Huang had a state-
of-the-art piece of surface friction test
equipment that could handle the slopes on
Ashland Terrace, and it was successfully
calibrated at the Knoxville campus.
Day of the Test: Collaboration Elements
in Place
Chlarson coordinated with the Red
Bank Police Department and Public
Works Department. Cate provided Red

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