Orange construction barrels lined up on a roadway

Civil engineering graduate students, professor write paper on effective and safe berming in cold regions

Individuals from the Department of Civil Engineering recently had a paper titled “Effective and Safe Berming for Pavement Shoulder Maintenance in Cold Regions” published.

Authors on the paper are: Yuan Guo and Jiale Li, graduate assistants in the department; Xiong (Bill) Yu, professor of civil engineering; and Qiangbin Huang, professor of geological engineering at Chang’an University in Xi’an, China

The research was included in the March issue of the Journal of Cold Regions Engineering and was featured in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) SmartBrief March 1, and also in the ASCE eNews message to its more than 100,000 members.

About the paper

Effective pavement shoulder berming improves load support capacity and prevents vehicle drop-off accidents, but its durability can suffer due to winter snow plowing.

The paper describes a comprehensive laboratory testing and field study evaluating the performance of berm materials and compaction methods. Its practical value is to help transportation agencies to improve berms’ resilience while ensuring the safety of its workforce on the highway transportation system.