Purdue News

Purdue Road School looks at what's new, what could be

More than 1,200 people -- from street commissioners to mayors to highway engineers -- are expected on campus for the 83rd annual Road School to learn about what's new and to talk about what could be for Indiana's roads and highways.

"This is a major highway conference, where we'll talk about issues such as new highway materials that last longer and are more cost-effective," said Kumares Sinha, professor of transportation engineering and director of the Joint Highway Research Project, a 60-year research partnership between the state and Purdue's School of Civil Engineering.

"We'll also look at design and planning of transportation systems, cost-effective operations and traffic safety, as well as financing, funding, and the relationship between federal, state and local governments in providing highway services."

The 1997 Road School begins at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 25, in Purdue's Stewart Center and continues through Thursday, March 27. The conference is free and open to the public, but attendees are asked to register in Stewart Center beginning at 8 a.m. the first day.

Each year, about $1 billion is spent on construction, maintenance and repair of Indiana's 97,000-plus miles of roads and highways, Sinha said.

Purdue's annual highway conference started in 1913 as the Civil Engineering Conference, but the name changed to Purdue Road School in 1915. The conference is sponsored by the School of Civil Engineering and the Indiana Department of Transportation. Sinha co-chairs the conference with Charles Scholer, professor of materials engineering.

Some of the topics to be covered this year:

• Lt. Governor Joseph E. Kernan will be the keynote speaker at the opening session, 10 a.m. March 25.
  
• Future directions for the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) also will be part of the opening session March 25. Featured speaker on this topic is Curtis Wiley, commissioner for INDOT.
  
• Planning of state and local transportation projects, 2 p.m. March 25, featuring a panel of representatives from towns, counties, INDOT and the Federal Highway Administration.
  
• Efforts to improve quality in transportation construction, 8:30 a.m. March 26. Featured speaker is Tom Leonhardt, president of Rust E & I, one of the top 20 civil engineering firms operating in Indiana.
  
• The use of intelligent transportation systems, 1:45 p.m. March 26. These systems use sensors and other devices along the roadway to help monitor traffic, detect accidents and smooth traffic flow by suggesting alternate routes to drivers. Such a system is being tested on a section of the Borman Expressway, a stretch of Interstate 80/94 between Merrillville and the Illinois-Indiana border.
  
• The state's efforts to procure federal funds, 10:30 a.m. March 27, featuring Dennis Faulkenberg, chief financial officer of INDOT.
  
• Funding of transportation projects in Indiana, a panel discussion at 9 a.m. March 27.

The Purdue Road School is funded through the Joint Highway Research Project, a program established by the Indiana Legislature in March 1937. Through the project, the state provides support for Purdue's School of Civil Engineering to conduct highway research and investigate and solve problems in the transportation system.

Source: Kumares Sinha, (765) 494-2211, e-mail, sinha@ecn.purdue.edu
Writer: Amanda Siegfried, (765) 494-4709e-mail, amanda_siegfried@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu

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