U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
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Washington, DC 20590
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U.S. highway agencies are discussing and, to some extent, implementing warranty contracts on asphalt paving projects. These highway agencies believe they will receive improved performance from warranty contracts through a reduction in life cycle costs and introduction of contractor ingenuity during the design and construction process. In addition, these agencies see warranty contracting as a methodology for dealing with reduced staffing levels and a loss of expertise in the agencies. Concerns over definitions, roles, responsibilities, and appropriate allocation of risk are of major concern among all stakeholders. The European highway community has a long history with the use of short-term and long-term warranty contracting. This change toward the use of warranties in the United States, combined with the knowledge of warranties in Europe, led to the formation of the European Asphalt Pavement Warranties Scan. The goal of the scan was to learn from European experience to help develop a successful warranty program in the United States.
A warranty is a type of performance-based contract that guarantees the integrity of a product and the constructor's responsibility for the repair or replacement of deficiencies. Traditional U.S. construction contracts typically require the contractor to warranty the entire project for only 1 year after the completion of construction, but the design life cycles for all types of asphalt pavement are much longer. U.S. highway agencies must optimize the life cycle of initial construction products because funds are limited for capital construction, and even more limited for maintenance. Currently, driving on roads in need of repair and improvement costs motorists additional vehicle operating costs of US $41.5 billion per year. Warranty contracts provide an opportunity to lower these vehicle operating costs by improving the quality of roads during their design life and minimizing the need for closures for maintenance operations.
In September 2002, a U.S. panel traveled to Europe to review and document the policies and strategies used in Europe to determine risk assessment and administer warranty contracts. The use of warranties in Europe was documented in the 1990 European Asphalt Study Tour (EAST; FHWA 1990) and the 1994 Contract Administration Techniques for Quality Enhancement Study Tour (CATQUEST; FHWA 1994). Although these studies identified the use of warranties in Europe, they did not focus on the documentation and technology transfer of specific lessons learned. This report focuses specifically on the criteria, programs, and analytical tools used to establish pavement distress criteria for warranting asphalt pavement performance. Specifically, the panel went to Europe to study the following:
Methodologies used to determine risk assessment for the government agency and contractor.
Methodologies for administration of warranty contracts.
Methodologies to select criteria to account for traditional performance indicators of rutting, fatigue cracking, and low temperature cracking.
Practices to maintain prescribed levels of asphalt pavement smoothness and skid resistance.
Criteria used in successful asphalt pavement warranties.
Pavement performance prediction tools.
The panel evaluated policies and practices for potential application in the United States. It conducted meetings ranging from 2 to 8 hours in length over 2 weeks with those government agencies, academia, and private sector organizations involved with warranties and visited sites where innovative asphalt warranty contracting techniques were being applied. U.S. participants also shared their viewpoints and experiences in the spirit of mutually beneficial exchanges.
U.S. Parallel: Background Information on U.S. WarrantiesPavement warranties are not new to the United States. From 1890 to 1921, Warren Brothers Paving owned a patent on hot mix asphalt (HMA). Warren Brothers provided a warranty for its products that lasted up to 15 years. The warranties covered both materials and workmanship. After 1921, the Warren Brothers' patent expired. The asphalt market was opened up to competition and its warranty program was discontinued. Figure 1.1 is a brass seal that Warren Brothers used to roll into its pavements to identify its product and its warranty. This particular picture was taken in the New York area from pavement that was in use from 1919 to the early 1960s.
In the 1950s, the U.S. Federal government formalized its participation in the highway construction program.Warranties were not allowed because they were considered to be maintenance, and the Federal government could only participate in construction. In 1988, a Transportation Research Board (TRB) study produced Circular 386 - Innovative Contracting Practices, which described the possible application of warranties to highways. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Special Experimental Project 14 was put into place in 1990 and allowed for the evaluation of warranties and other alternative contracting methods on Federally funded highway projects. In 1995, the FHWA mainstreamed most alternative contracting methods, including warranties, and many other States and local agencies began to evaluate the use of warranties on their own. Figure 1.2 depicts the States in which the FHWA had approved warranty projects in 1999.
Developing and administering these new warranty contracts can be a challenge to agencies with little or no experience with them, but several European agencies have been using warranty contracting for decades. U.S. highway representatives documented the use of asphalt warranties in Europe in the early 1990s (European Asphalt Tour 1990; CATQUEST 1994). The vast European experience with warranties creates an opportunity for the United States to learn from their experiences and practices. |
John D'Angelo, P.E. Gary C. Whited, P.E. Keith R. Molenaar, Ph.D. Steven C. Bower, P.E. Jeffrey S. Russell, Ph.D., P.E. |
Gerald A. Huber, P.E. Richard K. Smutzer, P.E. David R. Jones, IV, Ph.D. James J. Steele, P.E. Reaburn E. King |
Monte G. Symons, P.E. Timothy L. Ramirez, P.E. James W. Wood Jon F. Rice, P.E. |
The Asphalt Pavement Warranties Scan was selected by the TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program's (NCHRP) Panel 20-36 from a number of competing proposals for the 2002 funding cycle. Upon acceptance of the proposal, two co-chairs were named as representatives for the funding agencies: John D'Angelo, Asphalt Materials Engineer for the FHWA, and Gary Whited, Administrator, Division of Transportation (DOT) Infrastructure Development, Wisconsin State DOT for the American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO). They joined representatives from the public and private sectors to represent a cross-section of the industry. The team members are shown in figure 1.3, and their affiliations are listed below. Complete contact information and biographical sketches for the scan team members are listed in appendix A.
The next step was to conduct a "desk scan" for the purpose of selecting the most appropriate countries for the scan tour to visit. The objective of the study was to maximize the time spent by the panel in reviewing its topics of interest. This desk scan employed a three-tier methodology of literature reviews, expert interviews/surveys, and synthesis. This methodology enabled collection of data from government agencies, professional organizations, and experts abroad who are most advanced in the scan topics. The literature review uncovered reports that documented use of asphalt pavement warranties in a number of countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was suggested that a visit to these countries would provide insights into the long-term performance of warranty programs. The literature review also revealed activity in the related area of maintenance and concessions contracts. The survey revealed numerous U.S. and European contacts who provided interviews to help select the final countries to visit. For a copy of the 2001 Contract Administration Desk Scan, contact the Office of International Programs at http://www.international.fhwa.dot.gov.
The desk scan was presented to the U.S. scanning team, which held a meeting in Washington, D.C. to select the host countries. The team also finalized a "panel overview" document, which was sent ahead to the host countries to prepare them for the U.S. delegation. The panel overview explained the background of the study, the scope of the study, the sponsorship, team composition, topics of interest, and the tentative itinerary.
Before conducting the scan tour, the team prepared a comprehensive list of "amplifying questions" to further define the panel overview and sent the questions ahead to the host countries. The process of assembling the final list of questions took several iterations, with a final team meeting 8 months prior to the scanning tour. Some of the host countries responded to these questions in writing prior to the scanning tour while others used the questions to organize their presentations. An attempt was made to craft the questions precisely enough that the team would not miss any information that it anticipated, yet open-ended enough that new ideas—not envisioned by the U.S. scan team—could be brought to light by the host countries. Appendix B contains the amplifying questions that were sent to the host countries. Appendix C lists references that are cited within this report, and appendix D contains a list of European host representatives.
The delegation traveled to Europe from September 13-29, 2002. The visit consisted of a combination of meetings with highway agencies and practitioners, as well as site visits. The scan team visited Madrid, Spain; Koblenz, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; Crowthorne, England; Banbury, England; and London, England.
The report combines definitions and illustrative case study examples of asphalt warranty techniques in Europe with critical analysis of the applicability of these techniques to U.S. contracting. Whenever possible, U.S. parallel examples are provided to amplify those techniques that are directly applicable. The report is organized into the areas of warranty use in Europe, warranty implementation, warranty evaluation, and alternative delivery methods, as shown in figure 1.4 on the following page.
Figure 1.4: Organization of the report.
2002 Asphalt Pavement Warranties Scan Technology and Practice in Europe
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