During his lecture, he explained how a durable asphalt overlay begins with a careful evaluation of the current pavement to find and address any structural or surface problems. His session showed attendees how to identify various pavement distress types and their severity using the LTPP Distress Identification Manual.
He also covered methods for performing pavement forensic investigations to understand the underlying causes of distress so that these issues can be properly corrected before placing an overlay.
Powell is a frequent contributor to Roads & Bridges, and in the March issue, he wrote about asphalt resilience and asphalt performance. After his lecture, he sat down with Roads & Bridges to discuss asphalt forensics.
About the Author
Gavin Jenkins, Head of Content
Head of Content
Gavin Jenkins is an award-winning journalist based in Pittsburgh. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, VICE, Narrative.ly, Prevention, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Beijing Review.
In 2020, two stories he wrote for Pitt Med Magazine earned three Golden Quill Awards from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania. “Surviving Survival” won Excellence in Corporate, Marketing and Promotional Communications – Written, Medical/Health, while “Oct. 27, 2018: Pittsburgh’s Darkest Day, and the Mass Casualty Response” won Excellence in Written Journalism, Magazines – Medical/Health, as well as the Ray Sprigle Memorial Award: Magazines, a Best in Show award.
After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in 2003, he covered sports for the Bedford Gazette, in Bedford, Pa., and the Martinsville Bulletin, in Martinsville, Va. In 2006, he returned to Pittsburgh to write for Trib Total Media. Based out of the Kittanning Leader Times, he worked for the Trib for two years, and then he moved to Shenzhen, China, to teach English and freelance. After two years in China, he earned an MFA in nonfiction from the University of Pittsburgh.
When he's not at work, he's usually playing with his border-collie mix, Bob.