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German Expert Refutes Significance of AASHO Road Tests

10th September 1965
Page 30
Page 30, 10th September 1965 — German Expert Refutes Significance of AASHO Road Tests
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

A DAMAGING indictment of the AASHO road tests has been made by the PI German road haulage association (BDF) as the result of recent research carried out in the USA by an expert, Herr Dreskornfeld. The tests which took place in Illinois from October, 1958 to November, 1960 have frequently been cited to support the contention that the taxation of heavy goods traffic is totally inadequate and that hauliers should make a much larger contribution towards defraying track costs. A thorough and first-hand investigation was recently made in the USA by Herr Dreskornfeld, in the light of which BDF has reached the conclusion that the official reports published in America can in no way be used to corroborate claims that hauliers fail to play their full part in meeting track costs.

In the course of his survey Herr Dreskornfeld consulted leading officials of the Highways Research Board and the Bureau of Public Roads, who emphasized that for a number of reasons the AASHO tests had a very limited application to everyday practice. They pointed out that in the tests only one type of sub-soil was used and no attempt was made to account for the effect of sub-soils of different compositions. Attention was also drawn to the fact that no special arrangements were provided for draining the AASHO test circuits and that the construction methods used were now 10 years out of date.

Other fundamental weaknesses of the tests noted by the German expert were:—

Many of the works were extremely under-dimensioned so as to facilitate the rapid detection of deterioration; because of the extreme brevity of the tests, atmospheric influences were not taken into consideration; lack of maintenance of the test circuits contributed substantially to swift deterioration of the roadway; as compared with real conditions, the traffic was inadequate and made it necessary to extrapolate in unexplored fields.

Copies of Herr Dreskornfeld's report can be obtained from the Bundesverband Des Deutschen Giiterfernverkehrs. 6 Frankfurt/M-Hausen, Konigsberger Str, 1.


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