August 2025
PA Turnpike Materials Lab makes discovery to prolong asphalt life, save millions of dollars
When Brian Paroda and his team discovered that about 70% of the asphalt samples they tested were deteriorating faster than expected, they put a new hypothesis to test -- a little bit of a new chemical compound may help the roadway last longer.
Next phase of PA Turnpike expressway making connections in Pittsburgh area coming soon
A boom to mobility and economic development in the Pittsburgh region is coming soon with the construction of a new stretch of a PA Turnpike extension. Pennsylvania Turnpike Commissioners last month gave the go ahead to advertise for the construction of the next three miles of the multi-stage Mon/Fayette Expressway project.
Work Zone Speed Safety Camera Program wins top engineering award
For an engineer in the transportation industry, it’s not unusual for a project to improve lives. A new bridge. A better way home. But it’s something special for a project to be both popular with the public and to have a proven safety record, and Pennsylvania Turnpike won a prestigious award this year for just that.
PA Turnpike Materials Lab makes discovery to prolong asphalt life, save millions of dollars
A little dab will do you.
When Brian Paroda and his team discovered that about 70% of the asphalt samples they tested were deteriorating faster than expected, they put a new hypothesis to the test -- a little bit of a new chemical compound may help the roadway last longer.
And that little bit of Silane may save a lot of money in the process, too.
“If we can remedy some of these inherent issues that come with asphalt, then perhaps we can assist with providing at least one extra year of durability,” Paroda said. “If we can do that, we’re looking at hundreds of millions of dollars in savings.”
Brian Paroda operates a Double Wheel Track, which applies cyclic hydraulic pressure to asphalt samples to determine how long it will last on the road before developing ruts. It's one of many pieces of gear at the Materials Lab.
Paroda is the Supervisor of the PA Turnpike’s Materials Laboratory near the Somerset Maintenance Facility, where he and his team of lab technicians take on a wide variety of jobs from testing roadway samples to experimenting with new asphalt mixes. They are digging down into the basic chemical makeup of the Turnpike’s asphalt to ensure the recipe of the materials coming in from contractors matches the Turnpike’s specifications.
They use equipment that mimics wear and tear, pressure, roadway rutting, heat, and more, all to recreate extreme conditions to test how that asphalt will fare over time.
Beyond testing samples of new asphalt, they’re also taking cores from the roadway to see how the asphalt is holding up, and it was in this process the team discovered moisture damage had stripped away much of the liquid binder that holds the components of the asphalt together, causing it to break down years ahead of its time.
While they investigated what could have caused this stripping -- alkaline in the water, sodium-calcium brine sodium used in treating the highway, or some unknown factor – they found a solution that may prevent this in the first place.
Materials Lab Supervisor Brian Paroda (right) discusses the results of tests on several recent roadway samples with his team, who include Brian Wilt (left) and Brian Miller.
Paroda noted anti-strips made from animal fats had been used for more than a decade but were not working as advertised, but the lab’s research shows the new product will perform better in the same scenarios.
He penned an article for the Bitume Quebec publication on his findings, which are now being put to the test on the Turnpike.
Brian Miller works in the lab with Paroda, handling a range of tasks from running the ovens to checking asphalt content. He’s excited about the new findings.
“It’s great to be a part of it,” he said. “We’re doing the work and research and finding the available options. It’s a great experience.”
Brian Miller of the Somerset Materials Laboratory runs a roadway sample through a press, which applies pressure to a specimen to determine its crack resistance, strength, and plasticity.
Next phase of PA Turnpike expressway making connections in Pittsburgh area coming soon
A boon to mobility and economic development in the Pittsburgh region is coming soon with the construction of a new stretch of a PA Turnpike extension.
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commissioners last month gave the go ahead to advertise for the construction of the next three miles of the multi-stage Mon/Fayette Expressway project.
"It’s exciting,” said Senior Engineer Project Manager John Dzurko, who is overseeing the project. “One of the things I like best about my job is when you’re starting out, you’re looking at fields and wooded areas, and then as the project progresses and you see where the highway alignment goes and ultimately you get to see a finished product and there’s something there that wasn’t there before, it’s definitely fulfilling."
When complete, the Mon/Fayette Expressway, otherwise known as PA Turnpike 43, will connect Interstate 68 near Morgantown, West Virginia, to Interstate 376 in Monroeville. But such a large project will take time and has been broken down into multiple segments.
Mon/Fayette Expressway Sections 53A1 and 53A2 are under construction now, and construction on 53B1A is expected to start in the spring. When the entire Southern Section is complete, the Northern Section (not shown) is next, connecting the expressway to I-376 (click photo to englarge).
The current highway was completed in 2012 and runs from Morgantown to PA Route 51 in Jefferson Hills, Allegheny County, and construction picked up again with in 2023 with the next stretch extending to a forthcoming, new interchange at Camp Hollow Road in West Mifflin.
The newly approved section, called 53B1A, is in the final design stage now and should go out to bid in December with construction starting as early as spring. It will pick up where the previous section left off and run to a new interchange at Pittsburgh McKeesport Boulevard in Dravosburg.
"It will definitely improve mobility in the Mon Valley area," Dzurko said.
Much of Pittsburgh was built around rivers and hills, so a brand-new, four-lane highway traversing it all in the heart of the city’s steel industry is expected to attract residential and industrial development and help commuters get around the region, he added.
Construction is underway for the bridges over Coal Valley Road, which are part of the Mon/Fayette Expressway.
But constructing a new highway and three bridges through this rugged terrain of valleys and ridges is no easy task and will require a mass excavation, bringing in 100-ton trucks to move more than 1.5 million cubic yards of earth and laying tens of thousands of feet worth of pipe for stormwater drainage before crews can start placing the actual roadway itself.
The estimated cost of the new section of the Mon/Fayette Expressway is about $177.5 million and should be completed in 2029.
"Just the magnitude of it all and the miles after miles of construction is really something to see,” Dzurko said. “Projects of this size just don’t happen every day. I’m just lucky to be a part of it."
Work Zone Speed Safety Camera Program wins top engineering award
The program won the American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania’s Grand Conceptor Award, the top prize in the organization’s Diamond Awards for Engineering Excellence.
Catch Shuey’s conversation with some of the engineers behind this project and the Maintenance Department leaders whose crews are protected by it in this video:
PA Turnpike lends green thumb to Giving Garden
Here’s a look at the Giving Garden so far this year.
