Researchers at Reno firm help create better roadways

Studies under way at Nichols Consulting Engineers of Reno could one day help extend northern Nevada's short construction season as well as allow local general contractors to haul loads of asphalt much greater distances when paving the state's rural roadways.

Nichols in late August won a $446,002 contract to design an experiment studying warm mix asphalt for the Federal Highway Administration's Long-Term Pavement Performance program. The company has been involved in transportation research since 1990, says Kevin Senn, a principal engineer who has been with the firm since graduating from Washington State University in 1995.

Long-Term Pavement Performance program started in the 1980s determine the performance of different types of pavements in climates and geographical regions across the United States. The goal of the program and the focus of studies at the Reno engineering firm is to improve pavement design and performance and to help state and local municipalities and federal organizations select the best times to repair and maintain of existing roadways.

Nichols Consulting Engineers is not involved in any aspects of developing warm mix materials, Senn says, but rather its studies could help determine which types of warm mix work best in certain areas. Warm-mix asphalt is a relatively new method of blending asphalt that could allow construction companies to lay roadways in colder temperatures, extending construction work into cooler late fall and early spring months. Use of warm mix also would allow construction companies to haul it over greater distances from the plant a potentially crucial money-saving step for companies that pave roadways in remote stretches of rural Nevada.

"We collect data in the field, and we monitor distress, such as cracking and other physical attributes of the pavement," Senn says. "There are a number of potentially positive outcomes from using warm mix asphalts. They have the potential to reduce emissions, which will help the environment, and they have better compactive properties, which can extend the paving season and increase haul distances.

"From a contractor's point of view, there are a lot of places, especially as you get into the rural areas, they don't have a plant anywhere close," Senn adds. "They have to set up a portable plant to get into the radius of the project, and you can expand that radius using warm mix."

Senn says there are more than 20 different proprietary processes for making warm mix asphalt. Some are water-based, while others are chemical-based mixes. Nichols Consulting Engineers is designing studies using already-built projects as well as newly constructed roadways that utilize many of the different blends of warm mix asphalt.

The company has been performing scoping studies for more than two decades. Its tests examine which types of mixes and materials work best in different areas in an effort to help agencies such as the Regional Transportation Commission and Nevada Department of Transportation determine what type of materials to use when paving regional roadways.

Its work in transportation research is just one service line for the firm, which was founded in April of 1990 by Jim Nichols (who has since retired from the firm). Nichols Consulting Engineers also conducts work in pavement engineering and technology, environmental services, infrastructure engineering and planning and has an emerging watershed science and planning division.

The company headquartered at Arlington Avenue and Plumb Lane has additional offices in Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, and Richmond and Fountain Valley, Calif. The firm employs roughly 60 people, including civil and geotechnical engineers and scientists.

The firm weathered the recession fairly well since the bulk of its work has always been in the public sector, Senn says. The company diversified, launching its watershed science and planning division, and actually grew slightly during the past few years. Its primary clients are cities and counties