There is increased emphasis on building concrete pavements with design lives of 60 years or more. To reliably achieve these lives, durable materials must be used in all aspects of the pavement construction, including the use of (highly) corrosion-resistant smooth dowels in transverse joints.
Minnesota, Washington and Michigan have developed and/or adopted specifications acceptable alternate materials for these dowels including stainless steel dowel products (including solid bars, clad bars, tubes/pipes), zinc alloy-clad bars and (sometimes) microcomposite steel bars. A total of 4-5 products are allowed in these states' specs and/or special provisions.
Other states have expressed interest in using these types of dowels, but are often reluctant to simply adopt another state's specifications and they often lack the resources to develop their own testing program and specifications. Some state design and materials engineers have stated to me that it would be easier to move forward with these types of products if AASHTO had a specification in place that they could simply adopt or use.
AASHTO MP13M/13-04 addresses stainless steel clad round or deformed bars for concrete reinforcement. If, as it appears, this specification is intended to address only concrete reinforcement, then it does not meet the growing need for a specification for more highly corrosion-resistant dowel bars in concrete pavement joints. If it is intended to serve as a specification for dowel bars, then it is not sufficiently inclusive of other proven technologies (such as the zinc alloy-clad or sleeved dowels).
What is needed is a specification similar to those in use in Minnesota, Washington and Michigan that provides end users with several acceptable alternate materials for use as dowels in high-performance (long-life) concrete pavements.
I would be happy to assist with the development of such a specification (including the arrangement of any test programs or protocols that would be necessary to establish or verify the structural and corrosion-resistance equivalence of various materials). I worked for the concrete paving industry in Minnesota for several years and am currently a consultant to Jarden Zinc Products, a manufacturer of one of the products that is accepted for use in high-performance pavements in Minnesota, Michigan and Washington.
Please advise me of how to proceed and whether it would be advisable to attend the August meeting in New Hampshire to discuss this further.