Institute for Transportation

Since its inception in 2000, the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center (CP Tech Center) has been uniting public agencies, industry, and academia around the goal of developing and implementing innovative technology and best practices for sustainable concrete pavement construction and maintenance.

Initially founded as the Center for Portland Cement Concrete Pavement Technology (PCC Center) with the support of the Iowa Concrete Paving Association (ICPA) and the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), the center has since grown into an institution with direct, comprehensive, and national impacts for the entire concrete pavement community.

“Thanks to the continuing support and engagement of the broader concrete pavement community, the CP Tech Center will continue to accelerate the adoption and acceptance of advanced concrete pavement materials and technologies in the coming decades,” said CP Tech Center Director Peter Taylor, who assumed the role in 2015.

The PCC Center was established at Iowa State University 25 years ago, and it was nationally chartered as the CP Tech Center 20 years ago. Over the years, in addition to the ICPA and Iowa DOT funding, it has received national support from the American Concrete Pavement Association and the American Cement Association.

The CP Tech Center has worked with all 50 US states, 23 universities, and 27 different consultants during those 25 years. In its most recent five-year cooperative agreement with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)—the third such agreement for the center—awarded in 2024, the CP Tech Center has 11 academic and 10 consultant partners across 18 states.

In addition to the FHWA cooperative agreements, the center has led several other national and multi-state initiatives, including the National Concrete Consortium that was established in 2008 and is currently supported by 33 states, the Airport Concrete Pavement Technology Program that is a $3 million annual cooperative agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration focused on applied research that began in 2020, and the Performance Centered Concrete Construction Pooled Fund initiated in 2022 with support from 12 state agencies.

Despite these numbers, the center’s full impact is incalculable. A few recent highlights include the following:

• Conducting about 40 in-person workshops and conferences per year that reach thousands of engineers and agency owners
• Leading monthly webinars that have reached more than 22,000 people since 2020
• Offering hundreds of free research and practical guidance publications that have 25,000 downloads in just the past 18 months

Subsequent editions of some of the center’s earliest guides, Integrated Materials and Construction Practices for Concrete Pavement: A State-of-the-Practice Manual (2006) and Guide to Concrete Overlay Solutions (2007), remain among the most downloaded materials.

“We accomplish all of this work by facilitating strategic short- and long-term partnerships, particularly with federal, state, and industry partners. Through these partnerships, we help set and implement a national research agenda that seeks to benefit the entire concrete paving community,” Taylor said. “Here’s to the next 25 years of excellence!”

For more details on the CP Tech Center’s history, check out the timeline on its History page. To take a look at the center’s many publications and to add to the download count, visit the Publications page.