Bridge Engineering Center

About the research

Cape seals, which have been applied in several countries as well as the United States for many years, have never before been used by counties in the State of Iowa. As part of the Clinton County Pilot Demonstration Project of Cape Seals endorsed by the Iowa Highway Research Board (IHRB) serving as Iowa’s State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC), this study will (1) perform data collection and monitoring activities at the Cape Seal Pilot Demonstration Project site in Clinton County and (2) collect before and after stakeholder input to measure perceptions about the project and cape seal performance. This will be achieved through the execution of the following primary tasks: (1) documenting construction activities and executing a showcase/open house during project construction, (2) monitoring and evaluating pavement performance regarding the effectiveness of the innovations, (3) executing subsequent technology transfer and information dissemination activities and developing implementation plans with recommendations, and (4) publishing final research project documents. This research project would be highly helpful in scientifically documenting the performance of cape seal application over its service life and in providing the necessary data for the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) and Iowa counties who are considering deploying cape seals as standard pavement preservation practices (if the deployment is successful).