Armed with laptops and divided into six two-person crews, University of New Mexico engineering students are examining over 7,500 miles of pavement in the northern part of New Mexico. The Department of Transportation has hired them, along with New Mexico State University students who will be examining the southern part of the state, to inspect the state’s roads and evaluate conditions.
Photo: UNM School of Engineering students Tom Hackett (l.) and Carson Lee inspect highways in northern New Mexico.
Ray Waggerman, a graduate student who manages the project, says this program benefits both the state and the university.
“This program frees up the DOT to allocate their workforce in a more productive manner while providing valuable work experience to the engineering students,” said Waggerman.
“We are gaining field experience with the Department of Transportation,” said Carson Lee, a civil engineering student at UNM who is working in the northwest quadrant of the state. “We are committed and serious about this field. They give us goals and we get them done.”
The students’ role is to examine, in detail, the condition of New Mexico roads by inspecting one-tenth of every mile. The students were trained in discerning eight types of pavement distresses in the roads, such as patch conditions, bleeding, rutting and types of cracking. Through August 18, they record their findings, which are later entered into a data base that Waggerman monitors from a central location at the UNM campus. Waggerman then sends the information to Santa Fe for the DOT to evaluate.
“The students are finishing one year’s worth of work in 13 weeks,” said Waggerman.
The students were selected through an intensive interview process. They had to be disciplined and dependable, as they would spend four days of each week on the road being their own boss, while accomplishing the job within the allotted time. But those hired, conveyed more than just responsibility and intelligence.
“The students expressed that they wanted to help the state,” said Waggerman.
Media Contact: Greg Johnston, (505) 277-1816; e-mail: gregj@unm.edu
Posted by scarr at July 27, 2006 04:50 PM