Development of Concrete QC/QA Specifications for Highway Construction in Kentucky

There is a growing trend toward quality-based specifications in highway construction. A large number of quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) specifications shift the responsibility of day-to-day testing from the state DOH to the contractor. This requirement for contractor-performed quality control testing has been partly due to the fact that state agencies are operating with a smaller pool of employees compared to previous years. Another driving force has been the application of performance-based specifications and realization that the contractor and the producer need some degree of flexibility in order to be more efficient and innovative. This report presents the background information behind the development of the new QC/QA Concrete specifications in Kentucky. Findings of this study have already been implemented in the form of a Special Note for QC/QA Concrete, which is expected to be fully implemented by the year 2002. The QC/QA Special Note encourages the Contractor to produce a consistent quality product by giving incentives. Conversely, it penalizes the Contractor for poor quality, and/or inconsistent quality. The Special Note has been written with quality and innovation in mind. That is why it allows the Contractor and the Producer to follow the ACI-318 procedures for concrete mix design as well as the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet recipe mixes