Pavement Management

Texas A&M Transportation Institute
1111 RELLIS Parkway
Bryan, TX 77807
(979) 317-2123
[email protected]

Rick Canatella is a Research Specialist III and supervisor of the TTI lab housed within the Center for Infrastructure Renewal.  He has 5 years’ experience with TxDOT including lab testing and construction quality control work. For four years with a private consulting and for the past 23 years, he has conducted and supervised work in the asphalt materials laboratory at TTI.  He is an expert in basic and advanced testing of asphalt binders and hot mix materials, and has helped design and evaluate more than 500 mixture designs.  He routinely runs all of the acceptance tests for performance graded binders, including dynamic shear, elastic recovery, and creep stiffness.  For the mixes, he is an expert in conducting design tests to measure the rutting potential (Hamburg Wheel Tracker), moisture susceptibility and cracking resistance (Texas Overlay Tester, Beam Fatigue and Ideal CT Tests).  He has also assisted with diagnosing cause of premature pavement failures.  In the field he is experienced with running skid trailers and falling weight deflectometers. 
 
He is the senior technician who ensures that TTI is compliant with the AASHTO accreditation (AMRL) for testing construction materials.  He has been supervising this for the past 10 years and the lab is fully accredited.