The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) routinely receives requests to add new pipe repair materials to its lists of approved products. For several years, VDOT’s research division, the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research (VCTIR) has documented the water quality impacts caused by certain stormwater pipe repair products. This approach is no longer financially sustainable as the products submitted to VDOT are costly to test. Transferring testing responsibility to the manufacturer, using a standardized method to analyze the environmental impacts, would benefit VDOT.

This project will develop a material testing protocol and validate its predictability in the field. Such a protocol ultimately will allow VDOT to transfer this responsibility for testing the environmental impacts of pipe repair products to the vendors prior to VDOT approval.