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As the climate temperature decreases, the flexible pavement will be subjected to high tensile stresses which exceeding to the movement resistance of asphalt binder leading to low temperature cracking. SHRP identified a Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) for measuring the value of flexural-creep stiffness of asphalt binder at low temperatures which consider this value a good indicator for resistance of low-temperature cracking. This study developed a method for measuring the flexural-creep stiffness of asphalt binder by modification of an apparatus instead of Bending Beam Rheometer due to its expensive cost and unavailable in most research laboratories. A (40-50) penetration grade of asphalt binder used in this study at different test temperatures (-5, 0, 5)°C. The experimental results indicate to the modified apparatus and developed test is suitable for testing an asphalt binder at different temperature and loading time.

Many cities in Diyala governorate are suffering from traffic congestion due to high percentage of through traffic. One of the most applicable solutions to such problem is the construction of ring road by which the through traffic is avoided. In this research, Baqubah city is subjected to economic analyses in order to determine whether the establishment of a peripheral ring road to downgrade the traffic congestion in the city center would be economically feasible. The planned road is divided into three segments linking the three major entries to the city. The first segment is already existing, while the second and third segments are following a predetermined orbital route that has not been utilized yet. Hence, the first segment is not considered in the economic analyses, which included the second and third. The traffic data was collected for all entries, and then the fractions of traffic that expected to utilize the new ring road were estimated and projected for the design lifetime of the road taken as 20 years after two years of design and construction. The suggested road was proved profitable by the use of two economic parameters: the first is the benefit cost ratio, which returned the values of 7.44 and 5.92, for the second and third segments, respectively. The net present value calculations revealed the values of $50,399,966 and $43,991,883 for the second and third segments, respectively.