Sustainable and resilient pavement infrastructure is critical for current economic and environmental challenges. In the past 10 years, the pavement infrastructure strongly supports the rapid development of the global social economy. New theories, new methods, new technologies and new materials related to pavement engineering are emerging. Deterioration of pavement infrastructure is a typical multi-physics problem. Because of actual coupled behaviors of traffic and environmental conditions, predictions of pavement service life become more and more complicated and require a deep knowledge of pavement material analysis. In order to summarize the current and determine the future research of pavement engineering, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) has launched a review paper on the topic of “New innovations in pavement materials and engineering: A review on pavement engineering research 2021”. Based on the joint-effort of 43 scholars from 24 well-known universities in highway engineering, this review paper systematically analyzes the research status and future development direction of 5 major fields of pavement engineering in the world. The content includes asphalt binder performance and modeling, mixture performance and modeling of pavement materials, multi-scale mechanics, green and sustainable pavement, and intelligent pavement. Overall, this review paper is able to provide references and insights for researchers and engineers in the field of pavement engineering.

As an environmentally friendly alternative for the production of high-performance modified asphalt by chemical reactions, a liquid-state polyurethane-precursor-based reactive modifier (PRM) was developed and employed in the asphalt modification. In contrast to the traditional solid bitumen modifier, for example, rubber and thermoplastic elastomers, the PRM as a liquid modifier has more significant advantages in reducing energy consumption and improving asphalt performance, which has attracted widespread attention. However, the aging resistance and its mechanism are not clear. In view of this, the aging performance of two PRM-modified bitumen (PRM-70 and PRM-90), under the short-term thermo-oxidative aging, long-term thermo-oxidative aging, and ultraviolet (UV) aging conditions, was investigated through chemical and mechanical methods. The results show that the PRM-90 is more susceptible to the thermos-oxidative aging and UV aging. The use of low-penetration-grade bitumen and ensuring an adequate reaction are beneficial to enhance the aging resistance of PRM-modified bitumen. The impact of aging on high-temperature performance of PRM-modified bitumen is great, followed by the low-temperature performance and the anti-fatigue performance. The mechanic-relevant rheological aging index (RAI) and fracture energy index (FEI) are recommended to evaluate aging properties for PRM-modified bitumen. This study not only provides support for further research on the relationship between the aging properties and mechanical performance of PRM-modified bitumen, but also provides a reference for conducting mechanism analysis.