A typical pavement structure consists of a number of layers, such as subgrade, base, surface, etc. Over time, as the surface layer deteriorates, rehabilitation has to be undertaken in order to maintain the safety and comfort of travel on the pavement. A typical rehabilitation process involves milling the existing pavement to a certain depth and placing a new overlay of asphalt concrete (AC) over it. Pavement rehabilitation is a costly process and efforts are being made to reduce the frequency at which rehabilitation is required by the pavement. One such attempt has been to incorporate an intermediate AC layer between the surrface and the old pavement. The purpose of this study is to assess the performance incentive of incorporating a Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) binder (intermediate) layer as part of a second generation overlay of AC pavements. This overlay structure would be a deviation from the typical 1.5 HMA surface layer overlay adopted in Pennsylvania. The study is being conducted at three levels: laboratory testing, accelerated pavement testing, and on experimental sections on I-79 in Butler County, PA. The benefits of incorporating a binder layer is assessed through the enhanced performance with regard to rutting (permanent deformation), longitudinal, and thermal cracking. At the laboratory level, E* and indirect creep and strength tests are being conducted on overlay mixtures (both binder and surface) for material characterization and for performance prediction using the M-E Pavement Design Guide. In parallel, accelerated pavement testing is being conducted for slabs resembling in structure those at I-79. Two tests are run, one at intermediate temperature for fatigue cracking, and another at high temperature for rutting. The results from the above analyses are then compared to the performance of the actual sections on 1-79. The overlay sections on I-79: control section with only 1.5 overlay, and experimental section with a 2 binder and 1.5 surface layers, will be monitored on a monthly basis for rutting, cracking, and IRI.