Traditional quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) practices for construction of embankment, subgrade, and aggregate base layers in Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement foundation systems generally rely on a soil classification scheme, percent relative compaction, and moisture content. These parameters are measured periodically during construction from a small volume of material to quantify acceptance. Pavement analysis and design, on the other hand, is based on selection of mechanistic-input parameters, such as layer thickness and elastic modulus values. Although indirect, the parameter values measured during QA/QC testing are often assumed to be surrogates to mechanistic parameters, but the relationships are complex, nonunique, and highly variable. A disconnect therefore exists between what is selected for design and the parameter values chosen to "ensure" quality during the construction process. Further, the spatial nonuniformity of the pavement foundation layers, although often recognized as "key" to pavement performance, is not addressed by construction QA/QC or pavement design and rarely in pavement analysis. This paper highlights some of the assumptions with selecting pavement design values and the methods used for construction QA/QC testing, focusing specifically on geotechnical parameters. Weaknesses with traditional approaches are identified, and new ideas are highlighted that might better link construction quality to the selection of pavement design inputs.