Moisture damage in asphalt concrete leading to premature pavement deterioration is one of the most severe pavement distresses afflicting highways and bridges. One major mechanism of moisture damage is adhesive failure, which occurs in various climates and may result in stripping, raveling, fatigue damage and/or permanent deformation when moisture invades asphalt mixtures, reduces the structural strength of pavements and thereby leads to the distresses. Multiple mechanisms have been proposed by which moisture deteriorates the aggregate–asphalt interface in a pavement structure. However, a prevailing belief regarding the adhesive failure is that asphalt pavements suffer moisture damage as a synergetic result of different mechanisms and that no existing theorem satisfactorily explains its nature. As such, this proposed research will be directed at developing a laboratory-based test method in an accelerated manner to investigate the nature of the aggregate–asphalt bond using different analyticochemistry analysis approaches, including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and other potential approaches such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) and Mass Spectrometry (MS). Results of this research can be expected to shed light on the nature of the aggregate–asphalt bond, and to guide the practice of mitigating adhesive failure in asphalt pavements through mixture design, materials selection, additive modification, or pavement construction.