In China, the current asphalt pavement design code has been applied for the design and construction of more than 80% of highways, making significant contributions to the development of road transportation. However, there are still several limitations and inconsistencies in the existing asphalt pavement design theory and methodology. The primary issues include an irrational structural system where each layer is designed with the same service life, an inappropriate mechanical model that fails to account for the differences in tensile and compressive moduli in the classical linear elastic theory, an improper strength theory and structural fatigue resistance model that still rely on a one-dimensional strength theory and failure model, and unreasonable pavement design parameters where the modulus of the subgrade soil is used as the structural modulus of the pavement bases. This presentation introduces a new design theory and method to address these issues, which can be used as the design guidance for the new generation durable asphalt pavements.