The International Grooving & Grinding Association (IGGA), in conjunction with the Cement Council of Texas (CCT) announced its “Government Official of the Year” National Award winner. Employees of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)–Houston District were selected as this year’s winners of the national award. They were recognized for their efforts in advancing the understanding and use of quiet concrete pavement surface textures using the Next-Generation-Concrete Surface (NGCS) in the state of Texas. The award ceremony took place at the 2018 TxDOT-CCT Concrete Conference held April 9-11, 2018 at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus at UT-Austin, Texas.
A technical presentation by TxDOT discussed how the Houston District—the largest DOT district in the state—incorporated the ultra-quiet and smooth NGCS into several major highways, including I-10, Harris County’s U.S. 290, and the 610 Loop. Houston will place about 3 million square yards of NGCS in total.
Jan R. Prusinski, P.E., Executive Director-Cement Council of Texas, stated, “TxDOT had been urged to apply a pervious friction course on top of the new concrete on 290, as well as on the 5-year-old pavement of I-10. However, this overlay would have added expense to the project and set the roads up to require regular maintenance—as often as every seven years. Texas has extensive experience using continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) in its populated areas and has found that CRCP, if well-constructed, is an extremely low-maintenance, economical option—this made Texas officials eager to use concrete pavement solutions.”
For these particular road projects, the TxDOT turned their attention to NGCS—an innovative solution which the department knew had performed well in research and trial applications.
“This award is an acknowledgment of the Houston District of the TxDOT’s ability to recognize the needs of the homeowners in the area and take positive, decisive steps to make their lives better,” says John Roberts, Executive Director-IGGA, Vice President of the Pavement Restoration Division-American Concrete Pavement Association’s (ACPA), and ISCP Member. “Their willingness to innovate and adopt new technologies to meet these needs sets this group apart and makes them a model for other public agencies to emulate.”
IGGA said that about 270 people attended this year’s TxDOT-CCT Concrete Conference, with about 100 representing TxDOT engineering and construction personnel and the remainder being local transportation personnel, consultants, manufacturers and suppliers, and others. The technical program is co-hosted by the TxDOT and the CCT and is held every two years—sharing information on concrete highways, bridges and local streets and pavements. Founded in 1972, IGGA is a non-profit trade association promoting development of the diamond grinding and grooving process for surfaces constructed with Portland cement concrete and asphalt.
The Award Announcement can be found in several sources:
PRISM: https://prismpub.com/igga-announces-government-official-of-the-year-award-winner/;
Equipment World’s Better Roads: https://www.equipmentworld.com/next-gen-concrete-pavement-surface-textures-spur-awards-for-texas-dot/; and:
For Construction Pros.com: https://www.forconstructionpros.com/concrete/press-release/21010069/international-grooving-grinding-association-igga-announces-government-official-of-the-year-award-winner
Home Page Photo: Left to Right:
John Roberts, Executive Director-IGGA, Vice President-Pavement
Restoration Division-American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA),
and ISCP Member; Bill Brudnick, Director of Transportation Planning and Development (Houston District TxDOT); Lucio Ortiz, Director of Construction (TxDOT- Houston District); and Mark Woolridge, Director of Maintenance (TxDOT –Houston District)