The American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA) recently had the opportunity to contribute a guest editorial on long-life pavements; a state-of-the industry article for Contractors Hotline Magazine; and contributed commentary for the BETTER ROADS section of EQUIPMENT WORLD Magazine article on concrete pavement overlays titled “Covering it: Rise of the concrete overlay gives roadbuilders new options, opportunity”.
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The Contractors Hotline Editorial by Bill Davenport, VP Communications-ACPA, is titled “In Praise of Long-Life Pavements”. ACPA began collecting artifacts from old concrete pavements—specifically those 1/2-century or older—to chronicle some of the pavements. With the support of the Task Force for the Preservation of Historic Concrete Pavement Artifacts, ACPA is collecting the artifacts due to the desire to preserve samples of historically significant pavements on which the nation’s surface transportation infrastructure was formed. The collection includes core and other samples of the first concrete pavement placed in Bellefontaine, Ohio in 1891. The first concrete pavement project was so successful that concrete was used to pave the three remaining streets around the Logan County Courthouse. Sections from two 1893 streets were cut and sent to four separate laboratories for analysis by American Engineering Testing in St Paul, Minnesota. For the summary report of each labs’ testing techniques titled “A Laboratory Examination of Court Avenue, Bellefontaine Ohio: The Oldest Concrete Pavement in the United States”, please go to: http://www.acpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/A-Laboratory-Examination-of-Court-Avenue-Bellafontaine.pdf.
Other core collections have included:
• Route 66
• Oldest concrete pavement in Texas
• 75-year-old pavement in California
• Other concrete pavement samples
Many of the concrete pavements are still in service today exceeding their design lives beyond 20, 50, and 100 years! The old pavements provide valuable information to quality construction, durable materials, exceptional workmanship, and more that have gone into these projects. They tell a vivid story and provide a vital link to our future!
For Bill Davenport’s editorial online, please go to: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/78af5966#/78af5966/5
For insights into other long-life concrete pavements, please visit:
• ACPA Historical Concrete Pavement Explorer: http://explorer.acpa.org/explorer/.
• ISCP article titled ““Historic Concrete Pavement Explorer” Archival Website”: https://www.concretepavements.org/2016/04/25/historic-concrete-pavement-explorer-pair-of-historic-1925-narrow-roads-historical-concrete-pavements-archives/
• Distinguished list of “Lifetime Pavement Performance” Award recipients: http://www.acpa.org/distinguished-service-awards/
For the ISCP articles titled:
“125th Anniversary Commemoration & Tour of First U.S. Concrete Street Held in Bellefontaine, Ohio (Audio & Video)”: https://www.concretepavements.org/2016/04/28/125th-anniversary-celebration-tour-of-first-u-s-concrete-street-held-in-bellefontaine-ohio-audio-video/
“Team of 4 at Pitt—the Most Focused on Research, Improvement, & Long Life of Concrete”: https://www.concretepavements.org/2017/10/30/team-of-4-at-pitt-the-most-focused-on-research-improvement-long-life-of-concrete/
“Commemorative Program Now Available: 125th Anniversary Tour of the Oldest Concrete Street in America”: https://www.concretepavements.org/2016/05/03/commemorative-program-now-available-125th-anniversary-tour-of-the-oldest-concrete-street-in-america/
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ACPA is also working with CONSTRUCTION FOCUS on an editorial collaboration. For additional information about these and other ACPA media opportunities, please contact:
Bill Davenport | E-mail: bdavenport@acpa.org | Phone: 847.423.8703
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ACPA contributed commentary for a BETTER ROADS article on concrete pavement overlays for the December issue of EQUIPMENT WORLD Magazine. The article, titled “COVERING IT: The rise of the concrete overlay gives roadbuilders new options, opportunities,” provides an overview of current overlay technology and examples of its growth throughout the United States. There is a rising number of concrete overlay projects used to construct, rehabilitate and extend the life of road pavements—42% of one company’s 2018 projects involved concrete overlays. Tim Tometich, Project Manager-Iowa-based diversified heavy highway construction firm, said, “…more counties and states are getting on board, using overlays a lot more, especially to cover up the especially to cover up the asphalt. … It’s a longer lifecycle for these roads if you can use concrete overlays.” Concrete experts agree, including co-authors of the “Guide to Concrete Overlays” Gary Fick and Dale Harrington-both from the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center (CP Tech Center) at Iowa State University. The CP Tech Center is a technology partner of the ACPA and ISCP. According to ACPA, from 2012 through 2017, concrete overlays accounted for an average of 12.5% of the overall yearly concrete pavement volume nationwide. Gerald Voigt, President and CEO-ACPA said that pace is expected to hold and may even climb slightly. He stated that over the past 12 years, use of concrete overlays has risen from about 4% of the volume of concrete pavement done in the country to about 13%, on average.
For the article and commentary from ACPA and CP Tech Center, please go to: https://www.equipmentworld.com/concrete-overlay-roadbuilders-new-options-opportunity/
For the ISCP January 2019 article titled “Rise of the Concrete Overlay gives Road Builders New Options & Opportunities” that details this Better Roads article, please go to: https://www.concretepavements.org/2019/01/20/rise-of-the-concrete-overlay-gives-road-builders-new-options-opportunities/.
For ISCP articles on concrete overlays, please go to: https://www.concretepavements.org/?s=concrete+overlays