ACPA-February Travels to IA, SD, CA, WI, VA, & NV + Membership Survey

Membership Survey Provides Valuable Feedback
The American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA) distributed its annual Benchmark Opinion Survey on February 18, requesting its members’ response by February 27. The survey goes to one representative from each member company and takes about 7 minutes to complete. This helps ACPA evaluate the strength and value of its programs and activities, and areas where they can make improvements.

ACPA Presented at 56th Annual ICPA Workshop

The Iowa Concrete Paving Association (ICPA) 3-day 56th Annual Workshop was held February 5-7 at the Des Moines-Airport and Conference Center. The workshop included a substantial line-up of technical and business presentations. An estimated 650 attendees from industry, the public sector, and academia were in attendance. Concrete pavement jointing—basics, specs and standards and rehabilitation and preservation methods—was a major focus for the first day.

Jerry Voigt, President & CEO-ACPA and Gary Mitchell, Airport Pavement Technology-ACPA participated in the meeting, delivering technical education and program updates:
Jerry presented a national update on ACPA‘s:
• Programs
• Promotion efforts
• Current and projected market share outlook
• Details about many current and planned ACPA programs
• Details about many current and planned ACPA projects
Gary led one of 5 breakout sessions, leading a discussion on placing concrete pavements using the updated FAA P-501 spec for concrete pavement airfields. In addition to discussing some of the changes ACPA advocated—and which were included in the most recent update to P-501, Gary also described why those changes were important to concrete pavement contractors and suppliers.

The workshop program also included an awards program and updates and other presentations from:
The CP Tech Center, Sustainability Hub-MIT, and other companies and organizations.

South Dakota Presents Annual Workshop

The South Dakota Chapter-ACPA and the South Dakota Ready Mixed Concrete Association presented the annual concrete conference February 10. More than 200 professionals attended the event, which focused on tech transfer, industry updates and award presentations.

Jerry Voigt provided an update on ACPA programs and iniatiatives.
Tyler Ley, Oklahoma State University, was able to present via web conference after the flu prevented him from flying to attend the conference.
—John presented on Performance Engineered Mixtures (PEMs)
Eric Ferrebee, Technical Services-ACPA and John Adam, CP Tech Center gave a team presentation
—Eric gave 2 presentations:
1) concrete pavement joint design, sealing and layout
2) resilient concrete pavements.

The program also included presentations by the South Dakota DOT, Boral Construction Materials Service*, Cemstone, GCP Applied Technologies*, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA), and Portland Cement Association (PCA).

Wisconsin Annual Concrete Pavement Conference Reaches New Heights

The Wisconsin Concrete Pavement Association’s (WCPA)’s Annual Concrete Pavement Conference February 12-14 was a great success.

“We had 318 registered attendees, our second highest attendance in our history! The attendees and presenters represented 19 major cities and 36 consulting engineering firms,” said Kevin McMullen, President-WCPA. There were also 35 Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) officials, along with an excellent line-up of presenters.

Craig Thompson, Secretary-WisDOT, kicked off the meeting, with what Kevin described as a “positive message,” noting that the DOT is working to get the agency’s highway program back up and running after the previous administration halted projects and engineering studies. Kevin said the Secretary commented that the agency both enjoys and encourages the partnership with industry, adding that this partnership includes some proactive participation in training and committee work, including the WisDOT Concrete Pavement Technical Committee.

Other presenters included:
• Dr. Tyler Ley, Oklahoma State University, who spoke about research on performance-engineered mixtures (PEM) and the Super Air Meter (SAM) in Wisconsin
• Leif Wathne, Executive Vice President-ACPA who spoke about ACPA National Initiatives (including inter-industry competition)
• A great line-up of professionals representing the FHWA and WisDOT, industry, and academia.

Commenting further on the WCPA conference program, Kevin said, “There was a lot of PEM, as this is a priority with the DOT. In fact we might be the first DOT in the country to use the SAM for payment and acceptance.” Real-time materials testing on the grade is considered a key to successful implementation of PEM, and the SAM is considered by many to both a quick and reliable test that aids in freeze-thaw durability, reduction of air loss, and the increase of strength over time. The SAM is currently used by 37 states and 5 countries, according to the Super Air Meter website.

The workshop also included breakout sessions on construction and design & research, an awards program, an exhibitor’s workshop, and hospitality and social activities.

Indiana Chapter Workshop Hits the Mark

About 180 highway engineers, inspectors, contractors, and suppliers gathered on February 18 for the 2020 Indiana Concrete Pavement (ICP) Workshop and annual awards presentation.

Speakers from the Indiana DOT (INDOT), FHWA, and the concrete paving industry provided insights on the Indiana Transportation Team initiative toward better process and communication.

A technical session addressed optimized concrete mixes, innovation in testing, pavement restoration, and the use of thin concrete overlays as a preservation treatment for appropriate segments of state and local road networks. Awards were presented for:
• Work at Grissom Air Reserve Base
• I-74 Project
• I-70 Project
• I-865 Project
• Ryan Road (Allen County) Project
• Eastside Parkway-Gas City Project
• Kessler Blvd Project
• 38th Street-Indianapolis Project
• US 40-Richmond Project
• SR 37-Lawrence Co. Project

Technical and business presentations included:
• INDOT Perspectives—Progress and the Indiana Transportation Team: Roland Fegan, Deputy Commissioner INDOT
• FHWA Perspectives and Initiatives: Mayela Sosa, Indiana AdministratorFHWA
• INDOT Partial Depth Repair Progress: Mike Nelson, INDOT
• Wisconsin’s Effort to Implement Optimized Concrete Mixes: Kevin McMullen, Wisconsin Concrete Pavement Association (WCPA)
• Aggregate Optimization Considerations at  INDOT: Matt Beeson, INDOT & Devin O’Dell, Milestone Contractors
• How to Produce Better PCCP with Optimized Aggregates: Chris Tull, CRT Concrete Consulting
• The Patch: Non-destructive Testing with Piezoelectric Sensors: Dr. Luna Lu, Purdue University
• Why You Should Pay Attention: Changes to Achieve Better Performing PCCP: Mike Byers, Indiana Chapter-ACPA
• Report on Thin Concrete Overlays: Looking Forward: Indiana Chapter-ACPA

Mid-Atlantic Chapter Quality Assurance Workshop (QAW) Workshop
Focused on Highway Materials Quality

Approximately 370 representatives from the transportation departments of the seven-state Mid-Atlantic region attended the annual Mid-Atlantic Quality Assurance Workshop (QAW) in Williamsburg, Virginia February 12-14, according to Ray Seipp, President-Mid-Atlantic Chapter-ACPA. The QAW is a 3-day workshop held every year since 1967, dedicated to highway materials and quality control/assurance of highway materials.

Jim Mack, Director of Infrastructure-Market Development-CEMEX and 2019 Chairman of the ACPA Board of Directors, presented a program on concrete pavement resiliency.

The workshop included:
• 2 main sessions covering a wide range of highway topics
• 5 all-day breakout sessions devoted to the latest information on highway materials in the areas of asphalt, concrete, metals, maintenance, soils and aggregates

Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia make up the Mid-Atlantic QAW area.

ACPA Emphasizes QA/QC at Airport Symposium

ACPA participated in the ACC/AAAE Design and Construction Symposium, held February 19-21 in Reno, Nevada. Gary Mitchell participated in and presented perspectives during one of five workshop sessions called, “Increasing Your Odds of Maximum Your Investments: Pavement Updates”.

“We discussed various pavement attributes and the importance of building the pavement correctly from the outset,” Gary said, adding that his remarks focused on quality assurance and quality control.

The panel was moderated by Wayne Seiler, All About Pavements, Inc.—an ACPA member. Other panelists included Adam Browning, S&ME; Shannon Holman, Orion and Associates; and Doug Johnson, FAA headquarters. The conference was attended by approximately 1,500 engineers, planners, and airport sponsor executives from around the country. The breakout session was attended by about 150 designers and airport engineers.

ACPA at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2020 in March in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA:

Visit ACPA in the Grand Lobby—area between the North and Central Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center—in Booth GL32208!

For the latest ACPA news, please go to: www.acpa.org