NEWEST VIDEO UPDATE—MARCH 30, 2020
from Jerry Voigt, President & CEO-American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA): www.youtu.be/jjq0SXsR46E
CO/WY Chapter Hosts Successful Workshop:
The Colorado/Wyoming Chapter-ACPA (CO/WY ACPA) Annual Concrete Pavement Workshop was held during the week of March 9, 2020. It drew about 200 professionals together to hear an all-star line-up of experts who presented on a wide range of important and timely topics. Breakout sessions were held in the late morning and early afternoon, and covered design, construction, maintenance, materials and asset management/maintenance.
- Opening remarks delivered by
Angela Folkestad, Executive Director-COWYACPA
Jerry Voigt, President & CEO-ACPA
Steve Harelson, Chief Engineer-CDOT - Dr. Jeremy Gregory, MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub presented “Innovative Solutions for Improving Concrete Sustainability”
- Jerry Voigt presented “Shaped by Concrete: Enhancing Sustainability in the Cement and Concrete Industry”, drawing on resources from ACPA and from PCA’s new “Shaped by Concrete campaign”.
- Amy Brooks, Castle Rock Construction and Bob LaForce, Yeh and Associates, presented “Achieving Sustainability Goals through Concrete Pavement Longevity”.
Angela said, “The presentations were insightful, and we hope that they will lead to additional discussion in the coming months. The presenters also provided information that gave participants new ways of looking at sustainability.”
She noted there was particularly strong interest in two airport tracks:
1) Sustainability and 2) Concrete pavement specs.
Gary Mitchell, Airport Pavement Technology-ACPA, participated in the sessions along with representatives from the Federal Aviation Association (FAA), Colorado DOT (CDOT)-Aeronautics, Denver International Airport (DEN), and three engineering firms.
Pennsylvania Chapter Offers Videotaped Presentations
From its 22nd Conference
The Pennsylvania Chapter-ACPA (PA-ACPA) has offered the presentations of the 22nd Annual Conference held February 24, 2020, which cover a wide range of business and technical topics related to concrete pavement and other concrete products. For coverage of the 22nd PC-ACPA Conference, please go to: https://go.acpa.org/acpa-penn-concrete-conference.
Ten years ago, the PA-ACPA began videotaping conference presentations when they were faced with losing many of their attendees due to a forecasted storm of the century—which never came! With speakers already in Harrisburg or en route, the chapter quickly made arrangements to videotape the talks.
Since then, the recordings have been made each year and vary successful because they have allowed Pennsylvania DOT (PennDOT) staff to benefit from the conference presentations (because staff travel is often restricted due to funding challenges, and now in 2020, the Coronavirus!) . These presentations remain excellent learning tools and all, from 2010 through present-day, are accessible at https://www.longerlifepavement.com/conference/.
For the article titled “Pennsylvania Concrete Conference Seen as Great Success”, please go to: http://www.acpa.org/penn-conference/
COVID-19 Pandemic:
IMPACTS ON INDUSTRY EVENTS:
The COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic crisis is forcing many organizations to cancel or reschedule events, and in some cases, decisions about rescheduling are not possible at the present time. Among the recent national ACPA and industry events to be impacted are:
• 2020 National Association of County Executives (NACE) Annual Conference, Orange, Alabama—CANCELLED–originally scheduled for mid-May.
• 2020 Cement and Concrete Industry Fly-in, Washington, DC—POSTPONED–originally scheduled for mid-May.
• 2020 ACPA Chapter Committee Meeting, Vail. CO.—POSTPONED–originally scheduled for mid-May.
• 2020 ACPA Mid-Year Meeting, Milwaukee, WI—CANCELLED—originally scheduled for June 9-11
Many ACPA chapter workshops and other industry events also have been canceled or postponed, and some are being rescheduled. For additional information, we encourage members and affiliates to check the ACPA calendar on the home page: www.acpa.org. If you are aware of a canceled or postponed event, please email details to: education@acpa.org.
Rapidly Mobilized GRASS-ROOTS ADVOCACY EFFORT
As federal and state government officials declared war on the pandemic sweeping the world, they moved quickly to isolate and contain the spread of the virus, introducing terms such as lockdowns, shelter-in-place, and other terms that have are impacting personal mobility, business and industry and our whole way of life.
ACPA has started assembling resources and launching a broad and comprehensive information and advocacy campaign to inform and influence public officials of the urgent need to classify infrastructure construction as an essential activity. This effort also was aimed at informing members, customers and others that in spite of working remotely, ACPA national and chapter affiliates stand ready to serve association members and agencies and other customers.
Jerry Voigt said, “This was not about business as usual. It’s about continuing our business in the face of adversity during these very challenging times.”
Working in partnership with NACA allies, ACPA launched a GRASS-ROOTS ADVOCACY EFFORT to enlist the aid of members to join in the initiative to classify our business as essential. Jerry Voigt provides an update on a grassroots lobbying effort to provide economic stimulus to support much-needed and vitally important infrastructure construction and rehabilitation. This includes an appeal for your help with a grassroots lobbying effort, so we encourage all members, chapters and allies to watch the video and support the write-in campaign.
For this GRASS-ROOTS ADVOCACY EFFORT: http://acpa.benchurl.com/c/v?e=1018350&c=E369F&t=1&l=3F2DDE21&email=FBOt1gt2PSM2MDjz6gNHTgq4na%2FjQNTPpACz6h09hNQ%3D
VIDEO SPECIAL REPORTS: First in a series aimed at informing members of our actions, and where appropriate, asking them to engage in calls to action:
1 – ACPA Special Report, March 23, 2020: Jerry Voigt provides an update on a grassroots lobbying effort to provide economic stimulus to support much-needed and vitally important infrastructure construction and rehabilitation. He also details what the Association is doing to cope with the Covid-19 crisis, and how ACPA is conducting business to support members and the industry during these challenging time. VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcxtBaRaNBc&t=13s
2 – ACPA, along with PCA, NRMCA, and NSSGA launched a 2nd GRASS-ROOTS ADVOCACY EFFORT, urging industry representatives to send pre-formatted (or customized) letters to state governors. https://acpa.bmeurl.co/A2393FB
These are among ACPA’s highest priority activities that have the aim of supporting and advancing our industry through the current challenges. As Jerry explained, ACPA has refocused priorities to address the current crisis situation, while also keeping our business moving ahead. It’s the right thing to do; we are fully committed to the effort; and we remain confident that a bright future lies ahead.
FHWA Outreach
When the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) reached out to industry, officials were looking for input about things the agency could be doing to help reduce the impacts on our industry during these unprecedented times.
Leif Wathne, Executive Vice-President-ACPA, responded with a request that FHWA issue guidance that designates highway construction workers as “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers” under the auspices of the directive by the Director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Within the guidance are highlighted critical points and words for our concrete pavement industry and construction industry within the infrastructure:
THE IMPORTANCE OF ESSENTIAL CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE WORKERS: Certain critical infrastructure industries have a special responsibility in these times to continue operations.
He explained in the Guidance: “Maintaining the transportation construction sector is vital to our nation’s ability to continue delivering needed medical supplies, food and goods, clean water and energy to the American people as we address this pandemic. Collectively, hundreds of thousands of highway workers are already going to great lengths and following the recommended public health guidance to ensure the infrastructure needs of our country continue to be met. Shutting down their ability to do so will not only impact the economic viability of our member firms, but also the entire nation.”
For the CISA Directive titled “Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce: Ensuring Community and National Resilience in COVID-19 Response”, please click on image above right or go to: http://www.acpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CISA-Directive-March-19-2020.pdf
National & Chapters Seek to Classify Construction as Essential
Spurred, in part, by a directive by the Director of CISA, ACPA is working with federal agencies and national organizations to inform and influence officials to consider classifying infrastructure construction and related activities as essential. Individual ACPA Chapters have been working to encourage their state Governors and other public officials to do the same. Please join ACPA in encouraging others to contact their governors and state departments of transportation to urge the designation of the construction trades (as well as suppliers and other vendors) as essential to our Nation. ACPA will continue to work closely with our Chapters and others to continue this effort at both the federal and local levels. Look for additional information from ACPA as it develops.
ACPA has its headquarters in Rosemont, Illinois and has 20 national chapters representing 34 states throughout the USA. ACPA draws its strength from a solid network comprised of the national ACPA, local ACPA Chapters and Affiliated State Paving associations, and the Cement Association of Canada (CAC). Together our organizations represent the concrete pavement industry and work to expand both the use and improve the quality of concrete pavement for highways, airports, streets, roads and commercial facilities.