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ISCP—NEWEST HONORARY MEMBERS ADDED
& ISCP HONORARY MEMBER PAGE UPDATED!
2021: Ram Kanwar Jain, Carlos Jofré;
2020: Neeraj Buch, Dale Harrington, Bryan Perrie
Please go to the page to see the 5 newly inducted 2020 and 2021 Honorees!
www.concretepavements.org/honorary-members/
OCTOBER 7:
Peter Taylor, Director-CP Tech Center
Dan King, Research Engineer-CP Tech Center
Investigated a new PEM field test—a newly automated method for the Vibrating Kelly Ball (VKelly) test that measures the response of concrete to vibration. Their research took place at an I-90 paving project near Salem, South Dakota.
Research on performance-engineered mixtures (PEM) has led to new and improved lab tests for measuring the mixture properties that maximize, in a given environment, concrete pavement durability and resilience. However, it must also be verified that fresh concrete—as it is being placed—continues demonstrating the properties necessary to yield the desired hardened concrete performance
OCTOBER 8—Council Bluffs, Iowa
OCTOBER 22—Via Webinar:
OCTOBER 29—Ankeny, Iowa:
Dan King has joined Jerod Gross, Technology Transfer Engineer-CP Tech Center and Senior Engineer-Snyder & Associates, to present this fall’s Iowa Concrete Pavement Lunch & Learn topic on the “Basics of Concrete Pavement Design”.
OCTOBER 13—Virtual Meeting
Tara Cavalline, PhD, PE, Professor-University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Gordon Smith, Associate Director-CP Tech Center
Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA)‘s Concrete Pavement and Materials Technical Feedback Group:
Concrete pavement construction was in focus again during this meeting. Dr. Cavaline shared content from a new CP Tech Center guide soon to be released on Quality Control for Concrete Paving: A Tool for Agency and Industry
OCTOBER 14—Webinar:
Gordon Smith moderated the 2nd and 3rd of a 4-part webinar series on local concrete pavement design strategies sponsored by the Concrete Paving Association of Minnesota and the Aggregate & Ready Mix Association of Minnesota.
Eric Ferrebee, Director-ISCP and Director of Technical Services-American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA) and Steve Waalkes, Michigan Concrete Association, presented on “Optimizing Designs for Concrete Intersections and Roundabouts.”
OCTOBER 18-20—Virtual Annual Convention:
Peter Taylor joined the annual convention of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) held virtually. He talked concrete materials and sustainability as well as chaired a session discussing innovative cementitious materials.
OCTOBER 21—Webinar:
Peter Taylor
Innovations were front and center again the next day. Taylor presented for a Concrete Ontario Webinar about U.S. Concrete Pavement Research & Innovations
OCTOBER 26—Webinar:
John Brunkhorst, McLeod County, Minnesota and Jerod Gross discussed “Designing Concrete Overlays: Extending the Life of Existing Pavements.“
OCTOBER 26—Webinar:
Peter Taylor:
Peter presented another webinar for the Transportation Research Board (TRB) about the results of a National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) study he led on “Entrained Air-Void Systems for Durable Highway Concrete“.
OCTOBER 26—Workshop—Portland, Oregon:
Steve Tritsch, Associate Diriector-CP Tech Center and Kurt Smith, PE, APTech, lead a Concrete Pavement Preservation Workshop for city, county, state agencies, and consultants at the 2021 Northwest Pavement Management Association Conference in Portland, Oregon.
OCTOBER 27-28—Summit—Chicago, Illinois:
Construction was also in focus at an Overlay Summit held in Chicago, that was co-organized by the CP Tech Center and American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA). Around 25 attendees joined the summit, including Gordon Smith, Dan King, and chapter/state representatives–ACPA. Materials testing in the lab is important—but for long-lasting, quality pavements, so are field tests capable of demonstrating during paving that fresh concrete being placed continues displaying the properties required. For this reason, the CP Tech Center continues working together with the concrete paving community on construction as well as materials so our pavements remain the best possible
OCTOBER: the last week—Summit—Rosemont, Illinois:
CP Tech Center Overlay Summit was held at the ACPA National’s office in Rosemont, Illinois with 20+ attendees. This regular gathering provides a FORUM for the CP Tech Center, ACPA Chapters, and ACPA National staff to discuss the technical and promotional opportunities and challenges associated with concrete overlays:
Gordon Smith, CP Tech Center led the summit with help from Jerod Gross, Snyder and Associates.
This year’s meeting featured a variety of discussion topics:
• Flood resilient overlays
• Design practices—Eric Ferrebee led the discussion
• Interlayers
• Jointing practices
• Smoothness characteristics
• Others
Eric Ferrebee gave project updates:
PavementDesigner
• ACPA Overlay Explorer
• Development of case histories and project profiles:
https://www.acpa.org/solutions-and-markets/project-profiles-case-histories-project-explorer/
CONCLUSION:
Roundtable discussion on the needs for the future—research, promotion, field trials, publications, tech transfer, etc. This dialogue held throughout the summit helped set the direction for ACPA and the CP Tech Center on concrete overlays with the ultimate goal of seeing more utilization of this important technology.
AASHTO Annual Meeting—the Council on Highways & Streets Meeting:
Russell McMurry, Commissioner-Georgia DOT, Chaired the meeting
Leif Wathne, Vice President-ACPA, participated
This Annual Meeting is held semi-annually to discuss current and emerging policy and engineering issues related to the nation’s highway and streets network:
Topics included updates on:
• Jim Tymon, Executive Director-AASHTO gave latest Congressional and Federal activities
• Hari Kalla, Associate Administrator for Infrastructure-FHWA gave updates of FHWA
• Council member roundtable discussion on a variety of highway and street topics—including:
• The Sustainable Pavements Program
FHWA emphasized their progress on the sustainable pavements road map and the outstanding technical guidance accompanying the program.
• The Mobile Pavement Technology Centers
Actively engaged in technology transfer activities during the pandemic, including webinars, technician training events, and on-site technical assistance upon request. FHWA’s equipment loan program is still active, available for states, academics, and industry to use. Click here for more information about the program.
• Transportation Policy Forum
• Roundtable Session—Discussion about difficulties with hiring across the departments, especially in maintenance and operations and CDL operators. A few states shared their blossoming experience with full-depth reclamation (FDR), including Texas, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.
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NOVEMBER 1—Meet the New CP Tech Executive Board Member:
Bill Cuerdon is the newest Executive Director on the CP Tech Center Board. Since January 2016, Bill has been the Executive Director-New York State Chapter-ACPA (ACPA-NYS); and prior, he worked for 32 years at the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). He is the author of many specifications and standards that NYSDOT still uses today. Cuerdon’s involvement with the planning, design, and construction of many paving projects over his decades at NYSDOT provide him a unique platform of credibility. When Cuerdon and Kevin McMullen, Wisconsin Concrete Pavement Association copresented a CP Tech Center webinar on Joint Design, Layout, and Construction in August 2020, nearly 700 participants joined to learn about this key aspect of quality concrete pavement construction!
Cuerdon maintains close ties with NYSDOT and other agencies in New York State. As co-chair of the NYSDOT-ACPA Joint Task Force on Concrete Pavement, he worked with his colleagues to implement performance-engineered mixtures (PEM) as a standard approach to pavement mixes. Similarly, Cuerdon has worked with NYSDOT to implement concrete overlays as a standard approach to pavement rehabilitation. In light of NYSDOT‘s openness to these approaches, the groundwork has hopefully been established for a significant increase in overlay construction with PEMs. Cuerdon is also working with his colleagues/friends at the Massachusetts Concrete and Aggregate Producers Association (MaCAPA), NRMCA, and MassDOT to establish a nascent concrete paving program in The Bay State.
NOVEMBER: The first week—Conference—Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada:
19th Annual Nevada Infrastructure Concrete Conference (NICI) hosted by the Southwest Concrete Pavement Association and the California-Nevada Cement Association.
The 2-day sessions were held in both Las Vegas, Nevada and Reno, Nevada. The 2020 conference was virtual—Due to a one-year COVID hiatus; and the 2021 conference returned to an in-person format with more than 200 people attendees. Attendees involved in designing and constructing Nevada’s highways, bridges, waterways, transportation systems, and allied concrete infrastructure included:
Nevada Department of Transportation—Leadership and teams
Public officials
Planners
Engineers
Consultants
Contractors
ACPA staff
Others
Gary Mitchell, Vice President of Engineering and Construction-ACPA attended the Las Vegas event
Laura O’Neill Kaumo, President and CEO-ACPA attended the Las Vegas event
The sessions included presentations ranging from the:
“Future of Nevada Transportation & Infrastructure”
“Path to Sustainability in Concrete Infrastructure”
Larry Scofield, Director of Pavement Innovation-ACPA, hosted a presentation titled “Diamonds are a Highway’s Best Friend: Improving the sustainability of our highway pavements through diamond grinding”
Thanks to both Charles Stuart and Tom Tietz
Todd LaTorella. Click to enlarge.
Todd LaTorella, Executive Director-MO/KS Chapter-ACPA Bows out after 22 years!
After over 22 years with the Missouri/Kansas Chapter, including nearly 13 years as Executive Director, Todd LaTorella will be moving on to a new opportunity in the concrete paving industry. His hard work, wit, and humor will be missed in the Missouri/Kansas market as well as among the Chapter/State Committee. Todd led the MO/KS Chapter through ups and downs, delivering impressive growth of the Chapter and of market share in the region. Todd’s experienced and thoughtful work has moved our industry forward, and we are forever grateful for the time, skills, and effort he dedicated to concrete paving. Industry affiliates wish you all the best, Todd! Goodbye and Good Luck, Todd!!
MASSACHUSETTS:
Gary Mitchell was at Boston Logon International Airport with Craig Dauphinais, The Massachusetts Concrete & Aggregate Producers Association (MACAPA); and Luke McHugh, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) to meet with Massachusetts Port (Massport) Authority staff. Massport requested the group convene to discuss the attributes of concrete for airside pavements, best construction practices, sustainability benefits, and resiliency properties. “We view this as a great opportunity to collaborate with our partner organizations to open the door to more concrete pavements in New England, which will be a big benefit to our cement members as well as our northeast and New York paving contractor members,” said Mitchell. The group also went over case studies of fast-track concrete pavement projects and the potential of using strategies similar to those employed at the Port Authority of New York and JFK International Airport to deploy more concrete overlays.
NOVEMBER 8—MASSACHUSETTS:
Leif Wathne conducted a meeting with MassDOT Highway Division leadership—Carrie Lavallee, Chief Engineer–Highway Division–MassDOT, and John Bechard, Deputy Chief Engineer of Project Development–Highway Division–MassDOT, regarding concrete pavement solutions. The meeting, coordinated by Craig Dauphinais, included industry representatives Brian Barry, LafargeHolcim, Luke McHugh, academia—Dr. Peter Taylor and Gordon Smith (CP Tech), and Dr. Randy Kirchain, MIT. MassDOT is interested in re-introducing concrete into their pavement program and has 3 intersections projects programmed as a start.
Raleigh, North Carolina
Larry Scofield, ACPA/International Grooving and Grinding Association (IGGA), was just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina visiting 3 diamond-ground test sections on SR 540 NC. The test sections, constructed in 2012 by IGGA contractors, were evaluated by KP Engineering to establish the longevity of 3 different spacer configurations. The 3 test sections were evaluated with a high-speed texture measurement device, a continuous friction measurement device, and a newly developed static friction measurement device.
Larry Scofield, Greg Dean, Executive Director-Carolinas Concrete Paving Assocition-ACPA (CCPA-ACPA), and Paul Rogers, KP Engineering, all lead a meeting with North Carolina DOT (NCDOT) personnel to discuss diamond grinding, NGCS, and longitudinal grooving.
Virtual Meeting:
Leif Wathne, Executive Vice President-ACPA, gave a presentation during the VIRTUAL Technology Transfer Meeting cohosted by the MO/KS chapter-ACPA and Missouri DOT. Wathne highlighted the important role inter-industry competition plays in the good stewardship of highway dollars. “The value of inter-industry competition is that it enables stewardship tools like LCCA, ADAB, planning, mix-of-fixes, and asset management to function properly!” Wathne emphasized that this is particularly important in the wake of the IIJA’s increase in highway investment. It is critically important to “assure the public full value for their highway dollar through continued and healthy competition among industries involved in the production of paving materials.”
NOVEMBER 17—Conference—Round Rock, TEXAS:
Eric Ferrebee and Larry Scofield went to Round Rock to present a full suite of concrete pavement knowledge: He keyed-in conference participants on leading ACPA online resources with a focus on PavementDesigner.org and recent updates of case histories and WikiPave. His 2nd presentation at the 2021 TxDOT / CCT Concrete Conference contributed to the conference’s “Proven Solutions” section and dived into the details and best practices of bonded concrete overlays of asphalt pavements. The presentation drew on the newly released 4th edition of the CP Tech Center’s Guide to Concrete Overlays—to be posted on ISCP this week! Scofield guided conference participants through the history of Next Generation Concrete Surfaces, detailing the need for, development, implementation, and impacts of the technique. His 14-year overview was an authoritative review of the practice that revolutionized quiet concrete pavement.