Last week, John Roberts, P.E. (IGGA President and CEO) and Larry Scofield, P.E. (ACPA Director of Pavement Innovation) participated in AASHTO’s Transportation System Preservation Technical Services Program (TSP2)* 2021 Virtual National Pavement Preservation Conference.

The national virtual meeting consisted of nine sessions with approximately 400-500 attendees in each session.   The sessions related to concrete technology included:

• Session 1; Opening Session: Provided key note addressing status and issues associated with infrastructure legislation.
• Session 2; Equipment and Placement Process: Consisted of short ten minute presentations on equipment and placement procedures. Both full depth repairs and diamond grinding were featured.
• Session 3; Pavement Preservation Basics: Provided introductions to the major preservation treatments including concrete treatments.
• Session 5; Concrete Preservation:  Provided specific treatment information on partial and full depth repairs, joint sealing, dowel bar retrofit, and diamond grinding.
• Session 7; Pavement Preservation Research:  Provided overviews of preservation research including automated distress measurement updates.
• Session 8; Training, Certification and Accreditation:  MnDOT’s knowledge book as well as AASHTO’s laboratory accreditation process were presented.
• Session 9; Local Agency Approaches:  Provided presentations on how local agencies were integrating preservation into their programs.

The Virtual National Preservation Conference was recorded and the sessions can be viewed by going to the National Center for Pavement Preservation website:  http://www.pavementpreservation.org/

The four regional partnerships will also conduct virtual conferences this week with the Midwestern and North East Pavement Preservation Partnership (MPPP & NEPPP) meetings on Wednesday and the South East and Rocky Mountain West Partnerships (SEPPP & RMWPPP) meeting on Thursday.

__________________________________

* AASHTO’s Transportation System Preservation Technical Services Program (TSP2) is a 47 state pooled fund, initiated as a means to disseminate information to AASHTO member agencies for preserving their highway infrastructure. Its mission is to serve as a clearinghouse on effective preservation measures and current information. TSP2 consists of four regional partnerships which conduct individual annual meetings/conferences to discuss preservation needs and successes.  In addition to the four annual meetings, every fourth year there is a national conference conducted. Although COVID prevented that from happening in 2020, a virtual National Pavement Preservation Conference was held last week.