Government Affairs
- Wednesday, 16 January 2019 01:47
Save the Date for NACA’s Annual Fly-In
- Wednesday, 09 January 2019 08:59
The 3rd annual NACA* Cement and Concrete industry fly-in will be held Tues., April 9, through Wed., April 10, at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel, 999 9th St NW, Washington, DC .
The first day of the event will include briefings and a cocktail reception/dinner. The second day will include a breakfast and policy panel, small-team Congressional meetings, a lunch briefing, and a Congressional reception honoring 2019 Cement Champions.
NACA is encouraging members and affiliates to save the dates and make plans to attend this important and timely event.
Click here to see the “Save the Date” announcement on the NACA website. Click here to see the agenda. Additional registration and program details will be announced in future issues of ACPA TODAY and will be updated on the NACA website.
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* The North American Concrete Alliance was formed in 2004 for the purpose of addressing industry-wide concerns & initiatives in the areas of research, safety, education, and government affairs. The coalition is comprised of the American Concrete Pavement Association, American Concrete Pipe Association, American Concrete Pressure Pipe Association, American Concrete Pumping Association, Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, National Concrete Masonry Association, National Precast Concrete Association, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Portland Cement Association, Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, and Tilt-Up Concrete Association.
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FAA Releases Pavement Spec, Includes Industry Input
- Thursday, 03 January 2019 15:44
ACPA is pleased to report the Federal Aviation Administration has posted Advisory Circular 150/5370-10H, Standard Specifications for Construction of Airports.
ACPA’s Airport Task Force worked closely with the FAA on the latest update to the construction guide specification, providing many comments during the draft stage of the document, but also providing mark-up as the document advanced within the FAA.
“Most of ACPA’s suggestions were included in the proposed update to the specifications,” says Gary Mitchell, ACPA’s Vice President—Airports & Pavement Technology, adding, “Many of the suggested changes from aggregate requirements to slump requirements, were submitted with a red-line document in April 2016, while comments on smoothness requirements dated back to June 2013.” A new recycled concrete aggregate base course specification has been added based on work done under the Innovative Pavement Research Foundation (IPRF) research program. In addition, working with our industry partner, PCA, input was offered for a cement-treated, soil base course specification.
A small sub-task force met in Pittsburg in December 2018 to begin marking up the 32 13 14.13 specifications with the intent to submit full industry recommended changes to the Transportation System Center (TSC) to parallel the similar effort on the FAA construction guide specification. The sub-task force group is meeting with the TSC in January to go over the markup with the Tri-services. Questions? Please contact Gary Mitchell (704.904.9459 or gmitchell@acpa.org).
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ACPA Announces 2018 Annual Report
- Tuesday, 18 December 2018 15:12
ACPA is encouraging members and affiliates to take a closer look at association activities for the year by downloading the 2018 ACPA Annual Report. The 18-page report is packed full of brief descriptions and illustrations that capture many of the major activities and accomplishments for the year.
In 2018, there was a strong emphasis on focused support of members, chapters, and agencies/owners. The report describes examples of that support in the form of ACPA’s ConcreteCOMPETES program (along with success examples), as well as ACPA’s new alignment with the Portland Cement Association which includes a major push to develop and implement a comprehensive promotion plan.
The digital report also details many significant milestones and accomplishments, including the successful rollout of the cement & concrete industries’ PavementDesigner.org pavement thickness design platform; ACPA’s VISION2040 initiative; and many new specifications, standards, and industry perspectives documents. The report also provides an update on the successful launch of the “Interns for the Future” and an update on the ACPA Emerging Leaders Group activities.
Many of these initiatives have come online in the past year or two, and in addition to achieving strong results on new programs and plans, the association has also maintained its focus on mainstay activities such as membership development, market measurement, and many other essential services and activities, which are woven into this comprehensive report.
The end of the report also includes a link to a powerful new video that captures the enthusiastic perspectives of ACPA members and staff, as well as the energy of the 55th Annual Meeting. Click here to see & download the exciting and informative ACPA 2018 Annual Report!
ACPA Comments on FHWA Pavement Policy and Guidance
- Tuesday, 18 December 2018 14:50
ACPA 2019 Chairman Jim Mack (CEMEX) and ACPA EVP Leif Wathne participated in a pavement design policy and guidance listening session at FHWA headquarters in Washington, DC, last Friday.
“The listening session was the result of many years of our industry advocating for the use of life cycle cost analysis, asset management, competition, and other considerations as important stewardship tools,” Mack says. “In addition to providing this information, we also have been sharing and using the information MIT has been developing to support our positions.”
“The concrete pavement industry believes the FHWA pavement policy, as written, is clear and states concisely what key factors need to be considered; however, we do not believe the policy is being clearly and uniformly interpreted and communicated by FHWA division offices and agencies,” Wathne says.
In addition to addressing the pavement policy, the listening session was an opportunity for the concrete pavement industry to submit comments regarding both the policy’s non-regulatory supplement on Pavement Design Considerations and the supporting Technical Advisory T5040.39 on Alternate Design/Alternate Bid. “The supplement needs to be sorely updated,” Wathne says, noting, “The technical advisory on alternate design/alternate bidding is very well written and provides sound guidance that is consistent with good stewardship principles.”
ACPA was one of several transportation-construction industry groups invited to participate in the session. One of the other groups involved, NRMCA, also provided comments. Wathne said the views expressed by Brian Killingsworth of NRMCA were complementary and supportive of ACPA’s views, indicating continued strong alignment between the associations’ priorities in this area.
The listening session Friday is one of several planned for highway stakeholders to present views. The Friday session focused on industry opinions centered on: what’s working with the current policy and technical guidance; what’s not working; what’s needed to address challenges/concerns; what’s missing or needs to be updated; and what else does the FHWA need to be aware of or add to pavement design issues.
As a follow-up to the listening session, ACPA plans to submit formal written comments detailing the concrete pavement industry’s views on these matters.
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Interested in other government affairs news? Follow this link to see ACPA’s government affairs repository.
