Two weeks ago, I was in Las Vegas at World of Concrete, where the weather was amazing, and you could feel the energy and excitement about concrete paving in the air. Last week, I was in Florida, where despite chilly temperatures that required warnings about the potential for frozen iguanas falling out of trees (it’s a thing – look it up), the FCPA Pavewise Conference in Orlando was another huge success! Congratulations to Matt Sitter and Amy Wedel for hosting a great event! It was an absolute pleasure to be in the room with so many contractors and cement suppliers engaging with the DOT, making the case for more concrete pavement projects, particularly considering that in FY 2022, Florida is expected to receive nearly $2.5B in federal highway and airport funding.

While at the FCPA Conference, I spent some time reflecting on the role ACPA and our State Chapter/Partners will play in implementing the IIJA and ensuring that important projects are completed using cost-effective, durable, resilient, and sustainable materials. With the return of Minnesota in late 2021 (thank you, Matt Zeller), ACPA currently has 21 State/Chapter Partners covering 34 States, all on the ground promoting concrete pavement products. At a minimum, they help preserve existing market share for concrete pavement. Ideally, they are successfully generating new opportunities for market growth by convincing key stakeholders to more aggressively consider concrete pavement.

One of ACPA/National’s priorities for 2022 is deepening our support of our Chapter/State Partners through continued investment in our technical services, providing collateral and other resources essential to promotion, and lastly, working to provide accurate market data to help our contractors, equipment providers, and cement partners better understand the current trends in our industry. Accurate data not only helps our membership understand the size of the market but also provides the type of competitive intelligence that becomes an invaluable strategic differentiator. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be reaching out to many of you requesting additional information about the types of data most important to your business. Please share your thoughts.

Despite the freezing iguanas, paving season is fast approaching! ACPA National is ready to help pave the way to a successful 2022. We’ve got a great newsletter this week, with an RFP from the CP Tech Center, a look ahead to the 24th Annual ACPA/PA Concrete Conference, and three stories detailing ACPA’s recent engagement on IIJA and subsequent opportunities.

Cheers!