Congress has announced its intent to pass a Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded at current levels in the absence of new appropriations bills. While FY23 appropriations bills are necessary to keep up with the flow of infrastructure work, avoiding a government shutdown is a relief as Congress breaks in October in anticipation of the mid-term elections. Also, our thoughts are with the people of Florida as Hurricane Ian barrels across the state. In addition to infrastructure resiliency to weather the aftermath of the storm, Florida will need to see cooperation from the state and federal government to ensure the residents have the support they need, and normalcy returned. Government disfunction is the last thing America needs during uncertain times. Stay strong, Florida!

September was a busy month for Congress and the federal agencies. The Administration released its Buy Clean Initiative, which ACPA is watching closely. The initiative prioritizes the purchasing of “clean” glass, steel, concrete, and asphalt. ACPA met with FHWA following the announcement to understand FHWA’s role. ACPA delivered a message that, coupled with current supply chain challenges and inflation considerations, any additional pressures on state DOTs are unwelcomed. ACPA was a strong partner to FHWA with the agency’s Climate Challenge that offered incentives to state DOTs to pursue climate-friendly initiatives. ACPA worked with our Chapter/State executives to help a number of states apply and is optimistic that some DOTs will receive funding as a result of our efforts. FHWA is expected to announce Climate Challenge grant recipients soon. ACPA will continue to work with the agency and our CSEs to help promote more opportunities for concrete paving through these initiatives.

ACPA is also working closely with the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and our strong cement partners to understand supply challenges and any materials tightening. ACPA sent a letter to PCA CEO Mike Ireland requesting the associations work together on communicating any supply challenges, particularly regionally, so that our contractor members and promoters can continue to convey to state DOTs our readiness to deliver projects on time, with the quality and resiliency they’ve come to expect from concrete paving. Thank you to PCA and ACPA’s cement partners for your support.

In the coming months, ACPA will continue to convey opportunities in concrete paving coming from the FAA and Tri-Services. General aviation airports and concrete overlays offer increased project opportunities for our contractor members as awareness of concrete overlays as a sustainable and resilient rehab solution for general aviation pavements is raised with state aeronautics divisions and FAA as federal money becomes increasingly available. ACPA also continues to work hard on behalf of our contractor members to offer technical assistance on airfield paving projects across the country. In addition, the FAA has asked ACPA to review and provide comments on an FAA Engineering Brief that will address issues with the cement specification requirements in a changing environment to provide for the use of sustainable cements in airfield paving projects. ACPA’s aviation program, run by Chief Engineer Gary Mitchell, remains among the most impressive in the industry! Shout out to all our hardworking members bidding on airport improvement work. We value your support and partnership.

Finally, I hope to see you all in Nashville, TN, for this year’s Annual Meeting. Registration is now open – the meeting promises to be a productive and important one for our industry, and I look forward to connecting with you.

In the meantime, this week’s newsletter includes On the Grade stories from Detroit, Orlando and Tucson, an announcement from the Buy Clean Initiative, a new feature at the Annual Meeting, the latest episode of Concrete Considerations, long-life pavements, new funding opportunities and save the dates for industry events.

Cheers!