Asphalt Pavement Magazine - May/June 2016 - (Page 9)

Chairman's Commentary Pavement Performance As the 2016 chairman of NAPA, I'm proud to represent an industry that puts energy and resources into continuous improvement to ensure we construct the highest quality asphalt pavements for our owners and the traveling public. Asphalt pavement continues to offer the speed of construction, smoothness, noise reduction, safety and sustainability that makes it the preferred pavement of road owners and drivers everywhere. Over the past several decades, NAPA has invested in many efforts that have helped us deliver the highest quality product. In 1986, NAPA and members of the asphalt pavement industry established the National Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn University in Alabama. Research results from the facility's Pavement Test Track have generated best practices and asphalt mixes that ensure increased pavement life, safety, noise reduction, and sustainability. Our 2006 partnership with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to deploy warm-mix asphalt in the United States ushered in new thinking, improved worker safety, and saved fuel. Warm-mix asphalt brought additional advantages to our industry, including the extension of the construction season into cooler weather without a loss of quality. The asphalt pavement industry also invests in a variety of short-term projects that are delivering tools and knowledge necessary to foster innovation. The Pavement Economics Committee, a partnership between NAPA and the State Asphalt Pavement Associations, has led these efforts that have had an immediate impact on performance and value. PEC projects such as Thinlays™, PaveXpress, and IRI Explorer are examples of how the asphalt pavement industry is working to improve pavement performance and design to better meet the needs of our customers. These projects demonstrate the benefit of industry leading the way and investing in the process of ensuring pavement performance. Now, our industry is focused on another factor in ensuring pavement performance: durability and improving the overall performance of pavements through design and construction in partnership with road owners and contractors. Learning From Others' Success NAPA hosts industry scanning tours to learn how other countries are innovating and solving problems. Scanning tours of Europe led to the introduction of warm-mix asphalt and stone-matrix asphalt mixtures to North America. I participated in the industry's recent scan tour of Japan, which focused on Japanese roadbuilders' success with high-RAP-content asphalt pavements and how road owners in Japan managed these projects. Although a variety of factors contribute to Japan's success, the underlying foundation is the framework in which road owners and contractors work together. Rather than using a method-based specification system, road owners use a performance-based framework that defines expectations for the pavement and allows contractors to use their engineering and innovative capabilities to meet those performance requirements. This is a system that has helped Japanese road owners meet project budgets, while giving contractors the ability to introduce innovation and construct superior performing pavements. With this in mind, and along with NAPA's focus on value and performance, NAPA By Kevin Kelly, NAPA Chairman Creating a framework that meets the needs of road owners and contractors continued on page 10 Asphalt Pavement Magazine - May/June 2016 * 9

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Asphalt Pavement Magazine - May/June 2016

Chairman’s Commentary
Industry News
So Much More Than Mill, Move, Pile, Recycle Excerpts from Best Practices for RAP and RAS Management
Asphalt Pavement Industry Continues to Improve Excellent Record on Sustainable Practices
Creating a Sustainability Program: Choosing Corporate Values The second in a series of articles to help you create
Industry Events
Index of Advertisers/Advertisers.com

Asphalt Pavement Magazine - May/June 2016