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
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