News from the MAPA conference
Jan 25, 2011
At face value, MoDOT’s 2011 outlook is dismal. At the Missouri Asphalt Pavement Association conference, Dave Nichols, Mo DOT Director of Program Delivery, reported that the DOT budget is under-funded. In fact Dave stated, “Last year we drove of a cliff, this year we are in the valley.” As a result, Don Hillis, Mo DOT Director of System Management, reported that focus would be given to maintaining Missouri’s existing network of roads. According to Mr. Hillis, high volume roads are in good repair, whereas low volume roads are deteriorating. This bodes well for those who make a living on pavement preservation. Evotherm has also been shown to contribute significant energy reduction and workability value to high RAP and RAS mixes that can be favored in this type of budgetary environment.
Mike Acott, President of the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA), addressed MAPA on the status of warm mix asphalt (WMA). Mr. Acott reported that to date over 30 MM tons of WMA have been produced and placed in the U. S. Mr. Acott further stressed his belief that this is the future of the asphalt pavement industry. According to Mr. Acott, potentially accelerating the transition to warm mix are the International Agency Research of Cancer (IARC) findings due out August or September this year. Mr. Acott outlined federal research initiatives NCHRP 9-43 and 9-47 pertaining to lab mix designs and field performance respectively. The former is managed by Advanced Asphalt Technology and later NCAT.
Author: Don Moors
