Wednesday, December 23, 2015

2015 Uintah Basin Asphalt Summit

Special thanks to everyone that helped make the first-ever Uintah Basin Asphalt Summit a great success!  We had over seventy people in attendance at the newly-constructed Uintah Conference Center in Vernal, Utah on the 16th of December.

Attendees were welcomed by Brandon Pack with Burdick Materials and given an excellent Morning Keynote Address from Adam Massey, the Director of the Uintah Transportation Special Service District.

The Summit then moved to three excellent educational sessions helping attendees understand the importance of building a durable asphalt mix, the roles and history of asphalt binders, and the UAPA Pavement Preservation Matrix.  We closed the summit out with some great dutch over catering and a brief message about UAPA from Reed Ryan.  Special thanks to our Presenting Sponsor, Burdick Materials, for helping to make our first-ever Summit in the Basin a success!!



 










Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Executive Director Message December 2015

Wow!  What a year and what a month for UAPA.  Before I get any further along, I want to take just a brief moment to thank you for all you have done for the association in 2015.  It’s always fun to look back on the year that was and examine challenges and opportunities that were presented for the growth and sustainability of the association.  Personally, I count 2015 as a great success, and to cap it off, here are just a few of the things that happened in December:
  • In early December, UAPA’s Board of Directors held a comprehensive strategic planning session to reassess and prioritize UAPA’s core values and how they relate to the direction of the association moving forward.  It was a great session, and I am personally eager to get to work on some of the opportunities we identified for 2016.
  • Later on in the month, UAPA was fortunate enough to receive an invitation from the Northern Utah Chapter of the APWA to present at their monthly luncheon in Logan on the 15th of December.  Waylund Ludlow with Geneva Rock Products presented on “Best Practices for Cold Weather Paving.”  Anyone who has seen this presentation from Waylund knows he does a great job with his presentation along with a hands-on demo that is both effective and entertaining.  Thanks to the Northern Chapter of the APWA and to Waylund Ludlow for helping to make the luncheon a success!
  • Finally, on the 16th of December UAPA hosted the first-ever Uintah Basin Asphalt Summit.  More details on the Summit are included with this newsletter, but special thanks needs to be given to a few key members of UAPA for helping to make the Summit a resounding success.  They are, Brandon Pack with Burdick Materials, Victor Johnson with Geneva Rock Products, Craig Fabrizio with Staker Parson Companies, and Craig Haskell with (up until yesterday) Nu Rock Asphalt Coatings (congrats Craig on your retirement!).
Looking ahead, I am excited for what 2016 holds for UAPA.  If you have not done so already, now is the time to sign up to be a vendor or attendee at the 2016 Utah Asphalt Conference happening on the 24th and 25th of February.  More importantly, as we look to 2016, UAPA’s Board of Directors will soon be setting some goals centered around our core ideologies of Value to Members, Unified Voice, and Commitment to Industry.  I look forward to sharing that vision and those goals with you in the New Year.  Until then, stay warm, enjoy the snow, and have a wonderful and joyous season of Christmas as you celebrate the holidays with those closest to you.
Best regards,
Reed Ryan
Executive Director


The Utah Asphalt Pavement Association

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Executive Director’s Message - November 2015

It’s not hard at this time of year to look back and think of all the things you are thankful for in the year that was.  For me personally, I am grateful everyday that my children are happy and healthy and that I get to live in a beautiful state with my lovely wife and kind friends.  Certainly, my role with the Utah Asphalt Pavement Association (UAPA) plays a big part in all that I am grateful for as well.  Indeed, I’m grateful for a job that allows me to interact on a regular basis with people that are trying to make our neighborhoods, communities, and state better.   As we celebrate this week all that we are thankful for, my hope for you is that you will take just a moment to pause and to reflect on the good that you do and the contribution we individually and collectively contribute to simply make life in Utah better.   As you do, I want you to know that I am truly grateful for the work you put in to make things better for me, my family, my friends, this association, and all the good people of Utah.  Thank you.
As we look forward, we know that Association life comes with its own set of inherent challenges, but in the challenges of the past year I have found strength and gratitude for the things we are accomplishing together.  As an example of that work, here are just a few of the things we did in November: 

  • We held a full-day’s worth of education at the Southern Utah Asphalt Seminar in St. George with 120 people in attendance.  The feedback we have received from the seminar this year has been nothing short of amazing, and I am grateful to all of those that presented as well as to those that attended and were able to learn something. 
  • Staying a little closer to home, UAPA traveled to the University of Utah to hold the first-of-its-kind Asphalt Seminar with 80 students from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.  Because of the high-interest garnered at the seminar from the students, we followed the seminar up with a tour of a pit and production facilities of a local producer.  
  • Working towards our commitment to industry, UAPA met with the APWA Specifications Committee to work on and improve the asphalt specifications. 
In December, the association will be meeting with key leaders to revisit the strategic plan of the association and to ensure that we are still striving towards our core ideologies of bringing Value to Members; ensuring our Unified Voice; and demonstrating our Commitment to Industry.  We’ll also be traveling to the Uintah Basin to provide some education and training on the 16th of December.  Education has certainly played a key role in the development of UAPA and I am certain we will have a successful event at the Uintah Conference Center on the 16th – I hope to see you there!
Until then, Happy Thanksgiving!  I want to thank you for being a part of an industry that is second-to-none and one that I am truly grateful for this Thanksgiving.  Gobble, Gobble, Gobble.

-Reed Ryan
Executive Director
The Utah Asphalt Pavement Association

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

UAPA Executive Director Message October 2015

Although leaves are falling and days are getting shorter, there seems to be plenty of work to get done before the first snowflakes fall in November and December.  Part of that work for UAPA involves preparing and planning for the 2015 Southern Utah Seminar happening on
November 17th at the Dixie Center in St. George.  The Seminar this year will deliver on great educational topics from the importance of tack coats in pavement construction to a review of maintenance options and applications available for your road.  You can find out more or you can register for the Seminar HERE.  CE Credits will be available for each of the four breakout sessions.
In looking back, October was yet another month full of meetings for the association.  In addition to our regularly scheduled committee meetings (Board, Executive Committee, Technical Committee, Membership Committee, and Operations Committee) the month quickly passed with additional meetings to review and recommend changes to the APWA Specifications for the next construction season and a great partnering meeting with the LDS Church for a review of their asphalt pavement specifications.  Much of this work is ongoing, but it is wonderful to see true partnerships and friendships grow through UAPA and these organizations.
In the next few days UAPA will also be headed up to the University of Utah to hold our first-ever Asphalt Seminar with students from the Civil Engineering Department at the university.  This event promises to be a great relationship building avenue, as we continue to seed the UAPA Scholarship Fund through events such as our golf tournament and asphalt conference.  
Of course, the month of October would not be complete without UAPA’s attendance at the APWA Fall Conference and Annual UDOT Conference.  Both of these venues have proved valuable in building new connections while helping to spread the word to some of our biggest supporters about all of the good work UAPA continues to do.  This includes participating in another productive and informative UDOT-UAPA Quarterly meeting held a little earlier this month.
As always, here’s to hoping that end of the month and construction season brings us lots of treats and no tricks!  Thanks for all you do for industry and for this association.
                                                           
Best regards,
                                                                                   
Reed Ryan

UAPA Executive Director

Monday, October 26, 2015

Highway Bill Takes Major Step Forward After Bipartisan Vote by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee


On Oct. 22, 2015, the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee unanimously approved H.R. 3763, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015, to reauthorize and reform Federal-aid highways and highway safety programs. The overwhelming bipartisan support reflected in a voice vote in favor of the bill came after lawmakers expressed the need to pass a fiscally responsible program that sustains America’s infrastructure. “I am proud that we were able to work together and find a commom ground on this important bipartisan legsislation” said T&I Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.).  A quick summary of the legislation can be found here.
While the STRR Act brings our industry closer to securing a multi-year highway bill, the measure lacks the funding necessary to provide the long-term certainty needed to create a system that promotes safety and greater mobility. The $325 billion legislation provides six-years of contract authortiy with only three years of baseline funding, $16 billion below the spending levels assumed in the Senate-passed DRIVE Act. The allocation of the $325 billion is: $261 billion or highways, $55 billion for transit and $9 billion for national highway safety efforts.

Total New Highway Funding under House and Senate Bills
(in millions)

2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
House Bill
40,995
41,606
42,338
43,192
44,046
44,940
45,835
Senate Bill
40,995
42,365
43,636
45,070
46,498
47,622
48,772

As a result, NAPA and industry stakeholders sent letters to the T&I Committee prior to the markup congratulating them on reaching an agreement to reauthorize the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), but expressing concerns with the inadequate funding levels in the legislation, specifically that current investment levels do not allow state transportation departments and the transportation construction industry to plan for long-term, large-scale highway improvement projects.
In regards to the HTF reauthorization timeline, there is no fixed schedule for the full House to take up the measure before the HTF expires on Oct. 29, making it apparent that Congress will be forced to enact yet another short-term extension. Hill staff has indicated that moving the legislation off the House floor and into conference remains a top priority, where both the House and Senate will hash out the funding mechanisms to support the $32 billion necessary for FY 2016-2018.
NAPA professional staff will gain more clarity after the Highway Coalitions meeting on Monday, Oct. 26 with Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), Chief Deputy Whip McHenry (R-N.C.) , and Chairman Shuster (R-Pa.) to discuss the path forward on a long-term highway funding solution.
STRR Act Takeaways
  • Approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Oct. 22, 2015.
  • Create a new competitive grant program, the Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects program, funded at $743 million annually.
  • Allows up to $500 million in the program to be used for rail freight projects paid for out of the HTF - Transportation Construct Coalition Letter opposing the provision
  • Reduce TIFIA from $1 billion annually to $200 million, while lowering the threshold for projects from $50 million to $10 million.
  • Reauthorizes the Accelerated Implementation and  Deployment of Asphalt Pavement Technologies (AID-PT) program at $6 million annually. 
  • Provide grants to states to demonstrate user-based alternative revenue mechanisms that use a user fee structure to maintain solvency of the Highway Trust Fund.
  • Two pavement amendments added to the legislation: "Innovative Materials" and "Highway Durability/Sustainability Study." 
This article has been provided by NAPA

Friday, August 28, 2015

A Moment to Say Thanks

August was another tremendously busy month for UAPA from attending the SAPA Summer Meeting in Virginia to hosting our 4th Annual UAPA Golf Classic; the month seemed to fly by in a flash.  That’s why I was grateful for one brief moment on the morning of the golf tournament to pause and remember what really matters in life (I took the picture to capture this brief moment). 

In fact, the golf tournament is one of my favorite things that we do as an association because it gives us a chance to help our community and the UAPA Scholarship Fund.  This year, through your generous support and donations at the tournament we were able to make a difference for the Salt Lake Valley Habitat for Humanity while adding to the future educational opportunities for leaders in our industry.

There is no doubt that this is a busy time of year for all of us.  I am continually amazed at the long hours and many days of hard work that this industry puts in to make sure our state keeps moving.  Through it all, however, I hope you will find those moments like I did on the morning of the golf tournament to remember what matters most to you.  Thank you for making our industry better and thank you for helping to spread some good to others this month. 

Here’s to a Fall’s worth of meetings, educational events, and opportunities to improve - see you down the proverbial road!

Friday, August 21, 2015

Miller Tapped to Lead National Asphalt Education, Field Deployment Efforts

Assumes New Role as National Director of Asphalt Pavement Alliance

Williamsburg, Va. The Asphalt Pavement Alliance (APA) today named Amy Miller, P.E., as its new National Director. She was introduced at the annual summer meeting of the State Asphalt Pavement Associations (SAPA) in Williamsburg, Va.
Miller, a professional engineer licensed in Florida, has an extensive background in pavement design and pavement type selection issues. As national director of the APA, she will be responsible for coordinating and leading education and field deployment efforts for the asphalt pavement industry, working in close cooperation with the Asphalt Institute (AI) in Lexington, Ky., the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) in Lanham, Md., and the 40 state associations.
“I look forward to working with the APA’s partners to highlight exactly how asphalt pavements are the material of choice for ensuring quality, comfort, and value for the driving public and road owners alike,” Miller said.
Miller earned her bachelor’s in environmental engineering and a master of business administration from the University of Florida. She is a past-president of the Florida Structural Engineers Association, and has experience working as a consulting engineer, for a building materials supplier, and with a construction trade association.
“Having Amy guide and support the industry’s field deployment efforts will help reinforce all the state-level work our associations do to ensure the public gets the best value possible out of the roads they use every day,” said Richard J. Schreck, Executive Vice President of the Virginia Asphalt Association and 2015 SAPA Chairman.
“As an industry, we spend considerable resources on engineering, research, and development with a focus on quality. Amy will help ensure that this important work is put to use in the field,” said Peter Grass, President of AI.
“The asphalt pavement industry is moving forward with many advancements that boost sustainability and pavement performance,” said Mike Acott, President of NAPA. “We are excited to have someone of Amy’s caliber leading our efforts to put these innovations in front of road owners and decision makers.”

The Asphalt Pavement Alliance (www.driveasphalt.org) is a partnership of the Asphalt Institute, National Asphalt Pavement Association and the State Asphalt Pavement Associations.
The Asphalt Institute (www.asphaltinstitute.org) is the international trade association of petroleum asphalt producers, manufacturers and affiliated businesses. AI promotes the use, benefits and quality performance of petroleum asphalt, through engineering, research, marketing and educational activities.
The National Asphalt Pavement Association (www.asphaltpavement.org) represents the interests of U.S. asphalt producers/contractors before Congress, federal agencies, and other national trade and business organizations. NAPA supports an active research program designed to improve the quality of asphalt pavements and paving techniques used in the construction of roads, streets, highways, parking lots, airports, and environmental and recreational facilities.
The State Asphalt Pavement Associations (www.asphaltpavement.org/sapas) is a group of 40 associations representing the interests of asphalt pavement producers and paving companies at the state and local level across the United States. 

Friday, July 31, 2015

Executive Director Message July 2015

As I look back over the course of the last year and forward to what lies ahead for the asphalt pavement industry in terms of trends, a particular quote by Gary Hamel, a world-class leader in business management and strategy, comes to mind.  He said, “A noble purpose inspires sacrifice, stimulates innovation and encourages perseverance.”  Wise words indeed for just about any of us to live by, but words that take on particular significance for the Utah Asphalt Pavement Association (UAPA) as we have carefully and thoroughly examined our purpose “to unify the voice of the asphalt industry to promote the quality and use of asphalt pavements in Utah.”

With that purpose solidly in place, here are just a few things we are doing to stimulate innovation in asphalt paving.  The use of warm mix asphalt technologies continues to be a growing and important trend in Utah.  In fact, Utah leads the much of the nation in terms of the use of warm mix asphalt with measured benefits including, reduced emissions, reduced energy use, increased windows for paving seasons, enhanced workability of the mix, and an increased ability to travel longer distances before placing the mix.  All great things!  We also continue to partner with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to provide quality asphalt by making small, but nonetheless important, tweaks to build more durable mixes without sacrificing stability. Together with UDOT we are actively examining the importance of oil content, air voids, joint compaction, smoothness, reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) management practices, and the role of various other performance specifications.  Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA) continues to be an important, growing, and well-performing mix for UDOT, so we are actively partnering on how to make that specification even better.

As always, the Utah Chapter of the American Public Works Association (Utah APWA) remains an important partner of industry here in Utah.  Similar to UDOT, we continue to work with the Utah APWA to improve specifications, raise basic standards, and educate owners on how to specify and verify the best mixes for their needs.  No small tasks for any one of us!  That’s why together we must persevere.

How to best to that, to persevere, is a question I have long-thought about over the course of my three years as the Executive Director of UAPA.  With a clear purpose in place, and plenty evidence of stimulated innovation moving forward, I believe the best way to persevere in our efforts is through education.  Therefore, UAPA remains heavily focused on our Lunch and Learn program, the Utah Asphalt Conference (UAC), and new and promising educational seminars including the Southern Utah Asphalt Seminar (SUAS), and the soon-to-be-launched Eastern Utah Asphalt Seminar (EUAS).  With special direction given by UAPA’s board of directors, our Lunch and Learn program is now run in ten out of the twelve months of the year.  Last year, the UAC had over 750 people in attendance over the course of two days full of twenty-eight breakout educations sessions.  And we successfully launched the SUAS with over 120 people in attendance for a full day’s worth of education geared specifically to our friends in southern Utah.  This year we plan to do the same for all of partners in eastern Utah through the creation of the EUAS sometime in the near future. 

For me, the most important trend in the asphalt pavement industry in Utah is growth in education.  A particular emphasis of UAPA, but one that is vital for anyone wanting to innovate, sacrifice, and persevere in this industry.  With an emphasis and growth in this one particular area, I am confident that the quality and use of asphalt pavements in Utah will naturally follow.  A noble purpose indeed, and one that I am proud to see the unified voice of our industry continue to pursue.           
      
  

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Executive Director Message June 2015

Rain, Rain, Go Away (not really)

Despite the consistent rain showers each and every day, the month of May has proven to be a very busy time of year for the Utah Asphalt Pavement Association (UAPA).  And after the winter (or lack thereof) we had, the recent rain showers are certainly welcome, but it has made for an interesting start to the construction season nonetheless.  Regardless, rain or no rain, May has flown by; here are a few things the association worked on or was a part of this month:
·      Member Visits: I have made it a personal goal to personally visit with each and every UAPA member this year.  Special thanks to all of you who sat down or provided me with a tour this month.  I have learned so much.  The perspectives you offered during our visits help provide direction and future opportunities for the association.  Thank you!  If you have not heard from me yet, you soon will.  I mean it when I say I want to visit with every member on an individual basis.
·      May Lunch and Learn - The Maintenance Toolbox: In May we had another great and successful Lunch and Learn event to learn about some of the tools available to pavement managers and owners for pavement maintenance.  Special thanks to Dean Garrett with Morgan Pavement for presenting at this Lunch and Learn.
·      UDOT-UAPA Quarterly Meeting: The association met with representatives from UDOT to discuss current and future specification changes as well as to follow-up on recent changes UAPA and UDOT have made together.
·      First-Ever UAPA Local Government Advisory Council Meeting: Late in the month, UAPA held its first-ever Local Government Advisory Council meeting for cities and counties in Utah.  The meeting was a great success and provided an opportunity for cities and counties from across the state to discuss current needs, best practices, and possible changes in the industry moving forward.  The Council will meet again in late October or early November.
·      Standard Committee Meetings: All of our committees (Operations, Technical, Executive, Membership) are engaged and actively working on items to improve industry, performance, and business.  We’ve worked very hard on some important items this month and I am so grateful for the time and energy that has been put into committee work recently on behalf of UAPA.  I look forward to moving the work of these committees along through discussion and feedback from the Board of Directors in the months to come!
·      APWA Golf Tournament: UAPA was happy to once again support a marquee event for our friends at the APWA Utah Chapter.  This year they raised over $8,000 for their scholarship fund! Congratulations to all who made the event such a success!

June promises to be just as busy for the association with Roundtable Discussions scheduled for our Maintenance and Placement Contractors; our next Lunch and Learn on the 18th, Why Pavements Fail and What You Can Do About It (a panel discussion); additional meetings with UDOT on changes to the CIR Specification and IRI Specification; and our regular slate of committee and board meetings.

As you can see from all that is happening, this is an association on the move and one that is driven by its members and their willingness to act.  If you are not a part of UAPA, you should be.  There are membership categories available for each and every kind of entity from cities and counties (who join for free!) to design and engineering firms to contractors and equipment suppliers.   We need you!  Just like the rain, there will always be challenges, but I am confident as we continue to grow this association and keep it active that together we will continue to accomplish great things for our industry.

Thanks for all you give to UAPA and to our shared industry.  I have plenty of umbrellas if you need to borrow one.

-Reed

  

Highway Extension Advances in Congress


Sign Highway Trust Fund Petition

Last night the House of Representatives approved HR 2353, a bill to extend the MAP-21 highway authorization through July 31, 2015.  The vote was 387 to 35.  A number of members had threatened to vote against the bill as a protest of how Congress has been handling (or mishandling) the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) solvency crisis and in opposition to the continued use of short-term extensions.  The Senate is expected to vote to approve a similar extension sometime today or Thursday.   Letters NAPA sent to lawmakers can be found here.

While a July deadline helps to keep the pressure on Congress to find a long-term funding solution, the chances of solving the HTF crisis within the next two months (or 31 legislative days) is very unlikely.  Most likely, come July, Congress will once again have to extend the program.

The primary hope according to Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) for finding sufficient revenues to authorize a six-year program is as part of a comprehensive tax reform package.  Sen. John Thune (R-SD) has also raised the idea of funding the Highway Trust Fund while extending a series of business tax breaks that are renewed annually, known as tax extenders.

When NAPA’s Legislative Committee meets on July 13, 2015 during NAPA’s Midyear Meeting in Denver, members will discuss the Association’s position on future extensions and ways to push for a long-term transportation reauthorization bill with increased investments for highways.   In the meantime, NAPA members are urged to arrange meetings with their Member of Congress back in the District to press them to enact a viable, long-term revenue source for the Highway Trust Fund.  Information on Districts visits can be found here.

Lastly, NAPA members are urged to sign and spread the word on a petition calling on Congress to fix the Highway Trust Fund.  To make sure congressional leaders hear us loud and clear, NAPA is striving to have thousands of transportation construction industry professionals sign the petition ASAP, which can be found here.

Editor's Note: NAPA's Director of Government Affairs, Michele Stanley, accepted a new position at the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association to be closer to her family.  NAPA is in the process of finding a replacement.  In the meantime, any questions about NAPA's government affairs or PAC programs should be directed to Jay Hansen at jhansen@asphaltpavement.org.