Driven to make roads safer

Source: Technology Digital

Date :9/25/2007 4:03:58 PM

The National Asphalt Pavement Assocation continually strives to make the nation’s road surfaces safer, easier to maintain, and quicker to install.

By James Buchanan

Asphalt is where the rubber truly meets the road.

As such, it is an incredibly important material. It keeps us drivers safe by providing as close to a non-skid surface as is possible; it saves us money by not easily falling prey to potholes and by holding up well under growing traffic, rather than becoming rutted and cracked; and it can also be laid quickly and smoothly, sparing us from prolifically long roadway paving projects.

It is also a material that is constantly being tested and improved upon.

At the heart of these efforts, and one of the drivers behind asphalt improvements over the past 30 years or more, is the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA).

“We are the industry organization for the hot mix asphalt producers,” says Margaret Cervarich, vice president for marketing and public affairs. “These are the companies that own the mixing plants where the asphalt cement is mixed with the various aggregates — stone, sand, gravel — to make the paving material.”

Cervarich goes on to add that NAPA represents hot mix operators on the national level by working with Congress and federal agencies to promote the interests of the association’s members. State level work is handled by a number of state level organizations, which NAPA will partner with.

“We’re essentially a technical organization, and we work in the engineering realm more than anything else,” says Cervarich of the organization’s primary research and advocacy focus. In large part, NAPA is dedicated to researching various hot mix technologies in order to improve upon the basic product.

This work is done in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which is the association for state DOT (Department of Transportation) officials, says Cervarich.

The centerpiece of this research effort led by NAPA is the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT), which is a roadway and research facility created and endowed by the NAPA and based at Auburn University.

“The members of our organization went out and raised $10 million back in the mid 1980s,” says Cervarich. “It really was a phenomenal effort, which came about because they really believed this needed to be done.”

Initially, the test center included a two-person staff housed in a fairly small facility, she explains. But now the center has grown to include 25 fulltime staff, numerous student researchers, a 40,000 sq. ft. facility, and a 1.7 mile test track.

At the time of the association’s creation, the nation’s roads had experienced rapidly increasing traffic volume and weight, causing significantly faster wear on roadway surfaces. It was felt at the time that an institute needed to be created that is dedicated to practical research to improve pavement performance, says Cervarich.

“Real technical research,” she says, adding that the intent is to go beyond better business processes and into better technology and materials.

One of the advances to come out of the NCAT is Open Grated Friction Courses, which Cervarich describes as a type of pavement that essentially absorbs — rather than repels — rain water. It is comprised of an impermeable bottom layer, topped with an inch to an inch-and-a-half of permeable surfacing. Rain will sink into the pavement, where it is then channeled off to the sides.

The main advantage to this is that during a rainstorm there is less water coating the roadway surface, reducing the risk of drivers being essentially blinded by truck spray, as well as increasing skid resistance.

Cervarich adds that some northern states don’t use this type of asphalt because sand — which is used with salt in the winter to increase traction — will essentially plug the permeable surface, making it ineffective. However, the surface will respond well to salt, and some northern states have found it inhibits ice formation and is easier to plow.

Research to develop advances such as the above is driven by the NCAT’s Application Steering Committee, which is made up of a broad cross section of federal and state officials, contractors, academics and association representatives.

“This group acts to guide the NCAT toward practical research that will help make roadways better,” says Cervarich.

As well as the research at NCAT, NAPA promotes the dissemination of new technologies in the hot mix industry, and brings technologies developed nationally and internationally to its members’ attention. Cervarich says that Europe has been a center for innovation for quite some time, and that the U.S. often exchanges new technologies, ideas and methods with its European counterparts.

“The United States and Europe really are the leaders in this industry,” she says. “These exchanges have made us better and made others better as well.”

Beyond supporting research, NAPA does quite a bit of advocacy with Congress. Much of this activity is done by members calling on their respective House and Senate members in order to advise on legislation and provide testimony on pertinent bills.

NAPA also does advocacy work on safety and environmental issues with various regulatory organizations. According to Cervarich, this is done in a spirit of cooperation and partnership rather than in an adversarial relationship.

“We engage with them and we work very well with them,” she says.

NAPA will often, and openly, share its data and research and the expertise of its members with these government agencies.

Training and education are big components of the organization’s work. The heart of this work is the organization’s magazine, which is published six times a year. Cervarich says all of the content is provided by the NAPA, but the magazine is published by a vendor that handles ad sales, printing, and distribution to the magazine’s 9,000 readers.

“It is sent to anyone who has to make paving decisions,” she says. Cervarich notes that the magazine is the industry’s leading professional journal.

Training and education efforts also consist of conferences and a training program entitled People, Plants and Paving. This is a fairly comprehensive program that includes the technical aspects of hot mix, management training, paving, and anything else one would need to know in order to operate a hot mix business.

NAPA also provides a broad array of online training opportunities. Like the magazine, the online program is managed by a service provider, but the organization provides much of the content for the training programs.

Developing the next generation of hot mix plant operators and technicians is also an important aspect of the NAPA’s work, as the organization has a rather large scholarship program. According to Cervarich, NAPA Research and Education Foundation awards more than 100 partial scholarships to students attending four year colleges and universities that are engaged in engineering programs that focus on pavement, construction management or transportation-related course work.

Recycling is another area where the hot mix industry has shown leadership. Cervarich says that paving asphalt is recycled more than any other material, with 80 million tons recycled each year. Further, other types of materials can be used in producing hot mix — such as used tires for the binding agent in asphalt — and some materials such as concrete can be crushed down and used as aggregate.

“This started in the 1970s, and we are now the biggest recycler in the country,” she says.

According to Cervarich, membership is comprised of 1,100 companies, and is limited to for-profit corporations, rather than government agencies, nonprofits and individuals.

“America’s economy and our national defense are based on a highway system that is second- to-none in the world,” says Cervarich. “Our wealth, and our why of life, literally ride on our 2 million miles of paved roads — over 94 percent of which are surfaced with asphalt. NAPA’s mission is to do whatever it takes to help the men and women of the highway industry keep this important infrastructure strong, so that it meets the needs of our growing country.”