Control Quality Mix Designs
Put Testing In the Bid
Tweet Safety
Separate Test Layers pg.10 Show Us Your Tech pg.42 Mentor Next Generation pg.36 Asphalt Saves Fuel pg.58 April/may 2014
contents
Departments
Articles
Letter from the Editor 5 Concrete Association, What’s Your Function?
26 Estimate Quality Control By Jarrett Welch
8 42
31 Asphalt Remains Smooth Choice By AsphaltPro Staff
Around the Globe 6
33 International Runway
Safety Spotlight 8 Tweet Appropriately By John Ball Mix It Up 10 Rethink Reflective Cracking Mix Testing Technology By Randy West
36 Succession Plan for Consistency Make sure management, veteran employees mentor tomorrow’s workforce By Sandy Lender
Producer Profile 14 Grand River Construction Serves Where They’re Planted By Sandy Lender
42 Show Us Your Tech CONEXPO-CON/AGG wrap-up goes to the clouds By Sandy Lender
Equipment Maintenance 20 Stock the Mechanic’s Truck By John Ball
56 Keep the New Guy Safe By John Ball
xx
58 Music City Patches Green By Casin Swann
Here’s How it Works 62 Eagle Crusher’s E-plant
63 Take Part in Protecting HTF By AsphaltPro Staff
66 Last Cut
10 Control Quality Mix Designs
58 PUT TESTING IN THE BID
On the Cover xxx hxxxx Tweet Safety
Separate Test Layers pg.10 Show Us Your Tech pg.42 Mentor Next Generation pg.36 Asphalt Saves Fuel pg.58 APRIL/MAY 2014
editor's note
April/May 2014 • Vol. 7 No. 7
Concrete Association, What’s Your Function?
2001 Corporate Place Columbia, MO 65202 573-499-1830 • 573-499-1831 www.theasphaltpro.com Group publisher
Chris Harrison publisher
Sally Shoemaker sally@theasphaltpro.com (573) 823-6297 editor
Sandy Lender sandy@theasphaltpro.com (239) 272-8613 Art Director
Kristin Branscom operations/circulation manager
Cindy Sheridan business manager
Renea Sapp AsphaltPro is published 10 times per year: January, February, March, April, May, June/July, August/September, October, November and December by The Business Times Company, 2001 Corporate Place, Columbia, MO 65202 Writers expressing views in AsphaltPro Magazine or on the AsphaltPro website are professionals with sound, professional advice. Views expressed herein are not necessarily the same as the views of AsphaltPro or Business Times Company staff, thus producers/contractors are still encouraged to use best practices when implementing new advice. Subscription Policy: Individual subscriptions are available without charge in the United Sates, Canada and Mexico to qualified individuals. One year subscription to non-qualifying Individuals: United States $90, Canada and Mexico $125.00. For the international digital edition, visit theasphaltpro.com/subscribe-2. Single copies available $17 each.
Let me offer your earworm for the day. Conjunction Junction, what’s your function? Hooking up words and phrases and clauses When reviewing materials from associations or universities, one should ask “what is this thing’s function?” You see, when I sat down for the indoctrination of the Concrete Sustainability Hub’s “Impact of Pavement Design on Fuel Consumption” debriefing during CONEXPO-CON/AGG, a friend and colleague in the publishing sector sat down beside me and we discussed, among cool stuff from the past, the danger of taking information at face value when a clearly interested party has paid for the information to be molded and presented. Like art that a professor of art appreciation interprets for you. But I digress. The association that has me stirred up right now is the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA), Silver Spring, Md. Its board of directors voted during CONEXPO to approach Congress for a special tax. Doesn’t that sound like the kind of thing the asphalt industry membership as a whole should sit back and watch while chuckling evilly? Well, it’s not that simple. Let’s look at this thing’s functions—those that are apparent and those that are not. The “tax” NRMCA is going after is a check-off program, similar to what the beef cattle industry’s “Beef. It’s what’s for dinner.” or the dairy industry’s “Got Milk?” campaigns came from. Each beef cattle industry member was taxed a certain percent per head of cattle; the tax money went into a coffer in Washington where it was earmarked for marketing and promotion on behalf of the entire beef cattle industry. In the case of the NRMCA’s desire, if the requested tax program is approved by Congress, supposedly each member of the ready mix industry would be taxed a certain percent per square yard; the tax money would go into a coffer in Washington where it would be earmarked for marketing purposes on behalf of the entire ready mix industry. That function is apparent. Now, while the ready mix industry certainly has multiple uses for its product, one of those uses is skimpily pouring concrete over the top of failing pavements and calling it maintenance. Does the asphalt industry want to sit back and watch NRMCA persuade Congress to let them market their product to our customers in this manner? Look at Exhibit A from the home page of www.nrmca.org: “NRMCA Senior Director, National Resources, Doug O'Neill recently related the story of NRMCA member Matt Wood, an Oregonbased NRMCA member who says now is the perfect time for the industry to ramp up its efforts in the streets and local roads market. Wood and O'Neill note that more and more states are facing significant deterioration of their asphalt roadways and limited resources to fix their problems. So what can ready mix producers and their allies do to get our voices heard in government offices? Click here to find out what O'Neill and Wood recommend.” The recommendation at the link to ready mix producers was to make friends with local municipalities and then offer concrete services to “solve their problems.” That was supposed to be somehow better financially than asphalt solutions, but no actual logic was offered. But the point is members of the competition are making plans and acting on plans to take over your market share in your backyard in a blatant, apparent manner. Then let’s look at the not-so-apparent function of distracting Congress with a bid for additional taxation this year. Right now the transportation construction industry at large is fighting for financial security. The Highway Transportation Fund will run dry by September at the latest; by August, according to some analysts. Creative solutions for filling it back up are on the table. The President has called for a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar highway spending bill. Congressmen are whispering in the halls about the need to work together on funding plans. The last thing the combined transportation industry needs is some tangential association poking its head up out of its silica dust cloud and waving its arms around for Congress’s attention somewhere else. I invite you to pay attention to this and other tax issues this summer. The TCC Fly-In June 9 through 11 could use some asphalt voices to keep the conversation on point.
Sandy Lender www.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 5
around the globe
Industry News and Happenings from Around the World Canada
Major Wire Industries of Candiac, Quebec, brings Darek Carnes to the team as the Major Wire territory manager for the Western United States. Carnes will work with aggregate, mining and recycle customers, and provide advanced screening solutions designed to increase screening capacity and throughput. Jim Siler has accepted the new position of dealer development manager for the company. To contact Carnes, call (928) 215-6180 or email darek@majorwire.cc.
Eastern Europe
Although Terex Corporation has divested itself of many asphalt products lately, the company continues to report in five business segments including cranes and materials processing. Under the umbrella of Terex® Environmental Equipment (TEE) out of Farwell, Mich., Conor Hegarty is now the international sales director outside of North America. Hegarty has been a dealer manager in the company with his specialty in recycling.
Germany
Germany’s consumption of bitumen was down 60 percent in January 2014 compared to its consumption the month prior. Source: Petrosil’s Bitumart
Thailand
Petrosil’s Bitumart reports that Thailand imported 67 percent of the bitumen from Malaysia between the period of January to February of this year.
United States
With a snowy winter blanketing much of North America, construction projects had to take a break or start late in 2014. Things started to look up last month. A report issued April 16 by Reed Construction Data showed April construction starts in heavy engineering (non-building) were up 15.7 percent from the same period in 2013. April road and highway starts were up 9.3 percent on a yearto-date basis.
Arizona
Graduate Research Associate Jiachuan Yang, in concert with two of his professors at Arizona State University (ASU), has prepared a white paper examining the negative ramifications of reflective pavements—such as concrete—in urban settings. You can read a summary of the paper and access a link to the full report here: http://ncesmart.asu. edu/news/unintended-consequences. 6 April/May 2014
Colorado
Congratulations are in order for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), the City of Pueblo, Pueblo County and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for good asphalt action in CDOT Region 2. FHWA Colorado Division Administrator John Cater approved and signed the final environmental impact statement & section 4(f) evaluation in a ceremony of CDOT headquarters in mid-April. The Record of Decision (ROD) for the I-25 improvements through Pueblo is for a seven-mile section of the interstate from Indiana Street to 29th to include roadway widening and bridge replacement for what Pueblo County Commissioner Buffie McFadden coined “the gateway to downtown Pueblo” and improvements to the “oldest section of interstate in Colorado.” The Ilex Project should start construction this summer and will use asphalt as the selected pavement type. Source: Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association
Florida
Hercules Sealing Products, Clearwater, Fla., has released its 12th Edition Cylinder and Repair Parts Catalog that includes its expanded product offerings of Gland and Piston Repair Parts, etc. Visit www.Herculesus.com to view the pdf.
Illinois
With what Gov. Pat Quinn calls the largest oneyear infrastructure investment in agency history, the Illinois Tollway is set to spend $1.4 billion in 2014 to rebuild 160 lane miles of roads and 70 bridges, including a new interchange at Interstates 294 and 57. The funding comes from foresight. Toll increases took effect in 2012 and are feeding into a $12 billion capital program lasting 15 years. Source: thesouthern.com
Indiana
The producer looking for material crushing and sizing options can view the website of Stedman Machine Company of Aurora, Ind., at www.stedman-machine.com. Sept. 15, 1996, Stedman was the first company to offer a website in the crusher industry and now the site is expanded to include areas such as aggregate industry; industrial applications; minerals & mining; coal, energy & biomass; testing & toll processing; and more. Stedman also offers a new machine warranty with every rebuild it performs on equipment, which you can learn more about at the Parts & Service tab.
Kentucky
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) hosts its spring meeting May 28 through 30 in Louisville this year. Visit http://aashtospringmeeting.org
Louisiana
The 2014 Asphalt Sustainability Conference takes place at the Omni Royal Orleans in New Orleans Nov. 4 through 5. Visit www.asphaltpavement.org for more information.
Tennessee
The National Asphalt Pavement Association Midyear Meeting takes place at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., this July 14 through 16. The theme is “The Center of Innovation.” Visit www.asphaltpavement.org and the meetings tab to register.
Vermont
As of mid-April, the Rutland Herald was reporting Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin as urging leaders in Congress “to replenish the federal transportation fund so Vermont can move forward with road and bridge projects that he says are critical to job growth, public safety and the health of the state.” In other words, it appears Shumlin’s letter to leaders shows his understanding of the infrastructure funding needs states face.
Virginia
According to NBC Washington News, the Commonwealth Transportation Board of Virginia has a six-year plan for transportation with $9.9 billion set for highways. And that’s not highway maintenance alone. That’s highway construction. The total plan is $13.1 billion, allowing $3.2 billion for public transportation needs. Source: nbcwashington.com
Washington, D.C.
• Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) Fly-In takes place June 9 through 11 at the Mayflower Hotel. Visit www.transportationconstructioncoalition.org. The NAPA Fly-In in cooperation with the NSSGA takes place Sept. 9 through 10 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Visit www. asphaltpavement.org and the meetings tab. • The Federal Highway Administration has revised the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) parts 1, 5 and 6. Visit http:// store.agc.org
safety spotlight
Tweet Appropriately
E
veryone on the paving crew knows how noisy it can be near the equipment. We have become complacent around familiar noises. But the sound of the whistle is a new one that can get everyone’s attention. For the dump man directing the trucks, the roar of the paver engine combined with the back-up alarm of the haul truck makes it difficult to hear anything else. If the paver operator, roller operator or any of the hand laborers see a safety issue and need to warn the dump man of danger, how do they communicate with him? For Virginia Paving of the Lane Corporation, no one has to worry about how to get another worker’s attention. Each member of the crew has a safety whistle on a breakaway lanyard on his safety vest. It’s manda8 April/May 2014
tory that every crew member have the whistle on him or her at all times. The whistle sounds at 120 decibels and hangs out of the way, but in easy reach. Tony Petrello has been the foreman for Virginia Paving for about four years now. In the picture on this page, he’s backing up the truck. He’s a careful worker who pays attention and runs the safety meetings, which consist of T5. If he sees any kind of problem, one blow on the whistle will stop the haul truck driver short. When the whistle sounds, everyone stops what he’s doing and looks to see what’s going on. The safety whistle is the crew’s mandatory safety device. John Ball is the proprietor of Top Quality Paving. For more information, contact him at (603) 493-1458 or tqpaving@yahoo.com.
By John Ball
ABOVE TOP: Tony Petrello has been the foreman for Virginia Paving for about four years. He backs the trucks to charge the hopper. ABOVE: This safety whistle doesn’t look very big. It hangs from a break-away lanyard on the worker’s safety vest within easy reach and sounds at 120 decibels when blown.
mix it up
Rebekah Mandry is a senior at Auburn University who works in the NCAT lab. Photo by Christine Riggs is courtesy of NCAT.
Rethink Reflective Cracking Mix Testing Technology
A
s mix designs change with the times, so must the tests we use to determine their efficacy. In the history of pavement mix design, we have had legacy asphalt mix specifications for gradation, air voids, voids in mineral aggregate, N initial and N maximum,
10 April/May 2014
dust to binder ratio, tensile strength ratio and more. Our procedures and criteria have been around since Roman times. We can start with natural asphalts like those from tar sands, Gilsonite or even Trinidad Lake asphalt, but properties change when we add items such as styrene buta-
By Randy West
diene styrene (SBS), cellulose fibers, recycling agents, sulfur pellets, aramid fibers or polyolefin fibers. To be sure the resulting asphalt pavement will resist cracking, we need a reliable cracking test that takes performance, practicality and variables into consideration.
mix it up
LEFT: To perform the AMPT fatigue test, a technician must first make cylinders out of large gyratory samples. The test is designed to predict how long a pavement will last. Photo of the HM-451 gyratory compactor courtesy of Gilson Co., Galion, Ohio. RIGHT: Photo of the HM-455 wheel tracker courtesy of Gilson Co.
Performance The performance tests we have available to us now typically relate to reflective cracking. But let’s look at the critical stresses that a pavement experiences throughout its layers. The base layer of a pavement experiences tensile stresses. The surface layer of a pavement experiences shear stresses. Yet when testing a mix design’s cracking potential against tensile and shear stresses, we use the same criteria for surface and base layers at Mixes have been designed for different layers of the pavement; different aggregate gradations are often specified for the base versus the intermediate versus the surface courses. The different criteria for mixes in different zones of the asphalt pavement can lead to different testing protocol for the stresses experienced in those zones, thus the different performances required of the layers. For instance, the top third of the pavement structure is typically where rutting, 12 April/May 2014
thermal cracking or surface cracking resistance is needed. This means the surface layer—and overlays—should be designed to resist top-down cracking and withstand temperature extremes. The middle third of the pavement structure or intermediate layer typically gives the pavement its stiffness; tensile and shear stresses are probably not as critical in this part of the structure. The bottom third of the pavement structure is typically where fatigue resistance is needed. This means the base layer should be designed for strain tolerance. At this time, we have tests for load-related cracking. They are as follows: • Bending Beam Fatigue • Simplified Viscoelastic Continuum Damage • Texas Overlay Tester • Semi-Circular Bend • IDT Energy Ratio • Disc-Shaped Compact Tension Test
Practicality The six tests for fatigue cracking listed above take from 2 to 20 days to return results, which is not conducive to field work. They range in equipment costs from about $10,000 to more than $100,000. They range from easy-to-do to complex. By developing criteria that test for the specific pavement characteristics of each layer in the pavement structure, we can select a uniform test method that makes sense across a broad spectrum.
Pavement Characteristics Surface Layer *rutting resistance *thermal cracking resistance *surface cracking resistance Middle Layer *stiffness Base Layer *fatigue resistance
producer profile
Grand River Serves Where They’re Planted
O
ne of the truths Gregg Rippy of Grand River Construction, Glenwood Springs, Colo., shared with us inspires asphalt professionals to get involved with multiple facets of the industry. You see, Rippy was brought up in the construction industry and served in his local Associated General Contractors (AGC) chapter. He held the post of director of the Statewide Internet Portal Authority while paving. He served as president of the Colorado Contractors Association (CCA) in 1998. Late in the 1990s, he took his experience to another level. He explained that he understood constraints from government and could work on issues of funding. He had been active locally in planning and zoning 14 April/May 2014
actions. “I knew I had something to offer to the discussion,” Rippy said. He joined the discussion as a legislator, serving as a state representative for the 57th and 61st districts in Colorado from 2000 to 2004. Upon leaving the political arena, Rippy returned to the family business where hard work, communication skills and commitment to employees offer more aspects of involvement other companies can emulate. For example, Gregg Rippy and his brother John both worked their way up the ladder at the family business from a young age. Gregg started running rollers at age 14 and was hauling asphalt in a truck at age 16. He did estimating after college and then became a crew superintendent.
By Sandy Lender
“John and I both grew up working on the crew,” Gregg said. “This experience is key to understanding the challenges the crews face daily.” He explained that the crew members know that he has experience with their tasks; this engenders trust in his leadership. “I grew up working summers on the asphalt crew. My summer wages allowed me to fund my college and I received a BS in Business Administration from Colorado State University. As I started college, I had no ambition to come back and enter the asphalt business; however, through watching and learning from my father, I gained a love for an industry that creates a tangible product and improves the community in which
producer profile
Management at Grand River Construction chose to sell the fully portable and larger of two plants. They absorbed the personnel and kept the stationary plant at peak capacity. The Gentec rotary mixer plant is rated at 185 TPH at 6,000 feet. Gregg Rippy spoke highly of plant operator Rich Carrel, who has been with the company for about 14 years.
you operate. My father was always adamant about quality. He said, ‘always do the work as if it is your own driveway. If it isn’t good enough for you, it isn’t good enough for our customers. Never worry whether an inspector is present. Do your best every moment.’” William “Paul” Rippy was born in New Castle, Colo., in 1926 and spent his childhood on his family’s ranch and running a combine on neighboring ranches, according to the Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association (CAPA). Paul attended New Mexico Military Institute, Arizona State Teachers College in Flagstaff and Colorado State University. After his discharge from the Navy, he joined his dad in E.J. Rippy & Sons. At the CAPA 20th annual asphalt pavement awards ceremony Feb. 19 of this year, Paul was inducted into the Colorado Asphalt Hall of Fame. The congratulatory message from long-time employee Jerel Richards moved Paul to tears. “I also was influenced by the way he treated all employees,” Gregg said. “They were partners; not simply employees. No owner can watch over their crews all the time; you have to trust them and empower them. When I made any mistake, I wasn’t chewed out but rather treated to a learning lessen 16 April/May 2014
and told the value of the lesson was not to repeat the mistake.” Some managers might balk at letting an employee learn from a mistake, but the strategy has been a positive one at Grand River Construction. Good employee retention is matched by good employee performance. Gregg shared that the company has a number of employees that have helped make quality projects over 12 and 15 years or more with the family and that’s not by mistake. “As a small company, we continually cross train in order that employees have as wide of skill sets as possible. We participate in on the job training programs, but our culture is one of trying to upgrade all employees’ skills.” Cross training is supplemented with benefits both tangible and intangible that potential employees hear about. “Because the cost of living is high in a resort area, almost all new employees are already living in the area. They respond either to ads for employment or word of mouth. I am a strong believer that while you must provide a livable wage, sincere respect for what your employees do leads to retention.” Gregg has been a member of CCA and CAPA, of which he is the 2014-15 president,
and said the two groups work together on work force development in Colorado. He believes attracting new workers to the construction industry will take an education effort. “We have to dispel rumors and make answers to questions true. Pay needs to come up to a livable wage. Grand River offers profit sharing. We also have to have a sincere respect for employees. We need to be thankful for the job they do.” He explained that Grand River takes the time to thank workers and offer family days and summer picnics where management provides food and fun. Beyond profit-sharing, the company also offers full family health care and on-the-job training. As mentioned above, Grand River isn’t a large company. They cross train employees because “everybody on the crew is critical to the operation.” When management decided to sell one of the company’s two asphalt plants, they absorbed the employees back into the team so no one had to lose a job. That meant the company now has one stationary plant to take care of business. “The original company was E.J. Rippy and Sons, founded in 1946,” Gregg explained. “It was disbanded in 1963.
producer profile “The most important feature is to ensure your plant components are oversized in order to get the proper amount of air through your burners and baghouse.”
This beautiful path is indicative of the quality work Grand River Construction crews perform for the resorts in the scenic West Slope.
Here William “Paul” Rippy (at left) and Gregg Rippy (at right) stand together at the Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association’s 20th annual “Best in Colorado” asphalt pavement awards dinner & program. William “Paul” Rippy was inducted into the CAPA hall of fame Feb. 19, 2014. When speaking about his father, Gregg spoke of the older man’s view of running an asphalt company instead of the family’s ranch saying, “It was easier to move rocks than to farm rocks.” 18 April/May 2014
“William “Paul” Rippy started Grand River Construction in 1965 as a small utility and bridge company. In 1967 he bought a small existing paving company with a Barber Greene continuous mix plant. In 1970 he purchased a Stansteel TM-20 portable batch plant. The plant serviced not only the home base of Glenwood Springs, but travelled the West Slope. In 1973 he bought a second Stansteel TM-20. In 1991, John and I bought out my father’s stock and became equal partners. John and I bought the Gentec Rotary Mixer in 1999.” The resort area where Grand River is located calls for some posh and pretty projects, but also has some operating requirements that other producers may not have considered. “At operating elevations from 6,000 to 10,000 feet, the most important feature is to ensure your plant components are oversized in order to get the proper amount of air through your burners and baghouse. At high ambient temperatures you have to back off the max rated production rate and maintain normal operation.” The resort area also has some client-relations requirements that other producers might recognize. “Demanding customers are the norm. We have short paving seasons so scheduling is the largest challenge. You never make up weather days. Educating your clients about staying on schedule is one of the biggest factors to ensuring a quality pavement. Weekly communication with clients, even when the work may not be scheduled for months is critical.” Gregg’s career has provided him the skills necessary for successfully communicating with customers. “I have served on numerous public boards and have been an elected official. Knowing the workings of the public sector at least teaches patience. The need for sustainable funding is clear, but not to voters who think there is plenty of money and we just need to be more efficient. I believe we must embark on a mission of education on how poor infrastructure impedes economic growth and poses safety issues.” Given Gregg’s commitment to the asphalt industry, his communication and business skills will continue to inspire CAPA’s membership. His story is one of service to an industry through a successful and thoughtful family business.
equipment maintenance
The truck itself is a GMC dual-mac, but the body is a maintenance body. The two reels on top of the body are hoses—one for air and one for grease.
Stock the Mechanic’s Truck By John Ball
20 April/May 2014
W
hile there’s no set, specific way to organize the items within the mechanic’s truck, the right mechanic will come up with his own system that makes him a great asset to the team in the field. The mechanic’s truck is like a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit. He’s on the scene in a self-contained unit to perform triage when a piece of equipment goes down. Depending on the emergency, he can get you back up and running in a few minutes or hours. On the other hand, he can
call it, sending the crew home while he makes an order for a part to be shipped overnight express. As you can see from the pictures with this article, the mechanic’s truck is a heavy-duty truck, but the body is a maintenance body. On the back you’ll have a small platform where they can perform repairs in the field. Under the platform you see a set of dog legs can be lowered to support the truck body when the crane is in use. Just to the front of that platform there’s a crane on the right side.
equipment maintenance
22 April/May 2014
RIGHT: This is about a 5-ton crane; you put the dog legs down to stabilize the truck overall when the crane is lifted up or lifting something. RIGHT: Ultra clean and extremely well organized—makes locating a bolt or screw easy and fast.
It’s surprising how often you’ll find yourself needing a crane out there in the field. We use the crane to pick up the hopper insert to put it in the paver; pick up extra extensions, which weigh 200 or 300 pounds; to assist when changing a paver tire, which weighs about a thousand pounds. So why wait on a crane you have to special order from the rental office in the next town or county if you can have a 3-ton or 5-ton model on your mechanic’s truck? For the GMC dual-mac truck in these pictures, you’ll see a Lincoln welder and an air compressor on top of the body. The air compressor helps get the 200-pound torque nuts loose because you can’t do that kind of work by hand. The mechanic is the traveling doctor with his tools of the trade going everywhere he goes. When
www.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 23
equipment maintenance
ABOVE: You can see the interior of the maintenance body has an automatic lighting system that switches on when the mechanic opens the doors. Each compartment is lockable so you can secure it. As mentioned in the article, there’s no certain, specific way to set up the mechanic’s truck. Each mechanic has his own way of setting it up, but the first compartment right by the driver’s door is typically where he’s going to have his tools like the open-end wrenches and screw drivers and such. The second door is normally for the bigger stuff, the heavier items such as pry bars. You can see that in the third door, which is a small capsule, he has some sockets. That yellow thing is a basket strainer; the cans are brake cleaner. Take note of the huge fire extinguisher on the back of truck. That platform serves as a workbench. RIGHT: This organization of the top of the truck is unique. This guy has everything nice and neat. The hydraulic oil is in the blue can; diesel fuel is in the red can, all sealed. Up front he has a drum of grease. In the back he has his Kennametal bucket of teeth for the milling machine. It’s neat and organized; everything’s easy to find so no time is lost searching for things. 24 April/May 2014
Left: This team has three brand new mechanic’s trucks. This one is stocked for the paving crew and is used alongside the 2-year-old RX-900 milling machine from Roadtec. RiGHT: This mechanic’s truck includes a back-up camera, which is the rectangular black box you see in the upper right-hand corner of the picture. In the center of the bottom picture, you’ll see a 110-plug that allows the mechanic to plug in tools. The generator supplies power for that and then some.
something breaks in the field, your mechanic can save you thousands of dollars in time and money when he’s organized and ready to help you. Especially at nighttime when the shop or warehouse isn’t open, it’s good to have a truck that’s well-stocked and a mechanic who is well-versed in his many trades. That’s right, a good mechanic usually has about five or six trades under his belt. He keeps everybody going. You don’t put a brand new person on that truck. You get a veteran who knows what he’s doing. They’re multi-purpose people; you can have them perform extra tasks when they’re out there. They are master mechanics—they have to be up on electrical, mechanical, plumbing, hydraulics, engine—anything that’s out there—and they also have to know how to weld. They’re really smart guys and they’re essential to have on your team. John Ball is the proprietor of Top Quality Paving, Manchester, N.H. For more information, contact him at (603) 493-1458 or tqpaving@yahoo.com.
www.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 25
Estimate Quality Control By Jarrett Welch
ABOVE: There is only one good way to know how effective the QC department is—measure it. Checking the density of a mat tells you more than you realize. The numbers you see on the density gauge help you set a rolling pattern, determine temperature variances, find quality errors and measure mix quality overall. Jarrett Welch
26 April/May 2014
N
FL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently made a comment about potentially removing the extra point attempt after a touchdown score, which set off a flurry of comments from kickers across the league. Goodell’s reasoning is 99.5 percent of the time the PAT is a given; it’s rarely missed. Additionally, the Commish doesn’t want to add undue risk to the rest of the players during the attempt. A placekicker in the NFL didn’t become a specialized position until the 1960s, a time when less than 70 percent of
attempts were achieved. Sixty years later, kickers are so good at the PAT they are in fear of their positions being minimized. The technical services or quality control (QC) department, like a placekicker in the NFL, plays an integral role in an asphalt producer’s organization. Over the past two decades with the implementation of performance based specs built on quality and advances in testing technology, the QC department and its employees have become specialists. Many in our industry recognize the necessity of hav-
Quality control starts before the mix is made.
ing some type of QC in place due to specification requirements, but do they also realize the benefits of having such a department? The common misconception among some of our colleagues is that it is a necessary evil. QC at times can be at odds with the other departments within an organization. During the bidding process, the items on the tabulation sheets are under immense scrutiny to provide the best cost for the project. Generally during this process, discussions take place between the estimator and other department heads that will have a place in the project. Is the technical services or QC manager involved in these discussions, or is a number assigned to the cost of the line item without much thought or discussion? The latter could pose problems down the road if issues arise during project construction, and 28 April/May 2014
further complicate the working budget. Having a good conversation and developing a plan for QC to include labor, testing requirements to meet specs, and QC management oversight will help curtail future issues. Production. Yes, that one little word carries so much weight within our industry whether it’s aggregate production, mix production or the tons per hour on the laydown side. Maximizing effective production is what will enable a contractor to secure work. The only thing better than having great production numbers is having great production numbers and quality materials regardless of which process we’re discussing. Quality has to be maintained throughout each operation, and without it we as an industry are doing an injustice to the product we represent. Aggregates comprise approximately 95 percent of the materials used in asphalt pavement. An aggregate production crew,
depending on the size and type of equipment that is being used, can produce up to and maybe more than a thousand tons per hour of materials. Having QC perform testing on various aggregate properties during production at random intervals is essential in determining the quality of the material as it is produced. When test data indicates deviation from a standard during the process, the process itself can be evaluated and adjustments can be made to assure compliance criteria is achieved. QC involvement not only ensures the product is being produced with quality, it also gives them a plethora of information to rely upon in the downstream processes of mix designs, asphalt production and laydown operations. Having sufficient, good quality aggregates leading into asphalt production will assist the asphalt plant in producing a high
Don’t set the crew up for failure. Prepare for quality with mix design and then follow through with a good paving day. We spend more money and time when we have to mill up and fix something we can’t make right.
quality mix. QC testing should not subside during this process either; at times QC performs only the tests that are required of the specs, which can be altered from one project to another. An example would be a project that only requires an asphalt cement (AC) content, gradation and moisture content versus a project that requires volumetric properties such as (AC) content, specific gravities, air voids and voids in mineral aggregate calculations. Performing just the specified tests will only provide a partial piece of the puzzle. Developing this type of plan during the bidding process will help assure costs are covered. Ideally, performing a gradation and moisture content with the additional volumetric tests, will provide a more accurate picture of mix properties and how they are relating to the production and construction processes. Having this additional data at the hands of the QC personnel will assist them, and the plant operator on troubleshooting issues that arise during production. Once the asphalt mix is produced with high quality aggregates and is tested to assure the mix itself is of high quality, it is the responsibility of the laydown crew and the on-site testing tech to perform their operations in a manner with the same mindset. A good asphalt mix is of no value unless you 30 April/May 2014
follow best practices and meet compliance criteria. An effective QC tech knows how to, and will work with the paving crew by observing the practices that are being exhibited during construction, and making suggestions that benefit overall quality of the project. Their function is not only to relay density numbers and help establish a rolling pattern; their function is to assure the overall placement process is conducive to quality. These include observing best practices for the truck unloading, and the paver and roller operations. Having an effective QC department that is integrated into the various processes will not only help ensure criteria is being met, it will also help the team build a successful project. Any department that is not integrated with another, or a culture that does not promote teamwork is not likely to be as successful as one that does. Nowadays, incentives and disincentives are tied to pay based on quality, and consistency in the data obtained. The question a contractor has to ask himself is how much effort as an organization is his company putting into quality, and to the department responsible for its oversight? There is only one good way to know how effective the QC department is—measure it. Out of the potential quality related bo-
nuses, how much of that is your company obtaining? If you have a company that does little, if any of the type of work that pays incentives or disincentives, it would be a good idea to measure how much rework your company spends money on. Money in general is an indicator of performance, and how much we lose or gain is a measure of our success. This may not be the case in every circumstance, as a project can be constructed with good quality and still lose money in the end. However the money then, is not lost on quality, it is lost in the planning. Therefore, the success of a project can be measured by whose pocket book you are looking at. Quality and production have to balance. Let’s not be misled: a good QC department that helps other departments within an organization build quality through its processes will pay dividends. When we as an industry get to the point where we achieve incentives, and are not performing rework, then we will all be in good shape. Remember that using good quality control always costs less than remove and replace. Jarrett Welch is the proprietor of Quality Paving Consultants in Colorado. For more information, contact him at (970) 361-1525 or qualitypavingconsultants@gmail.com.
Asphalt Remains Smooth Choice Editor’s Note: This is an AsphaltPro editorial piece. By Sandy Lender
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lthough the topic at CONEXPOCON/AGG was titled “New Developments in the Debate on Pavement-Vehicle Interaction: The Impact of Pavement Design on Fuel Consumption,” the information Jeremy Gregory presented to the 20 or so members of the audience was familiar to the road-building community. He used statistics from research conducted at MIT under the direction of the Concrete Sustainability Hub. The stats formed a foundation for theories pertaining to pavement design ideas that asphalt industry members will want to have in mind when working with owner/agencies who are confused when it comes to pavement smoothness and how pavement smoothness influences the end user’s driving experience. For example, researchers want to get a 1 percent reduction in end users’ fuel consumption. In 2012 the end users’ fuel consumption in the United States represented about one third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), according to Gregory’s information. That one third of GHG emissions is about 92 percent of fossil fuel combustion. MIT researchers feel that one way to manage carbon footprints or carbon emissions is through engineering practices. They reason that improving the energy efficiency—improving aerodynamics—of a vehicle is a positive step toward reducing carbon output. This laudable and reasonable goal is then
followed by looking at the way a vehicle interacts with the pavement. One way a vehicle interacts with the pavement is through tire pressure. Many readers may have heard over the years that we can improve our vehicle’s fuel efficiency by maintaining optimum tire pressure. While this is true, it takes more than tire pressure to reduce your gas bill, and it takes an inordinate amount of effort to educate every driver about tire pressures and fuel efficiencies. It means dealing with hundreds of millions of people to make changes; MIT researchers reason that it’s easier to work with a few thousand people instead and suggest that
Thus AsphaltPro staff conclude that a motor vehicle must drive on a surface that is perfectly smooth and devoid of roughness to provide maximum fuel efficiency, and one that is perfectly textured to provide optimum control and safety.
making pavement design changes would be a more effective use of time. That’s where differences of data interpretation begin. If following the logic presented by Gregory and the CSH-sponsored research, one would believe that driving on a textured pavement is valued and not valued at the same time. This is in part because CSH-sponsored research couldn’t give a definitive difference between “texture” and “roughness” when a member of the audience requested it. “You need texture to control your vehicle, brake and have control and safety,” Gregory stated. “Pavement roughness or smoothness is related to its maintenance and location, and it evolves slightly over time.” Gregory explained that driving on a rough surface can be equated to “slightly driving uphill” or running on sand, which takes more energy than driving on a perfectly smooth surface. Of course, driving on a perfectly smooth surface does not offer the texture necessary for braking, control and safety. Thus AsphaltPro staff conclude that a motor vehicle must drive on a surface that is perfectly smooth and devoid of roughness to provide maximum fuel efficiency, and one that is perfectly textured to provide optimum control and safety. A perfectly smooth surface would be one such as the steel plates placed over ruptures in concrete pavements in the greatwww.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 31
er metropolitan Kansas City area. A perfectly textured surface would be an asphalt pavement. To be clear, Gregory offered neither of those options, but did suggest that MIT would not offer useful conclusions. His direct quote: “We are not going to be making any policy recommendations. We are not pavement designers ourselves. We’ll leave the prescriptions in terms of what levels of roughness they want to use to them [agencies].” The levels of roughness that MIT offers for an agency’s consideration are based on science that confused this member of the audience. First, the researchers take an equation that was introduced in 1975. They use the equation to build two mod-
“We are not going to be making any policy recommendations. We are not pavement designers ourselves.”
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els for pavement design to show pavement-vehicle interaction where roughness and deflection are concerned and place the values into a lifecycle cost analysis (LCA) that may or may not include lighting. In the interest of full disclosure, this audience member did not understand how lighting influenced pavementvehicle interaction. It appears that PVI will be considered a line item in the use phase of a pavement, as lighting and carbonation and albedo are line items in the use phase, for LCA manipulation. It makes sense that a pavement’s interaction with vehicles is of great interest to owners/agencies. The owner wants a safe and drivable end product for the end user. Researchers from CSH-sponsored entities can spout creative numbers from 1975’s math classes, but more recent surveys show the traveling public knows what it wants. Mike Acott, the president of the National Asphalt Pavement Association, has cited independent sources that tell us end users benefit from smooth asphalt pavements. The Federal Highway Adminis-
tration (FHWA) determined in its 2012 tech brief No. FHWA-RD-01-112 “Help with Converting Pavement Smoothness Specifications,” that pavement smoothness is a key factor in ensuring the end user’s satisfaction. Acott is onto something when he follows that with the logical economics of the Transportation Research Information Project (TRIP) report of 2013, “Bumpy Roads Ahead: America’s Roughest Rides and Strategies to Make our Roads Smoother,” that showed rough roads cost the average motorist $377 per year in wear and tear on their vehicles. If your pavement material has a negative impact on the end user’s wallet, the end user won’t be satisfied. The point of this particular piece is summarized in the WesTrack studies Acott cited from tech brief No. FHWARD-00-052. He shared “that smooth pavements can improve vehicle fuel economy by 4.5 percent.” That will satisfy an end user. That will happen when more owner/agencies recognize the benefits of the smooth, yet textured, asphalt pavement surfaces available to them.
international snapshot
International Runway
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assenger traffic increases at King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, demanded kingdom officials pursue expansion plans in 2006. That first phase of the planned expansion will be completed this year, when KAIA will be re-introduced to the world as the largest airport in Saudi Arabia. Spread over 100 hectares, the new Airport City includes a transportation center, hotels, education and commercial centers. When complete, the airport will have the capacity to handle 80 million travelers annually. Al Mabani general contractors placed the asphalt for much of the project. The company was established in 1972 and is known for efficiently completing complex, demanding projects. Al Mabani accomplishes this mostly by hiring and retaining quality employees, considering them the foundation of the company. The contractor works to bring
the talents of its employees to the forefront, and the employees have responded by helping the firm succeed for more than 40 years. The work at the airport led Al Mabani to earn an award for the “Best Airport Project” at the Saudi Arabian Building and Infrastructure Summit 2011. Al Mabani has been on-site at KAIA for many months. Working with the main contractor, it first placed asphalt for aprons and taxiways. Then it went to work on the runways. For that work, Al Mabani used two Cat® AP1055E asphalt pavers with AS3301C screeds. The pavers placed five layers of asphalt at 150oC (300oF), totaling 42 centimeters (16.5 inches). Two layers of polymer-modified mix (PMA) were placed at a depth of 6 cm (about 2.5 inches) each, followed by three layers of 25 to 37-mm Marshall mix at 10 cm (4 inches) each.
Pavers worked at a width of 6 meters (about 20 feet), and typically moved at 5 m (16 feet) per minute. Trucks with haul capacities of 30 tons fed the pavers. The plant, about 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) from the runway, had capacity of 150 tons per hour. Al Mabani was the first customer in the kingdom to use the Caterpillar® MobilTrac™ System (MTS) undercarriage. Key to the undercarriage is fully-bogied support rollers that maintain contact with the surface regardless of irregularities. The oscillating bogies are designed to minimize deviations and tow point movement, leading to smoother mats. An Al Mabani project manager stated there will be fewer final mat level issues due to debris on the paving surface. “We clear all debris to the extent possible, and the MTS is an extra assurance,” he said. Information and photo courtesy of Cat Paving. www.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 33
Succession Plan for Consistency Make sure management, veteran employees mentor tomorrow’s workforce By Sandy Lender 36 April/May 2014
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ow the president of a publicly traded powerhouse of an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), Ben Brock started out on the lower rungs of the corporate ladder of Astec Industries, Inc., Chattanooga. At one point in his career, he served as the head of CEI Enterprises, which many may know is one of the companies under the Astec umbrella. During his years in leadership there, Brock’s CEI experienced the highs and lows the rest of the industry faced. Brock shared with me the memory of a difficult period when times were challenging and a customer brought him a legitimate complaint. As anyone who has a customer to please can attest, there are days when you have to take the beating in the customer’s office and you come out black and blue. What Brock shared next is poignant. His father, Dr. Don Brock, chairman of the board at Astec told him, “No matter how bad it gets, it’s never as bad as it seems. On the other side of the coin, no matter how good it gets, it’s never as good as it seems. You want to be consistent.”
“Sometimes mentoring happens by accident. The succession had to be planned.” – Ben Brock, Astec Industries 38 April/May 2014
Not only did Dr. Brock offer a significant message for a young man being groomed for a larger role, he gave us all good advice for our industry. Consistency is vital for a reliable product our customers and end users can count on; consistency is key for getting through a few down years and coming out the other side a little black and blue, but still standing strong. Dr. Brock exemplifies mentoring in our industry. As does Tom Skinner formerly of Blaw-Knox/Ingersoll-Rand. As does John Ball of Top Quality Paving. As does Jay Hensley formerly of the Asphalt Institute. As does Larry Lemon of Lemon Haskell out of Oklahoma. As does Dr. Ray Brown of the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT). As do any number of passionate asphalt proponents who are willing to share and teach anyone willing to listen. Who do your employees listen to? Who within your company is mentoring the next generation—or the next crew you wish to add—to do a quality job so you maintain a consistent reputation in your market and the industry maintains a consistent product for the DOTs and end users? Brock shared that when he prepared to move up within Astec from president of CEI, it was his responsibility to prepare his replacement to succeed him in that position. That paradigm is still in place at Astec. “If you want to move up, you need to have someone ready to fill your role,” Brock said. This concept would make more productive workers at any jobsite. Management would need to engender a sense of job security so none of its veteran operators would fear being replaced before they wished to be. Consider instead the caliber of workers on your team if they’re working “upward” and helping one another learn more about different jobs. Cross-training for multiple tasks means backup is available if a worker takes a leave of absence or is lured away by the company in the next county. In February of this year, the long-time plant operator at Jas. S. Glover on Honolulu, Hawaii, passed away unexpectedly while visiting California. Not only did the members of Glover mourn the loss of a friend and coworker, they suddenly had a gap in knowl-
edge base and skill to fill. Where does an owner find a qualified, skilled plant operator on short notice on an island? And how does anyone replace two decades of plant operation knowledge? Given the economy the past few years, not many organizations can afford to have a fulltime plant operator on payroll and on standby. That means ground personnel or the quality control team need to be cross-trained to run the plant. That also means members of the industry need to recruit young talent. While the prospect of working under the blazing sun for an 8- or 12-hour shift may not seem tantalizing to the average teen, there are high school and college students ready to join a useful work force. David Apkarian of TransTech, Schenectady, N.Y., shared an experience of spending a weekend aboard the U.S.S. George W. Bush aircraft carrier. Amid his obvious excitement retelling the story of landing on the deck and touring the coolest recesses of the ship, he also spoke with pride concerning the young men and women working on board. He described 20-year-old sailors who displayed intensity, worked diligently, spoke and acted respectfully, and functioned as excellent leaders of tomorrow. Apkarian marveled at the fact that there are between 5,000 and 6,000 of these talented, skilled men and women aboard each of the countless carriers around the globe. He views them as the bright hope for our future and the positive image of what the next generation can do and can be. To harness the greatness speckled within the junior high and high schools, vocational technical centers and universities around North America and beyond, asphalt industry professionals can participate in any number of programs already in place to attract them. For instance, during the CONEXPO-CON/ AGG show in early March, AsphaltPro magazine exhibited across the aisle from NAPA and NSSGA. One day it became impossible to walk past the NSSGA booth without being stopped by an overzealous, outgoing Boy Scouts of America leader who wished to tell every attendee about a new merit badge children could earn. His energy was contagious and I would have visited with him longer in-
A Career with Instant Gratification The asphalt pavement industry is made up of asphalt plant managers, administrators, road crews, researchers and an army of support personnel—all of whom play critical roles in building and maintaining the roads we use every day. Whether you are a high school or college student, recent graduate or mid-career professional, asphalt just may be the place where you will find your niche. Careers in the asphalt pavement industry are not limited to road work. Many civil engineers, technologists and researchers with advanced degrees are necessary to ensure the quality and safety of our road system. Companies need white-collar staff including financial personnel, marketers and many others. Our roads are our legacy, but you won't just build roads, you’ll build a satisfying career. Source: National Asphalt Pavement Association, www.asphaltpavement.org
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stead of merely taking the flyer and extracting myself from his grip if I didn’t have a number of appointments lined up for the afternoon. He had a message to deliver: The Boy Scouts had introduced in late February the Mining in Society merit badge, which is the latest in a series of merit badges focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) topics. The Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. (SME) was instrumental in the development of the merit badge, according to the press release.
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The release explained the importance of mining for society and how the merit badge came about. From communications, transportation, power, construction, agriculture, and medicine to education, entertainment and recreation, nearly ever aspect of society relies on mining. The materials found within a host of widely used items (or found in the machines used to produce those items) come from a mine. The BSA selected SME to lead the development of the new Mining in Society merit badge because of the dedication
and expertise of SME’s members. The SME Merit Badge Content Development Team and Advisory Panel worked with the Boy Scouts of America to create a fun, compelling badge program that would focus on mining’s key components of exploration, permitting, excavation, processing, production, safety and reclamation. Schools across the nation join the Boy Scouts of America in engendering an awareness of building blocks in our youth. During a press conference for the Green Building Initiative Conference in Denver, a spokeswoman for GE Johnson Construction Company explained that “We’re bringing up children in the schools with a definition of sustainability.” Her colleagues on the panel shared that schools are building a basic level of knowledge for the workers who will be LEED supervisors and green building planners in the future. They’re learning concepts about energy, water, decision-making and “they’re pretty honed in on what’s most efficient.” One way to reach the young minds that are learning about clean and sustainable building blocks of our infrastructure is to reach out to them from our industry. It may sound self-serving at first, but don’t forget that AsphaltPro staff prepared a children’s activity book called AsphaltLane™ that you can hand out at special events, open houses, school field trips, etc. You also have opportunities to reach out to teens and young adults in high school and college settings through your own public relations efforts and structured programs associations offer. NAPA hosts a Young Leaders conference annually with the Young Leaders Committee. The program’s mission is “To develop future industry leaders by encouraging relationships through networking and professional development events; to demonstrate the value of NAPA to new and current members; and to develop a sustainable industry by showcasing its values and career opportunities to attract and retain talented professionals.” NAPA sets no age requirement to be a member of the committee or to participate in any of the activities, so any member of the national association can get involved to help encourage future asphalt industry enthusiasts. John Davis of the Asphalt Institute showed excitement that more young women are entering the lab accreditation
Where does an owner find a qualified, skilled plant operator on short notice on an island? And how does anyone replace two decades of plant operation knowledge? programs, bringing a new level of expertise to the research and mix design aspect of the industry. He said the work force is expanding to include a range of talents. He sees the expansion of talent through AI’s EPIC program, which is an educational class structure for teaching “asphalt” to others. E = Experiential P = Participatory I = Image-driven C = Communicative To keep the transportation construction industry flourishing into the future, the workforce will also need skilled laborers outside of the lab and office settings. Think about the tradesmen who make the equipment that builds our roads. Vocational training costs money. Some machines require specialty training. If you take enough time, you can create quite a list of challenges for finding qualified team members to design and then build the pavers, milling machines, baghouses, drag slat conveyors and other pieces of equipment necessary for the asphalt industry. While at CONEXPO-CON/AGG, the crew from KPIJCI Astec Mobile Screens shared that they offer schools that train welders and other trades. It’s that kind of support for workers that creates employee loyalty as well as quality products. Remember that lesson when it’s time to train members of the paving crew, quality control team or office staff. Consultants such as John Ball, Tom Skinner, Jarrett Welch, Tim Murphy, Jim Sorenson and myriad others can each be in only one place at a time. That means crews in the field— or in the office—must have supervisors, foremen and veteran laborers who not only know how to perform well, but also know how to train other members of the crew to perform well. Teaching proper methods for best quality to the new members of the team is the best way to ensure consistency for those days when a crew member is out sick or for the day when a crew member retires. Ensure consistency in your company’s quality by crosstraining and providing an upward training program within the company. Also ensure consistency within the asphalt industry overall by sharing the employment opportunities and benefits with people outside of the industry from a young age. We can attract a quality workforce to keep our industry strong into the future. www.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 41
Show Us Your Tech CONEXPO-CON/AGG wrap-up goes to the clouds
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s expected, the CONEXPO-CON/ AGG and IFPE 2014 shows in Las Vegas March 4 through 8 drew an enormous crowd to their 2.35 million net square feet of exhibit space and more than 2,000 exhibitors. Nearly 130,000 registered attendees, 24 percent of whom were international visitors, participated in the 2014 trade show, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), which is a show owner and show producer. If that sounds daunting, it was. Never fear: your AsphaltPro staff was there taking notes and taking pictures so we could summarize the vital bits for you. AEM shared that some big names stopped by the event. Among the show visitors were Acting U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Patrick D. Gallagher, Acting U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Victor Mendez and former U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, who served as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from 2007 to 2011. What they would have seen, along with the other visitors from around the globe, was an intense amount of remote technology among the new offerings this year. Some of that technology will be of more interest to the paving and fleet management readers of AsphaltPro. Of course, there were innovations in the production arena that we need to take a look at as well. Let’s start with the overall atmosphere.
Industry Outlook While at the show, I had multiple opportunities to visit with sales people, CEOs and fellow journalists. The “temperature” of the show varied depending on which exhibit hall you stood in when discussing the interest level of potential buyers. As with any tradeshow, exhibitors located in high traffic areas shared good stories with energetic force; they had positive attitudes. The exhibitors located in the new-to-this-year Platinum Lot where traffic was a mix of light and confused, shared depressing stories with disappointment. Jerod Willow of Willow Designs is one who was disappointed. While the safety edge-building device he designed and manufactures is a popular endgate attachment and an important element in the Federal Highway Administration’s push for safely sloping pavement edgwww.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 43
LB Performance has the Blaw-Knox machines in its lineup.
es, Willow didn’t see great interest in his area. “I got four leads in four days and pulled out early because there was no floor traffic in the section of the Platinum Lot where I was placed,” he shared. “The located of the booth and the map of the show was so bad that my regular clientele couldn’t find me to even say hello.” Companies placed in the Central Hall and North Hall had better luck and were able to get a read on asphalt industry members’ feelings. “Interest from our guests was very high,” Dave Dennison of BOMAG Americas said. “The attendees make an investment to attend CONEXPO. They are looking for solutions, new products and innovations ultimately to help them deliver better quality and performance to their customers. Each day interest was definitely over the top regarding our paving, milling and compaction products as booth traffic exceeded our expectations.” The Astec family of companies also saw a large amount of traffic with real interest in purchasing for the private marketplace.
“In reviewing this CONEXPO as a management team, we felt like this year’s show was the best that we have ever had in terms of number of visitors to our display and interest in our equipment,” Ben Brock said. “We did sell equipment at the show, and we came away with good leads. It is the closing of those leads, and deals that we can tie back to the show in the coming months, that will ultimately tell us how great the show ends up being from a sales standpoint. The optimism was good with regard to private markets. It was guarded with regard to public spending. At the end of the day, our industry needs a long-term federal highway program with increased funding. That would raise the optimism and activity more than anything else.” No matter where an attendee stopped during the show, after the show he or she could sign up for a service that proves the atmosphere and outlook is as bright as you make it. Reed Construction Data, Atlanta, Ga., premiered its new contractor-focused Intelligent Leads service, which features more than 300,000 proj-
To capture the silica and other dust particles gathered in the vacuum system on all compliant milling machines now, the Wirtgen America group placed these fiber bags beneath the catch point of its dust-collection system.
ect leads around the United States. It is designed to provide the plans, specs and contact details that contractors need to find and bid on new work. Once again, we’re looking at electronic, computer-based technology. Intelligent Leads gives each user a dashboard that can be customized for use on a laptop, desktop or mobile device. Fully searchable plans
“The optimism was good with regard to private markets. It was guarded with regard to public spending.” 46 April/May 2014
and specs and RSMeans-powered Material Demand options are available to allow contractors to uncover any missed, high-value projects. Check this out at www.ReedConstructionData.com/construction-project-leads/reed-insight.
Telematics Takes Over During the show, someone made the executive decision to address the elephant in the room: telematics. The Atlas-Copco press conference was cancelled in favor of one-on-one meetings with the new marketing liaison there and a press conference concerning a standard for telematics was held in its place. First, let’s define some terms. According to Gartner IT Glossary, “Telematics refers to the use of wire-
less devices and ‘black box’ technologies to transmit data in real time back to an organization. Typically, it’s used in the context of automobiles, whereby installed or after-factory boxes collect and transmit data on vehicle use, maintenance requirements or automotive servicing. Telematics can also provide real-time information on air bag deployments or car crashes and locate stolen vehicles by using GPS technology.” There’s more in the IT definition, but for the construction industry’s purposes, telematics initially was used for tracking fleets. As it developed, we started using telematics to track more than where haul trucks were going or where they’d been; we could monitor when a motor grader was running low on oil or when a mill-
ing machine broke a tooth. Is the paver operator going too fast for the rolling pattern and/or plant to keep up? If you’re sitting in the office, you can check if you have the right telematics system. Pull up the information on your computer screen, check the paver’s speed and call the superintendent on the job if you see a problem. “The interest in our booth with regard to telematics was high,” Brock said. “I personally had multiple customers ask me to show them Roadtec’s Guardian system and Astec’s DASH system. The desire for data is there. We are now providing it.” The difficulty companies have run into is the disconnect between systems. At this time, you can have one company’s system tracking your plant production and ticketing across multiple plants to keep an eye on inventory and billing. You know exactly how much mix is going out, from where and when. But another company’s system tracks the haul truck driver. Do either communicate with the system the paver and roller are using? Look at the milling machine about half a mile up the road from the paving train. It uses another system, which can alert both the home office and a member of the service team at the OEM if something on the machine needs a quick bit of maintenance. If the milling machine stops, the haul trucks won’t necessarily stop. The paver won’t necessarily stop. The plant won’t necessarily stop. The whole operation could catch up to a mill that’s changing out some teeth. At the telematics press conference, panelists explained that in a mixed fleet of 48 April/May 2014
Prep for 2017 The next CONEXPO-CON/AGG international exposition will be held March 7 through 11, 2017, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, USA. Richard M. Goldsbury, president of Bobcat/Doosan North American & Australia/Oceania for Doosan Infracore Construction Equipment, West Fargo, N.D., has been named CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2017 chair. He will lead the triennial show’s management committee. Goldsbury is president of Bobcat Company and the Doosan heavy equipment division in North America, Australia, New Zealand and other Oceania countries and territories, responsible for all operations in these regions. He returned to the Bobcat organization in 2008, serving as president, Bobcat Americas, and was promoted to his current position in July 2010. Previously, Goldsbury served as president for global product and business strategy with the Security Technologies Sector of Ingersoll Rand. He had been part of the security sector since 2006 and also served as president of Schlage Security Products. He has been part of the industrial and construction equipment industry for almost 30 years, with extensive global experience in general management, marketing, operations, finance, engineering, product portfolio management, aftermarket and mergers and acquisitions. Goldsbury is a director for the Greater Fargo/Moorhead Economic Development Corporation. His leadership involvement with the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), a show owner and show producer, is extensive and includes currently serving on the AEM Board of Directors and as 2014 chair of its Government and Public Affairs Committee, and he has served as a director on the AEM CE Sector Board.
heavy equipment, owners had to go to each OEM’s screen to get data. In 2013, representatives from the Association of Equipment Management Professionals (AEMP) and AEM agreed on an expanded set of asset data points and fault codes to be included in an AEMP Telematics Standard. Four companies—Volvo, Komatsu, John Deere and Caterpillar—came together to work on the standard and make it more convenient for contractors to use telematics. They began by identifying the “low hanging fruit” of data categories. They selected fuel use, location, hours of use and similar data points to standardize across the companies’ telematics systems (See Sidebar). The new AEM/AEMP Standard has 19 data points and 42 fault codes—with the ability to customize some fault codes. In the few weeks prior to CONEXPO-CON/AGG, the team performed some final tune-ups to the standard. This data is provided to the end user via an Application Program Interface (API) data sharing standard. It includes standardized communication protocols for the ability to transfer telematics information in mixed
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Photo courtesy of BOMAG Americas, Kewanee, Ill.
AEM/AEMP Telematics Standard Data Elements as of March 2014 Data Element............................. Desired Frequency of Data 1. Serial Number.....................w/each message 2. Asset ID................................w/each message 3. Hours...................................30 minutes 4. Location..............................hourly & w/each message 5. GPS distance traveled.......hourly 6. Machine odometer.............hour 7. Fault codes..........................immediately 8. Idle time..............................30 minutes 9. Fuel consumption..............daily 10. Fuel level.............................hourly 11. Engine running status.......on status change 12. Switch input events...........on status change 13. PTO hours...........................30 minutes 14. Average load factor............daily 15. Max speed............................daily 16. Ambient air temp...............w/relevant fault code 17. Load counts.........................daily 18. Payload totals.....................daily 19. Active regen hours.............daily
ABOVE: With Tier 4 final engines taking up more space that previous models, the height and/or width of many machines has also had to undergo some changes to accommodate line of sight with the new blind spots.
equipment fleets to end user business enterprise systems, which allows the end user to employ their own business software to collect and then analyze asset data from mixed equipment fleets without the need to work across multiple telematics provider apps. A final version of the standard should be available no later than the end of this year. The Beta version will be available for review shortly. If you’d like to
receive the Beta standard as soon as it’s available, go to this link to register: http://www.aemp.org/register-for-aemaemp-telematics-standard/.
Innovations Large shows and conventions attract new product launches and innovations. We shared a number of those in the March issue. Over the next few issues, the Equipment Gallery and www.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 51
1. Among the cool things to see at CONEXPO-CON/AGG was a blast from the past. How did those crews in the horse-drawn wagon days get a consistent tack rate? 2 and 3. The display at the E.D. Etnyre booth showed attendees how spray nozzles and spray bars used to work, complete with a wooden step for the worker. 4. In a move reminiscent of KPI-JCI Astec Mobile Screen’s Road Connection campaign of 2012, Case Construction is calling on members of the transportation construction industry to get active again. The Dire States campaign is out to raise awareness for Federal Highway Funding to keep America’s infrastructure great.
Here’s How it Works departments will showcase additional new product launches that require more description than this wrap-up can give them. One category innovation that contractors will be interested in right away is that of silica dust control on milling machines. The partnership between OEMs and industry to find a way to keep the tiny silica particles created during concrete milling operations from harming equipment operators has succeeded. OEMs have set up collection tubes and hydraulic fans that pull dust through particulate filters away from workers. The hydraulic fans have a negligible effect on the machine’s engine, thus no impact on fuel consumption. The particulate filters capture silica and other dust so air being released to the environment is as free of contaminates as possible. Draping over conveyors keeps fugitive dust out of the equation. The process of recycling has become even “greener” 52 April/May 2014
now that OEMs have put safer practices in place. Depending on the OEM, milling machines with the new dust capture systems will be available in the United States starting now.
Participation Attending an event as large as CONEXPO-CON/AGG can be overwhelming. It takes planning to make sure you get to see all the nooks and crannies you wish to see when there are 2.35 million square feet of exhibit space. Vendors bring something old, something new, something exciting, something tried and true to capture your attention and to enhance your bottom line. Whether you were able to get to Vegas in March or not, the information in this wrap-up and in the next few issues of AsphaltPro is designed to fill you in on the innovations and technologies you might have missed. As you check into these products and services, call on the
LEFT: Astec President and CEO Ben Brock addressed the audience prior to the opening of CONEXPO-CON/AGG. RIGHT: Caterpillar President and CEO Doug Oberhelman addressed an audience during the Cat press briefing.
OEMs with your questions or ideas. Get involved and participate in the process of improving your bottom line. As always, let them know you saw it in AsphaltPro Magazine. We want to be part of the process with you. Join the discussions on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/AsphaltPro. We invite your participation.
that's a good idea
The tall gentleman in this image wears a green hardhat because he’s recently come to work for Virginia Paving. The hat signals to the other team members that this worker has been on the job less than 90 days. Photo courtesy of John Ball, Top Quality Paving, Manchester, N.H.
Keep the New Guy Safe
W
henever a new employee joins one of the crews in the field with Virginia Paving, a Lane Corporation company, that employee wears a green hardhat for the first 90 days of work. The practice is not some sort of hazing activity. The company has this standard in place for worker safety. Each member of the crew knows to be a little more cautious 56 April/May 2014
By John Ball
around the new worker wearing the green hat because he or she might be unfamiliar with safety protocol or various equipment operations. Each member of the crew also knows to be more patient with the worker wearing the green hat. The team can work together to make sure everyone is safe and that all tasks are completed properly.
Wade Werner II, and crew shovel EZ Street Asphalt with RAP from the back of the haul truck to the prepared pavement cut on Navajo Court in White House, Tenn., to make utility cut and other pavement repairs in early 2014. 58 April/May 2014
Roller Operator Bill Luksch uses best practices by rolling the edges of the repair first.
Music City Patches Green By Casin Swann
W
hen you think of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, you think first of the Grand Ole Opry, the Tennessee Titans and the Nashville Predators. These days the Athens of the South is also known as a community that strives to be a leader in going green. LoJac Enterprises, Inc., of Hermitage, the EZ Street Asphalt producer for Tennessee, is trying to help cities throughout Tennessee become even greener when it comes to how they permanently repair pot holes and utility cuts. LoJac has been able to produce a blend of EZ Street Asphalt that incorporates reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) into the production of this versatile asphalt product. As a contractor, LoJac supports sustainability within the asphalt industry, and management says they’re happy to be able to use recycled materials in its blend of EZ Street Asphalt. It provides their customers with a permanent asphalt repair option, while at the same time presenting them a sustainable product that can preserve our natural resources.
“EZ Street with RAP is a tool that LoJac provides to our customers to help them achieve their sustainability goals,” Glenn Chambers, vice-president of LoJac Enterprises said. City of White House, Tenn., is a growing suburb outside Nashville. It encounters the same infrastructure issues that all cities and counties face, which is the need for cost-effective repair solutions on the city’s many roads. City of White House Public Works Director Joe Moss has found EZ Street with RAP a flexible tool. “It will work in any conditions we introduce it to,” Moss said. “We have used EZ Street with RAP for over two years.” City of White House doesn’t have a plant facility that is in a reasonable driving distance, so maintenance personnel use EZ Street with RAP more like traditional HMA for their street repairs. The city recently completed repairs to Navajo Court in White House with the EZ Street RAP blend. The reason these areas had to be repaired was due to a side-loading trash truck that had www.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 59
From left: Stewart Hilton, Chuck Meadows, Wade Werner II, and Bill Luksch work for the City of White House.
damaged the old surface. In an effort to save money until total repaving can be budgeted for, they are using the EZ Street with RAP to keep the roadway in a safe, working condition that will last for several more years. Wade Werner, Jr. and crew used the green product to repair several street and utility repairs over a two-day span as the pictures within this article reflect. First, the crew cut sections that averaged around 3 inches in depth from the approximately 15-year-old pavement on Navajo Court. After saw-cutting the areas without the use of infrared heat to soften the pavement, they dug them out with a Cat backhoe. They prepped the stone by grading and recompacting it before applying the EZ Street with RAP. For this project, the crew was not required to sealcoat the surface, but they used good joint compaction practices. LoJac as a company does not have a recommendation or preference about sealing the preexisting area. We have some customers that use EZ Street with RAP to repair parking lots, who then go right back over the entire area with a sealcoat job and get many years of service by doing it this way. In the case of the City of White House, they use the roller to pinch the outside edges first and then roll the remainder of the patch. The success of their patching has been wonderful and they have not 60 April/May 2014
had to seal the surrounding area. They also have not had any water issues by applying these principles to each repair they do. The EZ Street with RAP is produced at LoJac’s Hermitage location in an Astec Double Barrel with three 200-ton silos. The RAP is added to the virgin aggregate products that make up the EZ Street with RAP blend by our plant operator Daniel Ray. The mix is stored in a silo for production only. We use dump trucks to take the EZ Street with RAP and place it in an outdoor storage area where the material is stored until purchased by our customers. Once purchased, the material could be stored or used immediately. City of White House stores theirs in an outdoor shed/ pole barn, so it is always used at the ambient temperature they work in. Many of our EZ Street with RAP customers store and use it just as the City of White House. They can shovel it right out of their trucks into the area being repaired and then use a lute to work the EZ Street with RAP, just
The National Asphalt Pavement Association Midyear Meeting takes place in Nashville this July 14 through 16. Visit www.AsphaltPavement.org for more information.
as traditional HMA would be applied. In the pictures of Metro/Nashville Public Works, the EZ Street with RAP is being slightly heated in their United patching rig. The EZ Street is heated to 110 to 120o Fahrenheit and the auger in the bed of the truck then augers it out into a chute at the back of the truck. The Metro/Nashville Public Works team faces the daily challenge of maintaining a county with more than 526 square miles inside its borders. Many of those square miles translate into lane miles that Metro/Nashville Superintendent of Streets and Roads Phillip Jones must help maintain. Jones has found during the last year that EZ Street with RAP has reduced repeat street repair issues. “Considering that pot holes need to be repaired and maintained until such a time when total re-surfacing can occur, EZ Street all but eliminates multiple trips to the same trouble spots we had compared to standard cold mix products,” Jones said. “We have found EZ Street to be a high performance polymer asphalt that will permanently repair most pot holes. This results in less products being used, less labor costs and less fuel due to decreased equipment usage.” Casin Swann is a customer service representative for LoJac Enterprises, Inc., Hermitage, Tenn. For more information, contact him at (615) 394-0139 or cswann@lojac.com.
Help educate future generations about the value of asphalt roads while providing a positive community message about your asphalt facility!!!!! Asphalt Pro magazine is proud to announce the launch of Asphalt Lane: A children’s activity book designed to deliver a positive educational message to your local school children. Told through the eyes of Chuck the Truck and his sidekick Chuck Jr. the story of Asphalt Lane is a perfect opportunity for you to use as a public relations tool.
Use Asphalt Lane for: • Curriculum ideas for your local school district or your child’s elementary class • A career day activity at your facility • Company Events- picnics, open houses, plant tours • Tradeshow giveaways • Giveaways to local favorite restaurant, church, synagogue.
Call Sally Shoemaker to order yours today!
573-499-1830 ext 1008
Order yours today, shipped direct to your facility on
www.theasphaltpro.com or www.asphaltlane.com Only $1.00 per copy + shipping. Special pricing available on quantities over 5,000, call for pricing
here's how it works
Step 4 A return conveyor takes oversize material back to the feed hopper.
A magnet grabs deleterious material, diverting it out a discharge chute.
Step 3 An impact crusher crushes larger sized material.
Step 2 Step 5 Cross conveyors deliver properly sized product to radial stackers or stockpiles.
The grizzly feeder uses oscillating motion to divert smaller sized material for screening.
Step 1 An excavator delivers various sizes of material to the feed hopper.
Eagle Crusher’s E-plant
W
hether you need to crush and size material for aggregate, asphalt or recycling situations, Team Eagle in Galion, Ohio, developed the E-Plant to make it happen. The self-contained plant features an impact crusher and triple-deck screening to size up to five products, three of which can be spec products, at one time. Here’s how it works. First, an excavator delivers scoops of variably sized material to the feed hopper where you can screen products before crushing, crush all the products, or 62 April/May 2014
use the bypass flop gate to pull off grizzly material for screening. The grizzly uses an oscillating motion to shake the undersized or fine material to a screen below while larger material goes to the impact crusher. Two conveyors drop oversize material onto one return conveyor that carries the products up to a return chute, which then deposits the products into the original feed hopper to start the process again. Cross conveyors deliver properly sized product to radial stackers or stockpiles.
The optional xxxx magnet grabs deleterious material and diverts it out the discharge chute to a waiting bin for recycle elsewhere. Show us How it Works If you’re an equipment manufacturer with a complex product, let us help you explain its inner workings to the readers of AsphaltPro magazine. There’s no charge for this editorial department, but our staff reserves the right to decide what equipment fits the parameters of a HHIW features. Contact our editor at sandy@theasphaltpro.com.
Take Part in Protecting HTF By AsphaltPro Staff
I
f you visit https://invest.transportation.org, which is a site run by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, you’ll quickly learn facts about the United States’ infrastructure and its government’s inability to fund its upkeep. The facts are staggering in light of economic growth we could spur with investment in this infrastructure’s maintenance and expansion. In many zoning board meetings across the nation, it’s not politically correct to discuss “expansion” any longer, but we must face the reality that by the year 2030, we’re projected to see a 25 percent increase in vehicular travel overall and a 64 percent increase in travel by large, commercial trucks. Consider: The Washington Post Company reported in mid-April that “The Highway Trust Fund is running low on cash primarily because it depends for revenue from the 18.4 cent per gallon federal gas tax. Inflation and more-fuelefficient vehicles have eroded fuel-tax income.” The U.S. Department of Transportation issued a statement April 15 saying the money for repairs and expansion of the nation’s transit, highway and bridge projects will begin to run short by the end of July. Not only does that put the onus for repair and building projects squarely on state agencies, it places safety on hold. AASHTO shares that 33,561 people died in traffic crashes in 2012. We know that road conditions are a factor in one in three U.S. traffic fatalities, leaving us to conclude that the lack of full funding for highway, bridge and roadway upkeep shows a lack of caring for citizen health and welfare on the part of those who are in control of the funds. Those of us who understand the health, safety and economic risks behind the insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund have a moral obligation to educate those who have been apathetic thus far.
Here are some action steps to take: • Visit the AASHTO site to gather facts, and share the site with others. https://invest.transportation.org • Visit the National Asphalt Pavement Association’s government affairs page on www.asphaltpavement. org regularly for updates on highway funding news. • Attend a district meeting with your state representatives to let them know you’re involved in your community and to share information about your industry. • Host a plant tour where you invite your representative to be your special guest to learn more about you, your company, your employees, your industry and how transportation issues benefit us all. If you’d like help planning and hosting such an event, NAPA has resources to help you at the government affairs page on its website. • Attend the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) Fly-In this June 9 through 11 in Washington. The information for registering is at this site: www.transportationconstructioncoalition.org. • Make plans to attend the NAPA FlyIn along with the National Stone Sand and Gravel Association members this Sept. 9 through 10 in Washington. The information for registering is at www.asphaltpavement.org. And write to your representatives in Congress. Send them a note by email and Twitter. Their staff members will report to them about the influx of interested voices educating them about the health and safety issue and the economic catastrophe if the transportation construction industry isn’t funded to do its collective job of maintaining and keeping up with the nation’s infrastructure. www.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 63
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RAP-13697 STANDARD HAVENS SILO SYS.
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• 7’ x 40’ Parallel Flow Drum Mixer w/ 520 StarJet Burner • Nominal 40,000 CFM Baghouse • 5-Bin Portable Cold Feed
• 30,000 Gallon Portable AC Tank w/ 1.0 mbtu Heater • SEB w/ 24 inch Drag Slat and Control House
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RAP-14150 ASTEC SILO W/ WEIGH BATCHER
• 100 ton capacity • 14ft x 12ft2in x 56ft overall long (legs are bolt on) • Oil seal gates at bottom, knife seal
• Pioneer 7’6” x 46’ Parallel-Flow gates over batcher Drum • Nominal 6 ton weigh • Gencor AF-75 Oil/Gas Combo batcher, steel cone Burner liners recently installed • Smico 5’ x 14’ Double-Deck
RAP-13789 6X18 DILLMAN DUO DRUM
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Virgin Screen • 70,000 CFM Pulse-Jet Baghouse w/ New York Fan
• (3) 20,000 Gallon Coiled Vertical AC Tanks • (1) 20,000 Gallon Fuel Tank • CEI 200 Gas-Fired Hot Oil Heater • (4) 100-ton Pioneer Storage Silos • Pioneer Drag Slat w/ Single 9856 REX Chain • Set of (9) Cold Feed Bins • One Recycle Bin
RAP-13915 ASTEC 58K CFM BAGHOUSE
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resource directory Asphalt Drum Mixers............... 30, 59
Contact: Steve Shawd or Jeff Dunne
Texxx AsphaltPro’s Resource Directory is designed for you to have quick access to the manufacturers that can get you the information you need to run your business efficiently. Please support the advertisers that support this magazine and tell them you saw them in AsphaltPro magazine.
www.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 65
the last cut
Base Binder on Performance From the Asphalt Institute
A
sphaltPro staff has discussed with readers how researchers and mix designers calculate the non-recoverable creep compliance—which is represented by the abbreviation Jnr—of a modified or non-modified asphalt binder. Researchers tended to like the multiple stress creep recovery (MSCR) testing used in the AASHTO MP 19 standard, according to the general manager of research and development at Jebro, Inc., in Sioux City, Iowa, Kevin Carlson. In information he provided to Asphalt Institute, Carlson points out that researchers saw MSCR as a better test for predicting whether or not a pavement with a particular asphalt binder would exhibit rutting, than the G*/sin delta formula that was/is used in the performance-graded asphalt binder spec in the AASHTO M320 standard. The current standard—M320—is used for both modified and unmodified asphalt binders; whereas research studies indicate the percent recovery calculated from MSCR test data could also serve as a replacement for PG “plus” specs currently used to measure the presence of polymer modifier in the binder. AI’s Carlson offered some basic reasons why switching to the AASHTO MP 19 standard and using the MSCR test would be beneficial, including the fact that AASHTO has published provisional specs for both the MSCR test (AASHTO TP 70) and performance graded asphalt binder incorporating the MSCR test (AASHTO MP 19). 1. Switching to the MSCR should not require new testing equipment. 2. Technicians can complete the MSCR test quickly and easily. 3. Technicians can use the MSCR test effectively on both modified and non-modified binders. 4. Researchers believe the MSCR is a better indicator of a binder’s rutting resistance than G*/sin delta. 5. With the AASHTO MP 19 guide, mix designers will choose an appropriate “Standard” “High” “Very high” or “Extreme high” grade level within a temperature grade instead of “grade bumping” to account for traffic loading. 6. Technicians will no longer have to perform PG “plus” tests. 7. Designers can identify stress-sensitive binders. 8. Quality control directors can improve the efficiency of their labs. 9. Having a standard spec would benefit the asphalt industry. 10. Asphalt binder suppliers, Asphalt Institute officials and researchers at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT), among others, are willing to help you through the transition to use of MSCR. The full list with more detailed explanation can be found at www. asphaltmagazine.com or through a link on the AsphaltPro Magazine facebook page.
66 April/May 2014
Liquid Asphalt Cement Prices—average per ton Company, State
Dec ’13
Jan ’14
Feb ’14
Mar ’14
Phillips 66, Tenn.
$540.00
$540.00
$540.00
$560.00
NuStar Energy, Ga.
550.00
550.00
550.00
540.00
NuStar Energy, N.C.
562.50
565.00
565.00
555.00
NuStar Energy, Va.
565.00
560.00
560.00
550.00
Assoc’d Asphalt Inman, N.C.
580.00
580.00
570.00
570.00
Assoc’d Asphalt Inman, S.C.
580.00
580.00
570.00
570.00
Assoc’d Asphalt Inman, Va.
575.00
575.00
570.00
550.00
Marathon Petroleum, Tenn.
540.00
540.00
540.00
540.00
Marathon Petroleum, N.C.
540.00
540.00
540.00
540.00
Valero Petroleum, N.C.
550.00
545.00
560.00
565.00
California Average
538.30
537.60
547.30
583.70
Delaware Average
553.33
560.00
560.00
546.67
Kentucky Average
534.38
534.38
534.38
539.38
Massachusetts Average
610.00
640.00
640.00
640.00
Missouri Average
540.00
532.50
532.50
545.00
Data for Southeast region, Source: ncdot.org; Data for California, Source: dot.ca.gov; Data for Delaware, Source: deldot.gov; Data for Kentucky, Source: transportation.ky.gov; Data for Massachusetts, Source: mass.gov; Data for Missouri, Source: modot.mo.gov
Crude Oil Activity (U.S. Crude) futures spot data
stocks
Jan 3
$93.96
357.9 m bbl
Jan 10
$92.72
350.2 m bbl
Jan 17
$94.37
351.2 m bbl
Jan 24
$96.64
357.6 m bbl
Jan 31
$97.49
358.1 m bbl
Feb 7
$99.88
Feb 14
Diesel Fuel Retail Price (dollars per gallon) Dec 30
3.903
Jan 6
3.910
Jan 13
3.886
Jan 20
3.873
Jan 27
3.904
361.4 m bbl
Feb 3
3.951
$100.30
362.3 m bbl
Feb 10
3.977
Feb 21
$102.20
362.4 m bbl
Feb 17
3.989
Feb 28
$102.59
363.8 m bbl
Feb 24
4.017
Sources: Energy Information Administration
Sources: Energy Information Administration
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