CalAPA member Martin Marietta hosts facility tour for State Treasurer Fiona Ma in San Diego County

By Russell W. Snyder

Regular readers of this publication will no doubt recall that Fiona Ma has earned the respect and admiration of the asphalt industry in California for her support for infrastructure protection and sustainability, particularly as it relates to asphalt recycling.

When Ma was in the state Assembly, she carried a landmark asphalt recycling bill, AB812, that was endorsed by CalAPA and sought to elevate the utilization of reclaimed asphalt pavements (RAP) statewide. The bill was signed into law in 2012. Known as someone who does her homework, she spoke at the CalAPA Fall Asphalt Pavement Conference in Sacramento, and later toured an asphalt plant and recycling operation in Northern California.

Although Ma has since been elected as California State Treasurer twice, she has maintained her connection to the asphalt pavement industry and CalAPA, delivering the keynote address last year at the CalAPA Annual Dinner in Los Angeles. At that event, she struck up a conversation with representatives from Martin Marietta, including Ryan Merritt and Matt Pound, who extended an invitation to her to tour their facilities in San Diego County. She made good on that promise on April 5 with a guided tour of Martin Marietta's asphalt and aggregate facilities in San Diego County. The use of RAP is critically important in San Diego County, which is facing a rapidly dwindling source of virgin aggregate sources. CalAPA has been working with local public works officials for the past several years to encourage more RAP usage in the county.

"I'm happy to see that my bill, AB812, on the use of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement in pavement mixes, is working per Martin Marietta, a leading supplier of aggregates and heavy building materials," Ma told California Asphalt following the tour. "During COVID, my office continued to issue bonds to rebuild roads, freeways and bridges. Allowing more RAP to be used will lead to increased California jobs, more efficiency, less costs, reduce air pollution and lesson truck traffic.”

Asphalt, said the two-hour tour included visits to Martin Marietta’s Santee Aggregates facility and then the company’s Miramar asphalt and construction materials manufacturing and distribution hub in central San Diego County. Company officials gave the Treasurer and her staff a good refresher on the workings of a modern construction materials facility, with a heavy emphasis on sustainability. The Santee facility is operated in partnership with Republic Services, a disposal and landfill company.

“I think the tour went well,” Merritt said. “I could see the treasurer key in on something and write down notes. She asked very good questions.”

He said she zeroed in on the need to extend aggregate resources in the county via the continued utilization of recycled asphalt and other materials, a critical issue locally. At the Miramar site, the group got a first-hand look at how Martin Marietta recycles asphalt and also other construction materials to generate recycled aggregate for use as utility aggregates and many other uses.

Although scheduling a tour with a prominent state official took lots of planning and a few schedule changes, Matt Pound, District Sales Manager for Martin Marietta, said, “I was very glad they took us up on it.”

Participating in the event from Martin Marietta, including Merritt and Pound, were: District Operations Manager Aggregates Talia Flagan; Andrew Suarez, District Quality Control Manager; Cortes Macachor, Operations Manager Recycle; and Justin Noble, Plant Manager Santee.

Participating in the event in addition to Ma were: Patrick Henning, Chief Deputy Treasurer; Frank Ruffino, Treasurer’s Office Pension and Benefits Director, and Justin Rosete with the California Highway Patrol. CA