ACPA Concrete Pavement Progress - Winter 2022-23

CONCRETE PAVEMENT PROGRESS 4 WWW.ACPA.ORG As 2023 Chairman of the American Concrete Pavement Association, I am proud to welcome you all to what is certain to be an exciting year of growth and prosperity for ACPA and our industry. This year, ACPA expects to continue to stay the course fulfilling its strategic plan, while providing top-notch technical, promotional, and advocacy services for our members. With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) moving into its second year of funding and project planning beginning to make its way to the bidding table, the paving industry can expect some certainty, at least for a few years. While inflation has started to come down and the nation avoided a rail strike, supply chain concerns impacting a variety of industries still may cause consternation as we move further into 2023. In all, particularly with the residential market slowing, the outlook for the concrete paving market is positive. And really…why shouldn’t it be? Concrete pavement is resilient, and the projects generally display engineering excellence, so you know they’re built to last. APCA’s contractors do impressive work, as we showcase in this edition of Concrete Pavement Progress. Award winners from all over the country display their craftsmanship with overlays, divided highways, and rural, military and airport projects. 2022 was an impressive year. In addition to project excellence and craftsmanship, concrete is a material well-positioned to address our global climate concerns. Recently, Eric Ferrebee, Senior Director of Technical Services, completed the first draft of ACPA’s White Paper on Sustainability. This paper offers the first codification of the industry’s position on sustainability and makes the case for concrete’s relevancy in a climate conscious society. ACPA has worked with agencies for years on EPDs and helped educate on the importance of looking at A Message from the ACPA Chairman the entire life cycle in evaluating sustainability. ACPAs highlights the importance of including resiliency in the discussion as well. Additional resources will be unveiled during the next few months, giving the tools needed to answer questions about sustainability. While one of ACPA’s primary functions is promoting concrete paving at the state level, recognizing the role federal agencies play in impacting that goal is imperative. Recently, DoD, GSA, and NASA released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which proposes a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rule change that would require contractors to report their greenhouse gas emissions for federally funded contracts. ACPA has met with groups around the country and on Capitol Hill, to assess the potential impact this NPRM could have on the industry and assess whether it’s a departure from the good work already done with EPDs and helping contractors comply. ACPA will submit an official concrete paving industry response with comments on behalf of our members outlining the impact of the proposed FAR rule change and will continue to work with agencies across the country on truly creating a more sustainable infrastructure network. This year, you will hear me continuously advocate that we are stronger together. While contractors may be competitors at the bidding table, we align together to advocate for more funding, more opportunity, and to advance the message that concrete paving is a sustainable and resilient option for the future. I look forward to working with you to ensure that 2023 is a year of growth so that we can preserve and protect paving markets. Steve Friess Chairman, Board of Directors American Concrete Pavement Association Steve Friess Chairman, Board of Directors American Concrete Pavement Association

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Nzc3ODM=