In February 2019, the Wisconsin Concrete Pavement Association (WCPA)‘s Annual Concrete Pavement Conference was attended by 304 people and included a full day of presentations, as well as the Chapter’s Annual Pavement Awards Program—setting “The Gold Standard”—the goal ACPA encourages its chapters to achieve. (see below)
The theme of the 2019 conference was “Moving Forward with Concrete” and Kevin McMullen, President-WCPA said the goal was to get the state of the art before the audience of more than 300 participants. The very robust program included these among other presentations:
- Presentations on performance engineered mixtures by Peter Taylor, CP Tech Center
- “Concrete is COOL and They are Our Future, Too!” by Dr. Tyler Ley, Oklahoma State University
- Importance of steel in concrete pavements by Dr. Mark Snyder, Pavement Engineering & Research Consultants
- Research results on joint sawing practices and their effects on pavement durability by Dr. Jim Crovetti, Marquette University
- How to comply with OSHA’s silica rules by Chad Stuart, Cobb Strecker Dunphy & Zimmermann
- Importance of quality control by Jackie Spoor, WCPA
The Wisconsin DOT (WisDOT), the concrete pavement industry, and academia were all well represented at the conference. Following Kevin’s opening remarks, the Hon. Craig Thompson, Transportation Secretary-WisDOT (appointed in January), presented Tony Evers, newly-elected Governor‘s vision of transportation. Kevin stated that paving experts from the WisDOT Central Office also participated who included:
• Barry Paye, Chief Materials & Pavement Engineer
• Jim Parry, Quality Assurance Engineer
• Chad Hayes, Concrete Engineer
• Russ Frank, Aggregate & Laboratory Engineer
• Peter Kemp, Pavement Engineering Supervisor
Jerry Voigt, President and CEO-ACPA presented on ACPA’s VISION2040 initiative and provided an overview of current and planned programs, as well as future plans. Eric Ferrebee, Director IT-ACPA provided ‘back to basics’ instruction on joint layout & design and co-presented with Kevin on the challenges and solutions to municipal concrete pavement design, which included example problems that worked through “PavementDesigner.org“. (ISCP March 2019 article titled ” ” for comprehensive coverage of “PavementDesigner”:
The full list of 20 presentations made during the main program and breakout sessions (with concurrent construction and design/research tracks) are all posted on WCPA‘s website. For the presentations and program, please go to: http://www.wisconcrete.org/events-2/
Kevin reported that over the past 24 years, he’s seen a considerable increase in the conference participation among consulting engineers. He added that although local government agencies have curbed some local travel, he has organized the program to accommodate those who can only participate for a limited amount of time. He also emphasized the quality of the presentations has helped increase participation. Other highlights of the program included a tailgate dinner, scholarship recognition, and an exhibitor showcase, followed by a hospitality & networking event.
Photocaption: WisDOT Secretary Craig Thompson presenting the Governor’s Vision of Transportation.
“The Gold Standard” … ACPA encourages its chapters to achieve: Throughout the year, ACPA-affiliated Chapters hold workshops, conferences, and other events that provide members, agencies/owners, consultants, and others with tremendous opportunities to learn more about the best practices, new resources, emerging technologies, developing trends, and more. The goal is to provide insights into the major topics discussed, while also sharing other details, including the innovative and creative things the Chapter executives and staff are doing to make these events even more valuable to attendees and guests. Chapters are drawing the ‘A-list’ of customers, members, and other stakeholders who are not only important to the success of the event, but to the concrete pavement industry throughout the United States. For more information about the “Gold Standard” feature coverage, please go to: http://www.acpa.org/chapter-events/
Home page photo: WisDOT Secretary Craig Thompson
presenting the Governor’s Vision of Transportation